Over a month has passed since quarantine started across much of the United States.
It’s a strange feeling, like that of an ethereal daydream when your eyelids are heavy from exhaustion and your consciousness slowly surrenders to a mid-day nap.
Unlike the majority of the country, and the world for that matter, I worked from home even before quarantine, so my first reaction is to say that things are not all that different.
But, upon further reflection, I’ve realized that they actually are — they’re very different. Whether or not that’s good or bad, however, is hard to say.
That’s why I put pen to paper and vomited my thoughts into a notebook. Disgorging thoughts from your head is surprisingly therapeutic, just as spending some one on one time with the toilet is after a bout of food poisoning.
So this is a brief recapitulation of my life in quarantine so far.
If you’d like to do this exercise for yourself (which I highly recommend that you do) then simply answer these questions, preferably in written ink as journal prompts:
What was my routine like the week before quarantine?
What is my routine like now during quarantine?
How can I make the most of it going forward?
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Related: 5 Tips to Stay Productive While Working or Studying from Home
Related: 35 Self Care Journal Prompts To Help You In Rough Times
What was my routine like the week before quarantine?
Busy as usual, with a modicum of procrastination.
My typical week involves 50+ hours of sitting in front of my laptop writing, researching, and editing video.
Mostly this is done at home at my desk, but sometimes I escape to one of the local coffee shops. The change of environment and busy atmosphere help keep me focused.
When I’m not working my time is spent playing basketball and working out (at the gym or hot yoga studio), socializing with close friends, or watching StarCraft videos (a habit which I recently replaced with Better Breaks to boost my productivity.)
Otherwise, my routine before quarantine was pretty standard. I wasn’t “going out” and partying, and I ate food at home most days of the week.
What is my routine like now during quarantine?
I’m working the same amount of hours (if not more), but now all of my time is spent at home.
No more coffee shops and no more changes of environment to keep things “fresh.”
This had a pretty detrimental impact on my productivity at first — certainly more than I had anticipated.
I never truly realized how much I relied on physical activities like basketball (especially basketball) and yoga to keep me sane. Once those things went away I found myself stuck with bundles of energy and nowhere to put it.
Like a raging storm the energy became erratic, escaping as uncontrollable bolts of lightning here and there, striking down anything in their way.
Unfortunately, my own productivity bore the brunt of the abuse.
It was rough.
There were days when I didn’t leave my room except to warm up food and relieve myself. But I suppose this is to be expected during “unprecedented times” such as this — at least, that’s how I rationalized it.
What came next, though, I did not expect.
How can I make the most of it going forward?
Just as fertile soil burgeons verdant seedlings after a torrential storm, I developed new habits and routines.
Foremost among them is going for a walk outside as a break.
Related: How To Take Better Breaks That Will Make You More Productive
They aren’t long walks, maybe 15 to 30 minutes at most, but I feel a sense of mental clarity afterwards that I didn’t have before.
Furthermore, as another sign of mental clarity and focus, I’ve been reading more.
On the downside I’m still not playing basketball (because I can’t) and I haven’t introduced a commensurate replacement for physical exercise.
I tried running for a couple of days and that helped, but I didn’t stick with it. Perhaps I’ll revisit the practice tomorrow.
Regardless, I can make the most of this situation by nurturing my new habit seedlings (going for walks and increased reading) and hopefully carry them with me for the rest of my life.
Weeks, and even months, are fairly trivial amounts of time in comparison to the standard human lifespan. But with enough effort and focus I believe that I can turn these weeks of quarantine into true catalysts of change for the rest of my life.
Indeed, I’ve already begun.
Related: How To Take Better Breaks That Will Make You More Productive
Related: 35 Self Care Journal Prompts To Help You In Rough Times