If I could recommend anything to anyone, it would be to just sit there and think. Drop your phone, close the door, stop the music and just think. You don’t even have to think about anything at all! Just give your mind the opportunity to breathe and kick back into gear. Give your brain a moment to not be stimulated or distracted and let it start thinking for itself again. This is not only beneficial for your mentality but it must be healthy for your soul. Just reset and remember that you are smart and capable of so much and don’t have to rely on anything.
Something I learnt during my lockdown (due to Covid) when I was living in abroad was that for the first time, in this specific period of time – it’s okay for me to do nothing. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely kept myself busy what with my ridiculous amount of hobbies! But for the first time ever I didn’t have to feel guilty about just enjoying my time and not “working”.
This unique period of time taught me patience most of all. It took me a short while but eventually I taught myself to just slow down and if something wasn’t done right away, that’s okay. And especially right now because the world has currently hit the pause button. I read books and comics, I drew and I painted, I watched theatre and binge watched TV and films. I spoke on the phone for hours, I practice all kinds of yoga and dancing, I continued to learn a new language and attended some random classes online. I even learnt how to finally enjoy cooking and sometimes I even just did nothing but listen or sing along to music for hour!
I want to point out again that I completely understand that my circumstances are not the case for so many but because of the situation I had been put in, I told myself not to take it for granted and make the most of this once in a lifetime opportunity of forceful rest and no responsibilities. And I would have given this advice to anyone else in my position. I won’t feel guilty about being blessed with the circumstances I was in because I would never want anyone else to do the same. And with that mindset, I wanted to come into this hotel quarantine as an opportunity of confinement and time to be spent. I chose to do all the important and necessary work in one go, in the first week of quarantine with little bit of delight in between, so that this second week could be all about forgetting time even exists!
My advice (that I am just putting out there with no intentions or expectations of anyone actually taking it), is if you know you are someone who is anxious or affected by uncertainty and disorder, just know that that’s okay. You are human and you are entitled to freak out. Everyone does! Just some people pull themselves out of it a lot easier. So have a freak out moment and let yourself feel all of your emotions. Then just start doing the stuff that you enjoy. NOT scrolling on the Internet! And if you don’t have any hobbies, I suggest that you just stare at some nature, any kind of nature – stargaze, pet an animal, people watch – or listen to good music and trust me, it’ll do wonders.