Lockdown Malarky

Times are tough and the entire world is anguished about a micro organism that seems to destroy it, one at a time, in front of its eyes. Completely perplexed by its inability to find a cure yet, best brains around the world are still scrambling to find a vaccine against the deadly pathogen. Our country is locked down, and all of us are bound to the confines of our homes. In fact the whole world seems to be on a lock down mode. 

Not easy to keep the spirits up and be cheerful. But, that’s the only thing which will keep us going. We need to stay positive – easier said than done. Just like everyone of you, being stressed, worried and anxious, initially I too was a bit apprehensive. Coping at a time of passive distress unknown to mankind, was not easy for me either. 

Here is what I am consciously doing to survive this lock down period. Simple ways that have got me going so far.

• Uncertainty brings along fear of the unknown. Conscious decision of not being afraid of what can go wrong, instead looking forward to what can go right. Simply put, I have stopped attending to my fears.
• Being grateful for the little blessings of life. On a roll with my gratitude Journal. Earlier this year, I started with my gratitude journal and its helping me sail through this period positively. You can read about my gratitude journal here
• Endorphins trigger positivity and I ensure they are released in abundance in my body. Being active physically has been an essential part of my lifestyle, but the walk in the trail is curtailed by the lock down. That has not deterred me from working out at home, following Anna Renderer, from Strong by Zumba and Luis from SELF, both help in no equipment workouts. Our Elliptical on the terrace, almost a decade old, and none paid two hoots to, all these days, has gained prominence in our lives out of nowhere. The Zumba group that I am part of at my work place, have formed a virtual group and thrice every week, we dance to some peppy numbers, virtually. I mirror my laptop to the big screen and watch my Zumba trainer dance. Jay and Sudha also join in and its fun unlimited. J and D are amused. The point is sweat and hormones help to stay positive.
• The travelling time that I save upon, since I am working from home, which is a considerable 90 to 100 mins a day, is used fruitfully for reading or writing the blog and that’s the reason for the recent influx of posts on the blog, in the month of March.
• Watch what’s going on around the world, just once in a day, for information sakes. Watching news channels was one of the prime sources of anxiety for me. Curbing it helped quite a bit.
• Chats, group video calls with friends, family and cousins across the world has brought in smiles and happiness during the times of distress. Builds in resilience to all the negativity around. In some cases I have come to realize there are friends and others who look up to us, and we are their hope for staying positive. So during conversations, I purposely avoid the obvious negativity and bring up the brighter elements.
• Attending online sessions, webinars and keeping my learning alive. Perspectives from others and learning keeps the excitement of life and helps to beat the gloom around.
• Engage the entire family in cooking and other chores. J and I have always believed in doing our own chores, especially after Dennu finished up his schooling. Until then, it was difficult to manage without house help. Also J has never been the kind to shirk away from house hold chores, including cooking. Rarely have I had to cook, without him. These days, we try and get Dennu to cook with and for us too, ( he is a good cook btw). Just a couple of days back J and I tried our hand at baking, and managed to bake some garlic bread with mixed herbs and it came out well. One of the days last week, Dennu cooked our lunch – Pasta and eggs. Dalgona coffee, the latest internet craze is in our list too.
• Spend time with my pet babies. The WFH option allows me to dawdle around and enjoy the time with them and they look happier.
• Pray together as a family. First time ever we went through our mass, online. It was not bad folks.
• Have a schedule everyday and follow it through. All three of us get into our assigned work places, to each their own rooms and meet up for lunch and tea breaks. Dennu likes some solitary time for himself, but still its nice to have him around and engage with him. Inclusive, yet mutually exclusive during work times 😊
• DIY projects – one of the projects just got over. A post on it coming up soon. Smiling up to my ears. The others are in different stages. Some in which I am involved and some I am just in advisory position. The sense of accomplishment when these get done are immense and fills one up with happy hormones.

We are all in this together folks. In fact, the whole world and lets hope for the best to happen to our fragile world. and this too shall pass.

My simple prayer is that we all become more humane than what we were before, and then, we would have learnt our lessons.