By: Maria Sofia Dimaculangan
3 weeks of Quarantine.. I think?
It is quite difficult to tell the time and date now. There’s nothing much to do other than lay down, sit, sleep, watch something on your phone, talk to a few people, eat, sit, then sleep. It’s the same routine over and over again. It’s only been a few weeks and we’re already missing the outside world. What if the Quarantine period gets extended? What now? We die? I hope not! These past few days I was able to make every bit of time worth it. My mom has been doing her constant vlogs, (#Sweet Caroline is her channel in case you wish to see hehe.) my brother has been doing a lot of working out, my dad and I had been working most of the time. We play board games on some nights, maybe watch a movie or a TV show if we need rest from the news and even doing Google Assistant’s mini games. I am sort of treating these days as a form of “meditation” or “therapy”. I do a lot of yoga and a lot of intense sleeping so I can catch up on my lost routine. Honestly, it is a combination of a good and bad effect on me.
Some people cannot live in this “being secluded” experience for an hour. How about those who cannot live through it for a month? I, on the other hand, have mastered the art of Introversion and being alone in isolation is probably a dream come true. I feel happier when I am in this so-called “solitary confinement”. More than you ever know.
However I was not exactly mentally prepared to be isolated at home. There is constant stress at home that I could not deal with easily. In cases like this, I need to prepare myself in order to handle situations at home. Otherwise, I’d end up breaking down for days. Working at home maybe the most beautiful thing anyone can experience to just escape the constant traffic and rush hours. But for me, it is sometimes a nightmare. There are moments where I am being nagged and pressured to work in the middle of my school works. It is a struggle to keep up. Before, I used to spend all night working from 12am to 5am. Then, I have to prepare for school in the next hours. Some days were sleepless but bearable. Some days were miracles. Most of them are just appalling. Now, I may have a more flexible schedule, but being stuck in a place where I am stressed out the most is killing me. I tend to have more depressive moments nowadays and it becomes unbearable because I feel more stuck. I try my best to get distracted, deal with my emotions and act normal, but I can’t do it all.
E-learning has become a great distraction and finishing some school works early enables me to adapt more to the current situation. We don’t want to spend all day stuck into something that is making us constantly worry. We need other information in our heads. It needs to be filled up with a different brand of gas or a different pizza topping. As much as possible, we shouldn’t let the crisis get to us so much. If we wish to work out with certain problems, I guess this is the right time for it.
As a matter of fact, being quarantined in your own home may have its moments, but it really depends on you on how to make it worth it. As I have mentioned, I was able to speculate and ponder about life more. If this is the endgame, am I going to regret something? Have I really made every moment worth it? Did I enjoy life too much or too less? If I turned the boat around, am I going to find a better stream? If I rode the plane instead, am I going to enjoy the first-class experience? If I traveled on land, is the long drive going to make my butt hurt? All these questions of what if’s makes life interesting. But if we keep asking, is it going to be worth it? Aside from life, maybe death is also a good and satisfying experience. If I died today, who would miss me? Am I going to get the funeral I wanted? Maybe I should set up a funeral plan for myself too. If I died last year just like how I hoped, am I going to regret it? I think I will. If I die next year, will people miss me? Should I die slowly or painfully? Or go do the fast way? Are the lives of the people around me would be better if I didn’t exist? I think so.
But no one can really tell. Which reminds me of an episode of The Fairly Odd Parents the other day where Timmy wished he didn’t exist and the lives of people around him were extremely great. I guess that episode spoke to me. Just thinking about it now, maybe experiencing this lockdown at home is sort of a blessing in disguise.
So I can get closer with my inner thoughts and deal with all the voices in my head. Even in my head, there’s Social Distancing, but sometimes you can’t help it and you just break the rules in your head. You have to work things out mentally before you deal with the external problems.
If we treat life like the way we treat this pandemic situation, we will be losing a lot. If we keep hording these masks that protect us from any harmful exposure and the alcohol to kill the so-called germs in our heads, we become selfish to the people around us. If we start panic buying and leaving nothing else behind, we will be regretting that we took so much we never left anything for others. If we don’t practice Social Distancing, we can never learn the value of being independent and alone. My #1 concern is how we can be mentally ready in this Covid-19 situation. In times of crisis, we need back-up plans. We need to be prepared no matter how silly a situation is. As of now, we should spend the extra time speculating and making sure we are mentally healthy throughout the whole weeks that we will be spending under lockdown. We need to make sure that whatever happens, we are mentally prepared for any surprising and extreme circumstances and challenges that we shall be facing starting tomorrow. Just like Pizza.. When they come out of the oven, it is always the greatest experience despite the long wait. We need to be prepared when devour the toppings and its cheesy goodness. Is it going to be burning hot? maybe it needs more heat? or the dough is raw? What is your next step?
That is the question that we need to answer.
COMM2B 