Making Use of the Time
Starting week three of the community quarantine, and I’m still here, stuck at home, confined with nothing but twitter to fan the flames of my outrage with how the situation is being handled, and my fear, also about how the situation is being handled.
So as not to be consumed by my anxiety altogether, I’ve explored a couple of things to do (yes, this late, just now) to take advantage of the extra time and use it for something productive. I’m able to fill in the time quite nicely with my usual reading, watching and working, but there are cracks in time that just need to be filled to maintain my sanity. Here are some things which are not usual to me that I’ve started doing because of the quarantine –
I’ve started doing some cleaning. Thanks to this worldwide emergency, my cleaning ritual — some form of “spring”––is arriving earlier than usual. I’m following a trick I learned from The Minimalists called the Minimalism Game Calendar where you get rid of one thing on the first day, two things on the second, three things on the third, and so on. It looks easy at first; anyone can purge a few items, right? But I figure it will grow considerably more challenging by week two, when I’m forced to dump more than a dozen items per day. Try it.
I’ve increased my exercise time. Even if you’re not a regular gym-goer, being stuck at home will decrease your movement. And if you are a gym rat, the lockdown is going to drive you crazy. Exercise is essential to keeping your immune system fit, plus it will cut your stress level and help you sleep. I’ve taken to walking the dog an extra round around the neighborhood and I’ve added 30 minutes to my usual workout regimen. Make sure to add some variety to keep your muscles alive and alert.
I’ve begun cooking experiments. Partly because I’ve been keeping my supply runs at a minimum, and partly because supermarkets have low inventory of goods, I only have a few provisions at my disposal. But eggs? I have a lot of them! While I hope I won’t need to cook eggs in 100 different ways, I have boiled, scrambled, poached, baked, basted, fried, shirred, coddled them. Frittatas are actually nice and easy.
If the current health crisis and community quarantine has you stuck inside going stir crazy, these are just some of the things you can do to pass the time and keep yourself grounded. If these aren’t enough, you can go to this article in USA Today that talks about 100 things to do during the outbreak.
Now, while as challenging as this confinement has been for me, it has also given me an opportunity to learn and reflect. It’s allowed me to realize how much of my life I take for granted. There are people who are not as lucky as myself — who live in poverty, are unwell, or whose working conditions bind them to risking going out every day just put food on the table. So while we keep ourselves busy, let’s help in anyway we can. Support a cause. Volunteer remotely. Stay at home.
