Living along a pandemic
Disclaimer: reach out to professionals or friends if you need help. If any of these points makes you uncomfortable, please stop reading.
https://www.thelivelovelaughfoundation.org/helpline
https://www.instagram.com/to.a.happier.world/
We’re living in troubled times, far from our best mates, nothing to look forward to, in an unending loop of waking up, lazing around and going back to sleep. There’s no option of going out because of the pandemic, so we have to make do with being at home. Here I’m writing some things that will, hopefully, make the lockdown easier for us.
Talk to friends and family
Your friends and family. When was the last time you had a hearty conversation with them? There’s the cousins you only used to meet during summer vacations at granny’s and the friends from school you’d only exchange smiles with.
On this planet with a population of 7 billion, we meet about a few thousand and get to know about a hundred people very well. That’s less than 0.00001% of the total. So when we met a person and liked them, made an effort to get to know them we can surely keep in touch.
Play online games with friends and family. Chuck that ego (or laziness) and hit up those old friends. Ignore your scared guts and talk to the people that you’re interested in (:3).
Work on your skills — personal and professional
Consider your main purpose in life: to bring food to the table. Learning new things has never hurt anyone (except for “that’s what she said” jokes — they hurt my friends). We learn something new because we want to reduce the amount of time we waste on it.
The point here isn’t about being the jack of all trades, rather a semi-master of a few.
In the technical skills tree there’s courses and certifications you can do to get a head-start and grow your career. Programming languages, new technologies and umm… stuff.
Moving on to hobbies, there’s so much more to learn about your art. Be it photography, painting or making music. For instance, in photography you can study about color theory, artificial lights, etc. Taking a course in an art form lets you learn about how others work, parts of which you can adopt.
If you think you’re already amazing at what you do and want to monetize your work, then learn the business side of it. I know so many people that freelance — sketch artists, painters, photographers, etc. — as a side hustle.
When it comes to other skills, there’s countless things you can be learning. There’s fitness, public speaking, investment and finance, etc. Your typing speed too!
Meet people online
Discord , Reddit, Instagram, Twitter, CLUBHOUSE!!! (slyly drops in at the right time)
Sick of talking to the same people everyday? Meet people that follow the same art forms as you, are in the same profession or have similar aspirations as you. Sure, you’ll be uncomfortable at first, but you can meet so many people out there. Best thing about online interactions is that you can always quit if you don’t like it.
Do things that make you happy
Sing your feel good songs. Express yourself — make art, write blogs, make videos. Read your favorite books. Binge watch shows. Cook the trending dishes and make Dalgona coffee. Watch the sunset.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed in these days. It’s fine to take a break. Get away from social media. Do what you think is best for you. Remember to reward yourself. Because you’re the only one that knows how you got here. Push yourself to get better. But remember to get some rest. Take a break.
Until next time,
Anirudh Pai
