Billions of people. One question.
“How can we spend our indefinite quarantine days while keeping sane?”
The main problem of staying at home is to lose your perception of time. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, you had a planned week: from working hard to tgif parties. Now, you have plenty of time at home and it is your choice to be either a couch potato or a smart cookie ! Here are our advices — what we are doing to spend our quarantine as efficient as possible.
- Start with making yourself a schedule which helps you eliminate the loss of time perception. Make brainstorming on your own. Write down everything, then prioritize them. You need to organize not only your working hours but also your leisure to balance your time for other activities as well. Scheduling also helps you stop procrastination. There are some schedule maker apps and websites. Or, you may choose to do it yourself. No excuses anymore !
- Set routines based on your schedule. For instance, do not check coronavirus news as soon as you wake up. Nobody wants to start a day in bad mood. Instead, do some stretching and workout. Try to have a mindful morning routine. Keep yourself physically and mentally healthy. Get dressed as you used to do before you start studying or working. Getting out of your comfort zone is essential to be fully productive. Another timesaver is to have some of the works done simultaneously. We are listening audiobooks while we are cooking, and watching the news while eating. In this way, you will gain significant time for later. You can get free audiobooks from here and here.
- Adapt your workspace as home office. Don’t work on kitchen counter with dirty dishes or don’t study with laptop on your lap. Freelancers know well that you should have a designated space for working from home. Think creative and organise a lovely working space. You can move your desk to a brighter spot. Make sure you empty the desk before you sit down and don’t overcrowd with redundant stuff. Use a timer and take a break when you need it. There are some scientific methods about taking breaks. Analyze all and choose the best for you with trials. These small changes help you to stay fully focused.
- Find yourself new habits and hobbies that you want to have for a long time. If you get used to doing it repeatedly, you can carry on in your everyday life when the pandemic is over. Having a checklist will motivate you to spare more time to your new habit / hobby on a daily basis. Start with small goals to not get anxious. You can set bigger goals day by day.
- Join an architectural competition. There are dozens of them nowadays. Keeping your practise and critical thinking alive has huge importance on your profession for near future.
- Try not to stick on the screen to watch your favorite movies or series again and again. We know that lying down and chilling is charming, but you should limit the time for watching. Or, you can make that time useful with movies and documentaries on design and architecture. Here is a compilation from ArchDaily, dezeen, arch2o, Rethinking the Future and archisoup.
- Don’t be a hoarder, be a reader ! It’s such a convenient period to read your books which you have piled centuries ago. Get a cloth, dust them out and start reading. Here is what ArchDaily, arch2o, The Architect’s Guide, Architizer and archisoup suggest architects to read.
- Make your holiday plans already. Creating your own bucket list will motivate you and make you feel hopeful about future in this pessimistic period.
Above all, take your time to relax. Give a break from everything. Don’t judge yourself for the past or present. Cherish this amazing isolation. And remember, you may never have this kind of luxury again after everything goes back to normal.
Wish you all healthy days. Stay safe.