5 THINGS YOU CAN DO TO STAY SANE DURING THE QUARANTINE PERIOD



It's Day 25 of the Enhanced Community Quarantine here in Manila, that means I haven't been working for 25 days. It was supposed to be a 30-day quarantine and I was somehow looking forward to the day the quarantine and travel ban would be lifted, so I can get back to my normal life and earn money the way I used to. However, a few days ago, the government said it would be extended until the end of April. 

My first thought was - I AM SCREWED!

I couldn't work from my dorm because of the crappy connection. I don't have a part-time job as a safety net. And obviously, I can't sell or deliver my art even if someone wants to buy them these days. I don't have a lot of savings in my bank account, (something I am regretting now!) I have quite a lot of bills to pay and I have no idea how I can pay them once this is all over. I have to be honest, my anxiety bit me in the ass real good during the first two days of this quarantine. I had an excellent combination of constipation and diarrhea - which is my initial reaction to shitty situations. My tummy got me curled up in bed and almost unable to eat. 

I was SO tempted to scream and cry, but I realized that doing either won't give me an income. So, while I was trying to recover from my tummy ache, I did what I do best - SLEEP! Yes! You read that right! I just tried to pay some sleep debt during the first week of the quarantine. I usually wake up around 3 AM if I have to go to work, but now, I get up when the sun's already up! That's when I started to see the light...the bright side of this chaotic, cash-depleting, panic-inducing, mood-breaking, faith-shaking pandemic! I am starting to see the other side of the same damn coin! 

I realized that I am finally getting the 'break' that I need from work. I usually work during weekends because my days off are Thursdays and Fridays. But now, I don't only have weekends off, I have MORE THAN A MONTH to do the things I can't do if things are running normally. Why not take advantage of the free time instead of sulking? I have proven time and time again that worrying won't get me anywhere, and it's not like I'm the only one stuck at home this time. Maybe more than half of the world is in quarantine. Also, this is not the first pandemic this world has ever known, nor will it be the last. I think this is our chance to brag to the next next generation about how we made the most out of this challenging chapter of our lives.  

So, like I always do, I want to use my blog as an online time capsule that I hope my descendants would be able to dig, just in case they go through the same situation in the future. Of course, I'd like to share my thoughts with you guys -  my cyber inmates, who are also in quarantine and somehow on the verge of losing it. Guys, I literally feel you! I'm an introvert but I am getting bored these days as well. And you know it's real boredom when an introvert gets bored. 

After I had my fair share of sleep marathon, I figured I can't stay that way until the quarantine is lifted. I HAVE TO DO something that would make me feel better -  something that I can be proud of once we get back to our normal lives. I whipped out my journal and listed things that I can do within the four corners of my dorm. No, this does not involve cleaning your house or organizing your closet, because I'm almost 100% sure that you've already done that.  

So, what else can you do? Here we go...

1) DIGITAL DE-CLUTTERING

Maybe you've heard about the legendary Japanese queen of organizing - Marie Kondo? We're going to do something like that BUT instead of going through your closet, let's dig deep into your phones, tablets, laptops or desktops. Believe it or not, throughout the last 5 or 10 years, I have accumulated a LOT of digital clutter even though I don't go out that often. I usually hangout with a few close friends or by myself but I still have a crazy amount of photos everywhere! And they are haunting me! I actually talked about this in one of my posts way back in 2018. Click here if you'd like to read that post as well. I've gone through 'Digital Sabbatical' quite a few times wherein I wouldn't log in to any of my social media sites for days or weeks, (which is pretty tough for a blogger!) and back in 2018, I have tried 'Digital De-cluttering' seriously for the first time. 

What is it exactly and how do we do it? Well, I challenge you to DELETE all the unnecessary digital information that you have in your electronic gadgets. Let go of all your useless photos, videos, old documents, apps and dummy accounts. Whatever is left - sort them out in folders and put necessary labels. Same goes with your mobile phones - delete old messages and delete old phone numbers or update them. You will be amazed by the amount of space that you can free up in your gadgets! 


2) LEARN A NEW SKILL ONLINE

I have been working as online teacher for about 8 years now, trust me, you CAN learn online! This is such a great time to be alive - we got massive information at our finger tips, thanks to WIFI! There are way too many YouTube tutorials or blogs about your favorite things or hobbies - whatever it may be. I'm 90% sure that someone has already put up a content about what you want to learn. Just go to GOOGLE and type whatever you want to learn. It's that simple, yet we claim to not have enough time to do it or do some research about it during our 'normal' days. Well, now that we are in quarantine, how about sit down and seriously learn whatever it is that you want to learn? 

I've actually been telling myself for the longest time that I want to be a MANGA translator that's why I want to learn Japanese. Call me crazy but I really want to get paid to read MANGA! That has been one of my dreams since I was a kid. I may or may not achieve it, but I finally took a step towards it and took free online self-study course on Minato, a Japanese e-Learning website. A lot of companies are doing their best to offer free online courses now that people are stuck at home. Don't take that for granted! Go ahead and search for free courses or simply watch tutorial videos on YouTube.


3) LISTEN TO PODCASTS

If you ask the people I work or hangout with in real life, they would tell you that I always have my earplugs on almost everywhere I go. Sometimes, I use them to listen to music, but sometimes I use them to listen to my favorite podcasts. While I love watching videos of my favorite vloggers, sometimes it's just not possible to do so, especially if you're walking out in the streets, let's say during rush hour. So, I listen to their podcasts instead, then I can continue to learn or feel entertained at the same time! I don't really engage much in small talks though I often come off as snotty because of that. But honestly, I'd rather learn something that I can use in real life instead of getting useless information during my breaks or downtime. 

Let me share with you some of my favorite podcasts:

* The Dan Lok Show
* The Minimalists by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus
* Detail Therapy by Amy Landino
* Perfectly Imperfect by Christine and Regina
* The Gary Vee Audio Experience by Gary Vaynerchuk
* The Mel Robbins Show
* The Tony Robbins Podcast
* On Purpose with Jay Shetty


4) READ!

Seriously, when was the last time you've held and read an actual book? Don't worry I asked myself the same question. I do have this habit of buying books at second-hand bookstores and letting them just pile up in my dorm room because "I don't have time to read them" during my working week. Sounds familiar? Well, the Universe finally gave me a chance to stop using that excuse. So, I recently chose four books from my stash that I would like to finish reading by the end of the quarantine period. I even made a vlog for that, so if you have some time, I would appreciate it if you can check out my YouTube channel and subscribe to it while we're at it! Please click here to watch my vlog about my current reading list.   

If you don't have a stash of books anywhere around your house, magazines would do just fine! If you still don't have them, then use online books and online magazines and just start reading USEFUL information. You have to make sure to take a break from the disappointing news about the world. We have to limit our exposure to media as much as we can because getting worried about the situation won't do us any good. I did a few things so I can focus on reading - I turned off my notifications, I logged off from Facebook and I just religiously avoid anything that's triggering my anxiety. I encourage you to take this time to only read things that are good for your soul. Read motivational stories, inspirational quotes or even funny quotes or memes! Honestly, I've been only been posting funny memes on my social media for the last few days.  


5) WRITE! 

This seems to be another lost art, just like reading real books. With the incredible technology that we have nowadays, it's pretty rare to find people writing on real paper and using real pens. I don't know about you, but I really loved journaling way before I started blogging. I was one of those grade school kids who used to keep a diary with lock and key. As a kid without much friends to talk to, my diaries were pretty much my best friends. I love how I can write about how my day went and whatever is bothering me and it's fun to look back and read them years after. Writing down my thoughts has this certain calming effect that really helps me get that laser-focus and it helps me to become more aware of my priorities. If I simply try to take a mental note of everything that I need to do, I usually get overwhelmed and I end up not doing any of them. But, if I sit down for a few minutes and make an actual list of the things that I need to do, I would realize there's not much to begin with. And if I decide to do them by batch - the better! What I'm saying is to basically dump all that sh*t from your brain into a paper or journal so you can get a better perspective. 

If you'd like to use the notepad from your laptop, tablet or phone, that would be okay - sometimes I do that, too. But if you can actually write on a real paper, using real pen - that's better! Just start writing something, anything! You can write your TO-DO list for the next day, grocery shopping list, things you would like to do after the quarantine, things that you miss doing while you are in quarantine, names of people that you'd like to call, your goals for the second half of the year, the online articles that you'd like to read or the skills that you'd wish to hone since you have a lot of free time these days. WRITE THEM DOWN and save yourself from the mental fatigue!

These are the five things we can actually do to get a better grip of our current situation. It's not easy and I'm not asking you to wear rose-colored glasses here. No one deserves to lose his/her freedom, no one deserves to lose that monthly income or have his/her business ruined. No one deserves to be separated from his/her loved ones, but something big is happening to our world and I do believe it really is the darkest before the dawn, so, all we can do now is wait until everyone's ready for that change. I have no idea what's going to happen next, there would probably be changes in the government or in our lifestyle, but all I know is that the last 25 days were already recorded in history. It was tough and annoying but we're still here - alive and breathing. I can mention a lot of things that we can possibly do during this time, but I'd like to focus on the things that would be helpful for our mental health. I believe that if we can't think straight, we can't win this game. Motivating yourself is never easy, especially in the middle of a world crisis, but it is doable. Make sure to pick what's applicable for you and take even baby steps to pick yourself up if ever you're feeling down these days. 

I hope you found something useful from the list, and if you do have other tips that you'd like to share, I'd love to hear them! Feel free to leave your comments down below and I'll get back to you as soon as I can! 

Stay safe, yo!

Comments

  1. ❤️❤️❤️
    I wonder if i already suggested this book, never split the different by chris voss..

    Its a good one💯

    Read it free on pdf drive . Com

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    1. Hi there! Thank you for reading, Gigi! Really appreciate the comment...and yes I think you have suggested this book by Chris Voss. I have to find time to read that! Haha~ Stay safe and healthy during the ECQ!

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  2. Wow ang galing nyo po ma'am 😊

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    1. Hello there! Thank you SO much for reading this post! I hope you are doing well during the quarantine period! STAY SAFE!!!

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  3. This is a very good read dude. it's quite longer than your usual blogs but it's a valuable piece of content that seeks to help us cope with the Covid19 pandemic situation :) so thank you for writing and sharing it with us :)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you SO much for making time to read this! It means a lot to me when people actually respond or say that they can relate with my posts. The entire world is in chaos right now, but in my own little way, I want to shed some light or make this tough situation a little easier to bear for those who are feeling paralyzed or de-motivated.

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  4. Nice post! Stay cheerful always! Hope to see you soon :)

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    1. Hey Roxanne! Yay! Thanks for making time to read this post. Yessss! I'm looking forward to another tea or coffee session! Miss ya! Stay safe! (The exclamation points though~ haha)

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