Amara Shah
Schools, colleges and universities are closed to stop the spread of Corona virus. Also, all sporting events are cancelled, restaurants, theatres and hang outs are closed and self quarantine is being strongly advised and enforced (to quite an extent) even if there is no sign of illness.
While staying indoors will lead to “flatten the curve” of COVID19 and hence will help lessen the pressure on our healthcare system it will definitely lead to boredom and mental health issues particularly for those who are living alone.
So what can be done to kill the boredom and have mental peace too?
We have a few suggestions for you…
Eat healthy:
Eat all the right things. Avoid junk food and go for a natural and healthy life style. Eating healthy is important for your immune system. This is the time we can make ourselves and our children accustomed to home cooked healthy meals.
Look after your & your loved ones physical and mental health:
Apart from offering your daily rituals, give a try to yoga and meditation. The other day I saw a post in a WhatsApp group saying “can’t go outside, go inside” referring to meditation and self awareness. There are plenty of Youtube videos for yoga and other exercises. You can get guidelines from them.
Don’t just eat and lounge all day. Go for a walk, only if your local authorities and guidelines allow and don’t forget to maintain social distancing and other safety measures e.g. don’t forget to wear mask.
Our elders who were accustomed to go for a walk and to the mosques five times a day and sit on the shops and at the corner of the street with their fellows, are now home bound. This is the time the young people at home have to pay attention and take a step forward to make their elders busy through various activities.
• This is the high time to introduce them to technology. They have to be technology oriented. Not the hi-tech systems but you can introduce them to FaceTime, Zoom, WhatsApp video calls and many other easy to use video calls apps. They would love to stay in contact with their children, relatives and friends. Create some online groups for them.
• Introduce them to gardening and let them experience various tips and tricks. If there is no lawn this is time to consider vertical gardening.
• Elders at your home have witnessed the evolution of music. Trace back their favourite music and let them enjoy the tunes, especially the folk music that can take them to nostalgia and good old moments.
• Explore the elderly people interest. Find out what kind of entertainment they enjoy the most. Make it available. Dust off their favourite books and read to them. Take out old instruments from your stores and play for them. Make sure no one gets disturbed in the neighbourhood.
• Time has come when you the younger lot have to walk in elderly people’s lives. Sit with them and talk about their life’s experiences. Know them more. Let them be more expressive and be a good listener to them. If you feel your parents, grandparents or other elderly people at your home are inclined to religious activities, find out the relevant YouTube videos and podcasts and play for them. The younger lot has to take the burden in these difficult yet interesting times.
But as for as the mental and physical health is concerned people of every age need to focus on it. Go for exercise. You can see plenty of online workout videos that can teach you how to exercise at home. Do the burpeys and push ups, jumping jacks and squats. Let the children do the same. You can do these exercises with your kids, they will find it more exciting when the elders at home get involved into some activities with them.
Reading:
If you find reading interesting, you are the luckiest one in these times. Dust off War and Peace and Decline and Fall of Roman Empire or other huge volumes which you always decorated in your book shelves and would never get time to go through them. This is the best time. Have a look.
There are plenty of books available online. On each and every subject. Whatever you find relevant, download and dive deep into reading. If reading is boredom for you, you can listen to audiobooks.
Writing and Journaling:
We got the masterpieces from the pens of those who were prisoned. Their days of isolation produced some wonderful books. Even children wrote diaries during world wars and penned down their experiences and painted a picture of those difficult yet interesting times on history’s canvas. We have a biggest opportunity. We are living in unusual times. start journaling and writing about daily experiences of quarantine. Not only writing, you can do vlogs as well. Ah, God bless technology!
Watch movies:
Watch your all time favourite movies again. Go for binge watching favourite and new seasons. Our previous generations always bragged about the drama serials of their times. Play them on Youtube. Let the elders enjoy their favourite old P.T.V (Pakistan Television) dramas and films.
Cook yourself:
Hope you people have given paid leave to your servants, if not please do that immediately. And plunge into daily home chores. Cook your favourite dishes and bake some cup cakes and brownies. Don’t put the entire burden of chores upon women’s shoulders. Help the women in cooking or cook yourself entirely
Organize Your Room:
Make your bed, wash your washroom, and do the dusting. Organize your cupboards and vacuum your bedroom. This will lessen the burden from already burdened women of the house. And trust me, you will feel better. Give it a try.
Paint, Draw and tell Stories:
Paint and draw with your children. This will keep them busy and you can also experience a new skill. Tell them stories. Your children shouldn’t be having much exposure to screen. There are various activities you can do with them to keep yourself and them busy.
Play the word games with them.
Explain things to them. Children ask too many questions. Don’t ignore them. You have plenty of time and there is no better use of this time than spending with your kids in a productive way.
Make confessions:
Pour your heart out and be expressive. Don’t hold back. Share your feelings. Make all the confessions you ever wanted to. This will lessen the burden from your heart.
There are so many other ways to make your quarantine a better experience. As Charles Dickens says; “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness’.
Let our perspective make it best of these worst times and let us come out of this period wiser than before.
