Hi everyone!
It’s been over half a year since I’ve barely left the house. YAY! When the pandemic first started I was pretty excited not to have to wake up at 7AM, to avoid 2 hours of commute every day, etc. Fast forward a few months I noticed that a lot of built up energy and lack of social contact started to place me in a pretty terrible position mentally — I became paranoid, moody, I turn down a lot of occasions to just go and explore, and sometimes I felt like the walls are closing in on me. Some of these emotions/conditions still resurface periodically, so to combat those I do one of a few things.
And I decided to share those.I’m pretty sure this subject has been milked dry at this point, but if these might help a few of souls out there, I’ll type ’em down.
1. Exercise.
I try to have a serious exercise at least once every 3 days — otherwise my head starts to go foggy, I don’t think like a rational human being, and my body aches for some activity. Doing a HIIT exercise helps with that AND helps me remain somewhat in shape.
I went to my gym the other day and met a few people I used to do group exercises with before the pandemic. I received a few compliments on how well I maintained my shape. Those mates gained a considerable amount of pounds. That might not be much, but to a pretty self-consious introverted dumb*ss like me that meant a lot. I remind myself of that interaction everytime I feel lazy to lift my bum up.
2. Separate work space from play space
What I noticed a lot of people do is work at their computer till 6, then minimize their spreadsheet and watch a movie without even changing their position on the chair. That ain’t healthy.
I won’t provide any sources purely because of my laziness and a half-arsed approach to writing blogs (Google hasn’t shut down yet, use it — it’s free!!!) , but you definitely should.
What I did is stretch a line in the corner of my living room out of duct tape and put everything work related there — a desk, chair my work computer, peripherals and a fake plant. This is my work place. I don’t touch it outside of work hours, I barely leave it during work hours.
Before doing so I would game, eat, nap, create, post memes all in the same area of the house. Which exacerbated the points in case 1 even more.
3. Meditation
If you told me 2 years ago that I would start taking spirituality, meditation and mental wellbeing seriously — I would laugh you off. It might stem from my insecuritites, or the fact that I was brought up in an area where mental illness is still treated with a “suck it up and get back to work”. Don’t know, don’t wanna know.
With a TV in the background, 3 screens staring into your soul (one of them filled with outdated memes), my headphones playing music —a necessity for me while coding — I can’t help but feel like I’m overstimulated. The amount of energy drained by lunch is unsustainable, which causes me to get tired even more.
Anyway, whenever I feel stressed, tired, or anxious (more often than not) I try to practice some meditation using mindfulness apps on the playstore. I’m no guru, my mind wanders away every time, just like the intro session on every app says, but I feel like those 10 minutes of reduced stimuli, trying to concentrate on my breath, being in the moment helps with the stress, which shouldn’t have even been there in the first place if you really think about it.
4. Maintain social norms.
It’s a fact that we act differently online, rather than real life — because of the anonymity the internet provides, the time you have to rethink your answer, etc — you become a smug, confident human being with no issues whatsoever.
We both know that ain’t the case chief.
I was chatting with a friend one time, and something pretty unusual happened — we said goodbye to each other once we were done with our conversation for the day.
It’s hard to express what the feeling was — it felt not as if I was staring at a screen, but rather as if we were waving at each other after a day spent together.
During a period where social norms seize to exist, its moment like these that remind of the fact other human beings are out there that might be feeling just as miserable occasionally.
Since then I try to maintain that — say “hi” before, “bye” after chatting to a person, avoid “conversation killers” like smiley faces without context as a reaction to a gif, etc — basically I started to try and mimic the way I would act in real life.
I’m not a hundred percent sure how this statement fits in with the rest of list, but eh.
5.Pick up a hobby
Do something fun, something outside your comfort zone, something that will stimulate you and provide valuable skills for the future.
In my case I picked up music production and a bit of cooking — 2 things I absolutely hated before I tried (still applies to cooking if it takes more than 20mins to prepare a meal though).
I’m not good in either of these by any stretch, but I do have a much better understanding of the music I listen to, how it was produced, what elements make the sound what it is, and whether I prefer a lot of chickpeas in my vegan curry or not.
Conclusion
Stay safe, stay home, do stuff, love each other.
See you later!
