We know that when you’re not working from home, you look a lot like the man in the picture. (I’m sure he’s scrolling on Instagram, looking at memes and waiting for a midnight snack to appear in front of him magically, you know, like all of us.)
We won’t act like we haven’t been in this position. In our last article, we revealed all our secrets about how work from home is for us. We spoke about how it’s not easy being confined at home. It can quickly become a cage for us. But here’s what we recommend to make it a bit better. Let’s get into the list!
1. SITCOMS
We know there’s an influx of shows on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Disney Plus, Apple TV (phew, that’s a lot of streaming apps!) But nothing can beat some good old sitcoms. We recommend Brooklyn-99 and The Good Place which are fairly new but are just as amazing. But if you’re the kind of person who loves the classics, you can always go back to the trusted ones. Friends and Modern Family are two shows Varsha Vemula , one of our counselling psychologists, swears by!
There’s a lot of thrillers and mysteries coming up but the reason we go back to these shows is simple: we need to laugh. In stressful times, we want to forget the bad in the world and enjoy the comfort a good sitcom can bring to us.
2. YUMMY FOOD AND DESSERTS!
Now that we have lots of time and groceries, we have to sharpen our cooking skills. (Or perfect our already good eating skills.)
Our protip #1: always start slow. Baking can look intimidating at first. You can always start by buying some ready-made cake mixes. It is easy and you’ll develop confidence to bake more.
3. LISTEN TO OLD SONGS
Now more than ever, is a good time to go back in time. We recommend listening to songs by Mohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar. Our team member and counsellor, Rafath Unnisa, says that she loves listening to songs from black-and-white movies and feel like she’s part of that movie.
Songs we recommend if you have no clue about old music: Lag Jaa Gale, Ajeeb Dastaan Hai Yeh, Chodh do Aanchal and Pyaar Hua Ikraar Hua (to get you started.)
4. DRESS UP!!
This is our favorite recommendation! Dressing up almost instantly lifts our moods. On days we feel blah, we wake up, put on some earrings and lipstick and viola! Instant mood lifter. Dressing up makes us feel more confident and powerful and helps us to tackle on our days. If you need some inspiration then you can always follow fashion bloggers. You don’t have to wear a saree to feel powerful. You can find power in the littlest of moments of wearing some bangles or a watch.
5. SLEEP.
Another amazing recommendation from our founder, Aarathi Selvan. Getting adequate amount of sleep is essential, even if we are at home all day. It does not mean we sleep at 4 AM and wake up at 12PM the next day (guilty!)
But the only way we can keep ourselves healthy is to treat our body well, which means we have to make sure our sleep schedules are not messed up.
Give your body a rest.
6. ONLINE COURSES
Because sites like edX are providing free online courses till the lock-down is over, why not take advantage of it? You can find any course that you want and you’ll be taught by professors at MIT and Harvard. Isn’t that amazing? There’s a plethora of options to learn from. Nida Mir, our psychologist, says that she is now pursuing an online poetry course and a character design course! How cool is that?
7. TRY POETRY
If you haven’t read a book during this time, it’s completely fine! We don’t have to read classics or novels. But what we do recommend is poetry. We love to read and write in all forms of poetry. It’s a therapeutic exercise that helps us cope with all our emotions and feelings. And we can’t get enough of it.
Poetry serves as a bridge between us and the world. The way we see it, it is an essential tool that helps us reconnect to ourselves and is a good way to reflect on everything around us. If you want to get started but don’t know how, here are some prompts to help you:
- Write about your day during a lock-down. What do you do? What makes you get up in the morning? Mention your favorite spot in your house.
- Write about your fears during this pandemic. Personify it. What does fear look like? What does fear eat? How do you want this fear to go away?
- What will you do once this lock-down is over? Where will you go first? Describe the feeling, the place and what’s on your to-do list.
One thing that has helped us is poetry and we’re sure that it will help you too. If you can, it is highly recommended to write in your mother-tongue. There’s something about writing in our own languages that make us feel grounded and closer to our roots. For me, personally, I prefer reading poetry in Urdu. The words pull me closer to myself and also I find that it is more intense in its feeling. Poems I recommend: Gulon mein Rang Bhare by Faiz (since it is summer now.) and Aapki Yaad Aati Rahi Raat Bhar by our very own Makhdoom Mohinuddin.
We hope you loved our list of recommendations.
Being in a lock-down is no fun but we can do little things to make ourselves happy. This list was carefully curated to make sure it is accessible to everyone and we genuinely believe that it can help you. Let us know on Instagram or Twitter if you have tried any of our recommendations. We would love to know!
And even if you find yourself not being in a state to do anything, it’s okay. While dealing with a health crisis, it’s important to make sure we are healthy. We are collectively dealing with trauma and taking care of ourselves is a priority. Just sleep and rest (like our founder says!) and make sure you eat well.
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Omaiha Walajahi
Writer
Pause for Perspective