20 Ideas for Coping with the Quarantine
It’s here, people. For those of you who don’t know, fear of the rapid spread of COVID-19, a new and seemingly unpredictable virus, has caused several countries to go into a state of National Emergency. For me, in the Czech Republic, and for many others, this means we are only able to leave our homes for ‘necessary’ reasons such as buying groceries, caring for somebody, or picking up medicine. Thankfully, right now, there is no ban on going outside for a walk in the park - although I fear this may change when the government notices massive park-based hangouts taking place.
While it’s great that they have created loopholes for what is ‘necessary’ in an attempt to prevent too much disruption to people’s lives, there is little talk about what is necessary for our mental health.
We are social creatures. We evolved to live in communities, in deep connection with each other and with nature. My entire coaching practice is based around this entire premise - and so right now, when many people live alone and are banned from even seeing their friends, the threat to people’s mental health is going to be severe. Add to that the anxiety of perhaps getting sick, of your loved ones getting sick, of not being able to make money, and this, my friends, is set to be one of the hardest times we go through.
Tons of people are already leaping to the ‘rescue’ with articles about how to keep calm during a pandemic. Most of these articles talk about how we should meditate, breathe, try not to panic, wash our hands, and exercise. Yes, that’s all great stuff, but have you tried to meditate when your brain is going “omg I’m going to die omg what about my grandparents omg what about my income”, when you miss your friends, and when your body is crying to be out in the sun? That sh*t is HARD!
I am not going to pretend that meditation will magically make everything OK again. On the other hand, I do think that having a serious meditation practice can give us a very different perspective on all of this.
I am also learning very quickly that spending more and more time on social media, which I have been doing in the last few days, is not doing wonders for my mental health. And I’m learning, from reading other people’s posts, that the main fear a lot of people have right now is of the boredom of being home alone. It seems that a lot of us are pretty bad at entertaining ourselves…
So, I made a list of ‘challenges’ for myself for the next few weeks (or months!?), and I’d like to share it with you:
1) Read all those books you've been meaning to read (you know the ones! Can’t get books sent to you now? Why not sing up for Kindle Premium’s one month free trial?);
2) Get back into music - discover new bands, learn to make music (singing, playing an instrument, or digitally on something like GarageBand);
3) Write - poetry, diary entries, articles, that book you've been thinking about;
4) Arrange Skype chats with your friends and family - have ‘meals’ and coffee together, catch up with those you miss;
5) Get really good at meditating... try every variety until you find the best one for you. Holistic breathwork, guided, visualisation, mindfulness;
6) Exercise! Do at least an hour a day. Youtube has tons of great workouts, from yoga to cardio…
7) Remember that some people pay loads of money for an ‘isolation experience’ - little cabins with no light, where they sit in darkness for up to a week, in order to get in touch with some parts of themselves. Or silent meditation retreats!
8) Cooking time! What long-ass recipes can you try, now that you have so much time? How creative can you get with the ingredients you were able to get hold of in the shops? Think about your grandmother and how proud she’d be of your ability to ration.
9) Work on your business - you might want to use this opportunity to see how to make money online (e.g. teaching, sharing a skill). You can charge for Facebook live sessions, Zoom calls, virtual classes and meetings. Everyone has SOMETHING to share. I feel that ‘virtual’ cooking, yoga, language classes etc will take off big-time now.
10) Draw and paint! You have so much time to get good, even if you’re terrible now. The internet is full of tutorials.
11) LEARN! Oh my goodness, there’s so much I don’t know - the history and background of every single country. How things work. How to survive if society collapses. So, so many languages.
12) Yes, of course, TV… all those Netflix shows and documentaries that are queued up to watch!
13) Gaming… I bought The Sims 3… and my old childhood favourite, 3D Movie Maker, is still available - make your own movies with 3D characters. Have you ever played Rollercoaster Tycoon, where you design your own theme park? Or Theme Hospital (hmm, maybe too sore a point right now), or any of those “sim” games where you get to design stuff? I love those… as well as all the things you can get through Steam or similar.
14) Time to learn how to sew, knit, fix my own clothes, create things. It’s about time, isn’t it? This economy isn’t going to last forever and we need to learn to do things on our own, like our grandmothers did.
15) Help others! I’m finding a lot of meaning in creating online sharing circles for other people to share their feelings, and I’m also planning to create some webinars and spaces to help people deal with the isolation. While the Internet is here, we can spend our time giving. I have a friend who started two charities from her bed, while she was sick. Now’s the time to do the research and see what’s possible.
16) Look into things you can do on the side to make some extra money. Brainstorm ideas for new projects/charities/NGOs…
17) Organise - all those messy files on your laptop, those papers, those things you never threw out…
18) Work on your podcast (this one’s for me - check out my podcast, by the way!) - or start a podcast! Also, have you listened to every single podcast out there? I didn’t think so!
19) Start growing some plants and vegetables on your balcony/windowledge. Shops may be closed but you can still order things like soil and flowerpots online…
20) Think about what this crisis is showing us about our world. All the cracks that are showing up. All the weaknesses. Think about how YOU could be part of the change to something better. Find online groups for people already working on solutions. Find out how you can help. Volunteer your time (virtually) - a lot of charities and NGOs need help with everything from marketing to writing copy. Think of the skills and experience you can gain from this.
As for the other worries… income, germ-phobia, worrying about others, I will address them in later posts - for now though, I will say that it could be worth checking out platform where you can teach a language online, or check out platforms like Fiverr where you can offer your services in anything from voice acting to website design, from translation to helping people gain social media connections. Also check out whether your government is offering any unemployment benefits for those struggling at this time.
Stay tuned for more - I am working on putting together resources from a collection of therapists and mental health experts to help with the pressure of these times. In the meantime, get in touch if you would like a free 30-min online call to discuss your options at this time and to see how coaching might help you. I specialise in helping people face harsh changes such as climate change, and I feel that the Apocalyptic tone that this whole situation is striking into our hearts is something very similar and relevant.
And remember - this, too, shall pass. It may be hard, it may be frustrating, it may be really scary, and things may not go back to the way they were before - but is that necessarily a bad thing? Just look at all the ways people are stepping up to help their communities already. I’ve seen so many offers of kindness and support flooding out in the last few days. But we’re also seeing the cracks in our existing systems, and perhaps this is just the thing we need to show us the kind of world we DO want to live in… and, at the same time, be careful of governments using this ‘shock’ to slip in new laws and regulations. It’s time to be vigilant, too, to make sure that we come out of this situation stronger, better and more connected and aware than we were before.
