sometimes, it’s the small things that matter
“ON THE STEPS TO THE COTTAGE” (1859–1941) — PEDER MORK MØNSTED
“EVERYONE ELSE SEEMS RIGHT AT HOME, BUT I HAVEN’T GOT THERE YET”
Staying at home all day might not be easy for some people, including me. As a person who likes to go out, be productive, and prefer to spend the day with friends, this “stay-at-home-thing” doesn’t really suit me. Although at first, the idea of doing nothing for the next three months was pretty okay for me, but then I gradually realized being not productive stresses me even more. It makes me sounds kind of depressing, so I promise myself to spend this quarantine and uni break as useful as possible. The first one month was okay, I enjoyed all of the spaces and time being alone, then I suddenly started missing the routines; missing meeting up with people, missing being in class, missing dressing up, missing hugs, missing going out without a mask on and breathing freely.
Many unfortunate things also happened; trips got canceled, music events were postponed, some relationships didn’t work out. I understand that maintaining your relationship stable during this time requires more effort (it might be harder to understand the other person’s needs) and more ongoing attention. For me, feeling content in any kind of relationship is the key. I admit that it is also hard to maintain the sparks and vibes, but I tried to embrace all the daily conversations and video calls (even it gets dry sometimes). I learn to appreciate and engage their existence more and always be grateful for it.
“FOCUS ON THE THINGS YOU CAN CONTROL AND STAY ON TRACK”
LOOK AT THE BIGGER PICTURE AND LIVE IN THE MOMENT
The number of infected people is rising every single day. Therefore, this continuous ‘PSBB’ is something we can’t avoid, so we should try to accept the situation and keep moving on.
Quarantine makes me spend most of the time with myself (that I didn’t have a lot of chances to before), binge-watching series and movies that I didn’t have the time before to finish it and learning new skills. Basically anything to make the most out of my free time. As for me, the past five months means self-improvement. I finally got a lot of time to take care of myself, learned to do something that I’m interested in, made a personal blog (you can visit mine at https://medium.com/@marechale), published some articles, and learned new languages. I even do workout for a whole month (which was impossible before), got an intern program to a company, participated in online courses, and gained some certificates. I even learned some basic photoshop and illustrator and now at least know how to use it.
Turns out, it is not really bad to try to live the moment and cope with the situation instead of contemplating and feeling bad towards what’s happening right now. Nobody knows exactly when all of this will be over. It is something that I can’t control (well, except for the wearing mask and social distancing part). I try to focus more on how I stay on track and adapt to the situation where things keep changing and unsettled. I decided to actualize a couple of things that I haven’t prioritized on my ‘to-do-list’ and even reconnected with some friends I haven’t seen in a few months back.
KEEP GOING AND MAINTAIN THE GOOD ENERGY
Everyone is having a hard time. The urge of meeting friends and going on a vacation is really hard to resist. However, looking at the bigger perspective sometimes is necessary to stay on track and keep our mind stable during this difficult time. As for me, I utilized this opportunity to develop, and learn to appreciate every small thing from now on, by keeping in touch with your loved ones, appreciate every hug and every meeting. It’s small things that matter the most.
So, if you feel lost during this time, try to focus on yourself instead. Keep going, start doing something that you have always wanted to do before (because you have a lot of time now, no more excuses) and enjoy the new routines. Once this is over, you will thank yourself for surviving and deciding to keep going from this chaotic year.
I want to remind all of you that it is okay if you still didn’t do anything. It’s okay if, in the past five months, all you did was only lay in bed and watch movies all day. I did that too. I felt lost as well in the beginning. But, forgive and give yourself a shout out because this year is definitely not easy at all. Also, for those of you who are going through hard times and don’t really have time to look after yourself or even get some rest right now, don’t forget to breathe, okay?
