Bridport teenager, Kia Bartlett, has shared with us her experience of lockdown as a 15-year-old.

Lockdown has been a mad experience for everyone, for many people it’s been a hard few months and others it’s been a break well needed despite the circumstances.

I would just like to say from the bottom of my heart to everyone that has experienced a loss in their family or been affected in any way I am sorry. I cannot imagine what families are going through.

Being a 15-year-old with GCSEs supposedly next year, the key thing in lockdown has been schoolwork. I'm still trying to tackle the avalanche of work that gets given to me every half term. The work side of things has been stressful, especially when I don’t understand what I need to do and have to message a teacher online, then wait until they reply to try and help me through the power of words and technology.

Work aside my life has had to change, just like everyone else's. Many of the activities and things that I enjoy have had to be stopped due to the pandemic, like rugby. I am a massive Exeter Chiefs fan, who was supposed to go to watch the final in April against Northampton Saints, but because of lockdown I couldn’t.

Fitness and occasionally baking a few average cakes, has been my beacon of calm, hope and tranquillity. It’s what has kept me sane during this period. I have always loved fitness and exercise, before lockdown, I used to exercise most days for roughly an hour but since lockdown, I have been exercising in many ways around twice a day for an hour a time.

With the restrictions on many things, we have all been limited in activities and social interaction. Until a few weeks ago, I hadn’t stepped outside our front door, but to break the ice, my family and I went over to the field that is outside our house, to teach my younger brother to ride his bike. Since then we have been out to the park a few more times and it’s the nicest feeling in the world, being outside breathing in the fresh air.

As well as going to the park, I have had to take a few trips up to school to collect work. It was weird when I first went up to school, the roads were beyond quiet with very few cars, but then a few days later, the roads were packed with many more people out. It’s weird isn’t it how things can change within such a small amount of time and allowance. It was weird getting to the school doors. The atmosphere was non-existent, and I didn’t see a single person, something I never imagined my school to look like and, to be honest, something I didn’t want my school to look like.

After three months, the first person we saw was uncle Foggy who came to see us in the garden, it was my first face to face conversation, and I couldn’t think of a better person to. We kept two metres apart. It was beyond amazing.

Not being able to see school friends has created a big void in my life as well, especially my three best friends as I used to spend every day with them.

I really can’t wait for this pandemic to be over so that we can have a better sense of normality, where I can hug those dearest to me, get my education back on track and make more memories that will be treasured forever.

I hope your lockdown experience has been as good as it can be, and you keep family as close to you as possible by staying in contact. We all just need to remember that it won’t be like this forever, it will end soon and then life can resume to as close to normality as possible. If you have suffered a loss, then I send my condolences to you and your families. This is such a horrid, cruel situation but enjoy every day to the full and make the most of any opportunities that you get.