Quarantine Learnings

I have been meaning to write about how the pandemic is significantly reshaping our thoughts and lives, especially being confined in four walls. The quarantine has strengthened and shattered some of our core beliefs. The constant shift from good to bad and then to the worst moods has helped me reshape the way I perceive everything around. As Arundhati Roy would call the pandemic 'a portal to a new world', it firmly depends on whether we wish to enforce the good over the evil in such testing times. It took me more than a month to rewire my thoughts to come in terms with the present reality, but I could. Here are a few of my hearty takeaways I am eager to share with the world.

• We are social beings and we would crawl desperately now into online spaces to seek attention. Social media can mend or break us in unimaginable ways. News channels focus solely on one topic. The more hours spent on screen can be mentally challenging and sleep-depriving. Most of us might have picked a form of art and possibly share it in social media. It is well and good as far as it is not intervening in our daily lives nor shifting our source of validation from self to humans behind the other side of the screen.
• Time and again, it is easy to be consumed in a set of negative feelings ranging from fear of contracting the virus to generalized anxiety disorder waking up to the same routine every single day. We have to keep going. Routines are good. Something we missed in our previous life. But there is no going back to normal. We need to be receiving of the new changes and being able to find ways to break the monotony. I agree it could be anything like learning a new form of art or chasing a lost hobby but the plan in place is for a longer time. We need to embrace this change no matter what.
• There is a charm in working on something secretly. I feel a certain kind of magic in keeping secrets. It could be anything. As we are refrained from connecting socially than before, this is also a good time for unlocking surprises in our lives. It could be about working towards a future goal or something that you always wanted but couldn't. The belief in the idea that nobody is judging you except yourself gives you the space to grow at times like this.
• Dealing with toxic people at home is quite a big task. Two differently wired sets of people having to stay at home is frustrating. The only choice you're left with is the tougher choice. I can relate to the intensity of mental breakdowns and periods of depression a toxic bond can create. But between the choice to breakdown and the choice to keep our calm and keep doing our thing without letting the emotions of the toxic person(s) overrule, we must manage to choose the latter. We have to create or carve our own space of goodness in the darkness they have created. It is certain that we cannot change a part or the whole of them. Their ego and unhealed trauma wouldn't let them understand anything you're convincing and rightly influencing upon them. We would constantly have them pointing fingers at us, blaming us, gaslighting us and even influencing to gain power over us. As far as we are aware that this is not concern or love or affection or an honest worry, we have to keep drawing boundaries within a home. It is easy to say to cut ties, ignore or walk away. With family, these actions cannot be enforced in immediate effect. It definitely takes time and in lockdown, there is no choice but to be a part of it.
• Let me normalize unproductive days. If you just had a week in these times of adversity where you haven't done anything interesting/meaningful/creative/thoughtful, it is just perfectly fine. I suddenly see people who are feeling restless sitting in confined spaces and are consciously making use of this time, which is great in itself. Let's not burden those who are majorly impacted due to this lockdown - the migrant workers, those with toxic family bonds, those big number of them confined in one room, those who are still figuring out how to adjust to the change. We are going through a time where the government is monitoring our movement to effectively control the pandemic by driving us to integrate and cooperate in practicing the necessary. There must be a lot of time but it is also normal to make use of it only if you are motivated and up to do so. Take it one day at a time. Let us just be us.
• Quarantine is globally uniting the world in panic, fear and worries. Some of us have a need to desperately connect and some of us might be just the opposite. Let’s respect each other’s space and time. 
• Physical strength adds to the well-being of our mental health too. If nothing at all, the best we can do is stress less and not get consumed in the fear bubbled by the media day after day. Eat healthy. Exercise. Keep believing even when it seems impossible that this too shall pass.