Spending Quarantine the right way

Most of us are entering or going through the 2nd, 3rd or 4th week of lockdown. We have been forced to stay in our homes, but that’s all for our betterment only. The current picture of the situation is not very good but everyone is doing best to cop out with this situation. The picture has become clear that overcoming this pandemic will be a marathon and not a sprint. After all, Health and family are the first priority.

The lockdown has also affected our daily routines very much. Our routine life has been unbalanced tremendously. The main issue is how to make use of the day even by staying at home, many of us might have found various ways but I am writing down 10 tips by which we can be productive even during this quarantine.

Below are 10 steps by which you can use your time properly and keep going through this fight. The one thing to keep in mind is try to stick to the routine you used to follow during normal days and in addition try using these steps also. You will definitely become a better version of yourself when you get back to work. Here are the steps-

1-Keep in touch with your professional work– This basically means that you should be doing your work even staying at home. Many companies are following the routine of work from home. But still if you are not having any work, keep doing small things related to your professional life. Keep practicing your skills and upgrading the level of your work. This will definitely help you grow your value in the company and who knows this might land in your desired position that you have always dreamed off. 

2-Take care of your skin– Staying in doesn’t mean that your skin will not come in any contact with dust particles. They are present everywhere. Wash your face every day with face wash. Scrub it twice a week. Take baths daily. Do remember to wash your hands carefully before touching the face or nose.

3-Workout– Keep this on top in the list of things to do daily. Try various workouts every day and keep your body in a good shape. You don’t want to come out as a couch potato. Do it with your family to make it more fun, keep doing them every day even if you only do minimal. A 20-25 minute workout will be enough. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Your can do various exercises such as skipping, jumping, push-ups etc.

4-Read books or listen to podcasts– Books are your true friends. Books can be really helpful at this point of time. Read your favorite books it can be any genre- fiction, great personalities, romance or self-improvement. You can also read books online if you don’t have hard copies. There are various websites for e-books that can be read with a monthly or annual subscription. Also make your kids and family members read it, developing the habit of reading is very much beneficial in the life. One can also listen to podcasts. They can be listened anytime even during doing your work.

5-Treat yourself– Yes, you read that right. You can still treat yourself without stepping out. Cook yourself your favorite meals, try out different recipes. Have family breakfasts, lunch and dinner. If you’re good at cooking start uploading video tutorials. Let your talent be spread in world.

6-Devote time to yourself– Have an amount of time just for yourself. Devote it to do the things that your personally love or follow your passion/hobbies. Be it be dancing, singing or anything else. Just do it. Study have found that doing things you love helps in the relieving of your stress to an extend amount.

7-Walk for 5 minute every hour– Most of us spend the time by sitting. This might be relaxing but sitting for too long results in back pain or any other type of body pain. So take a walk of your house every hour or so. A 5 minute walk will be enough. This will also rest your eyes as you move away from your screens.

8-Invest in learning– The biggest investment that one can do is learn something new. People complain that they don’t get time during the working days so why don’t we use this time. Learn something every day from google, watch video tutorials on YouTube. It doesn’t need to be related to your professional life but it can be anything. It can be related to how to cook, finances or marketing or learning guitar/piano etc.

9-Spend time with family– The best time is the one spent with family. Take advantage of this lockdown and grow the bonding between the family. Technology has given us many benefits but somehow it also resulted in distancing the relation within a family. Use this time to sit together, play games, meditate, workout, eat and what else you love. Don’t only watch movies or T.V. with them instead do any activities. Also help your family especially mom in cleaning or other household chores.

10-Music and movies– Above were the things that can be done to make your day productive but also you shouldn’t be keeping yourself away from entertainment. This time can be used to watch movies or shows that you added to watch list before. Listen to your favorite music and groove to their beats.

This were the things that can be done to make your day productive and also keeping yourself entertained. I am also sharing a time table or schedule in which you can divide portions of time to be devoted to a specific task. This is what I follow, you can customize it according to your suitability.

7:00- 8:00 am– Wake up

                        Workout

                        Bath

8:30-9:00 am– Eat breakfast

9:00-11:00 am– Devote time to learn something new

11:00-12:00 noon– Midday snack

                            Have a look on your professional work

                            Practice it for a while.

1:00- 1:30 pm– Do family activities/ can be used for the

                       Preparation of lunch

2:00 pm– Family lunch

3:00 pm– this time can be used to help your mom in

              Cleaning dishes or any other household chores.

              If everything is done you can take a power nap   

              Of 20-25 minutes.

4:00-5:00 pm– Keep this time for yourself. Paint, dance,

                      Sing, cook. Do whatever you love.

6:00 pm– Skin care.

6:30-7:30 pm-Board games, Movies, Music or do what’s

                     Left.

7:30-8:30 pm– Dinner

9:00 pm– Wind up time.

              Listen to any podcast, Read or prepare tasks for

              Tomorrow.

10:00 pm– Sleep.

This will help you to keep your routine similar just like in normal days. Sleeping too late might results in waking up late and hence your half day is passed until you wake up. This results in wasting your entire day and blaming yourself later.

So this were some of the things that can be done. Also guys share your suggestion below in comment box. Any other ideas are welcome.

Stay in. Stay safe. Be Responsible.

Escape window

Chapter-2

 En Commute

Date-21/06/2019

8:30am

The thing occurred as always of which I was afraid of….I am already running late and just to make it worse, I need to get a haircut. I know this is a dumb thing to do before the morning departures but I need to get it done before leaving. I have informed my fellow travelers about this; but anyways I am done with my haircut now and its 10:30 and I am in the cab to take me to the bus stop. It’s a 15 min drive from here. We couldn’t find a suitable train timings for the journey so we decided to travel by a bus. My fellows are already waiting there.

Me- Hey!

Them- Aghhh! Not again, we decided to leave on your suitable time and you still late.

Me- I am sorry, I’ll explain it later but let’s get on the bus first and arrange our luggage.

Its 11:10 am by the time bus leaves for Chandigarh, our first stop for today from where we will change our bus for Solan. Now its 30 minutes into journey and I have my earphones on and looking through the window. I consider this as the best part of the journey, listening to your favorite music and viewing changing scenarios outside. It’s a non-stop ride to the Chandigarh bus stand and it will take around 2 hours or so to reach us there. It’s 2:30 pm and we are here in Chandigarh. We checked on our next bus and it was here for a stop for next 30 minutes. So we board our bigger bags in the bus and went to a nearby cafe, freshen up and ate a few sandwiches and fries. The best thing about travelling is exploring new places and trying out the food of different places. Although I have been to Chandigarh for so many times but with friends there’s always something new.

ISBT Bus stand Sector-43, Chandigarh.

After 25 minutes we are back on bus and ready to move onto our next step of journey. Solan from here is 65 kilometers and will take around 3 hours. The bus journey starts to become hectic after sometime when you can’t move yourself much, I’ll suggest you to either go by a car or train when you have to cover long distances. After spending 3 hours on the curves, and going through some breathtaking views we are finally here- Solan!

En Route To Solan, H.P.

The weather here is calm, cool breeze blowing. Its 6:20 in the evening and Solan has welcomed us with open arms and a pleasant atmosphere.

An evening in Solan.

We booked a cab and went to our hotel. By 7:00 pm we have checked in our hotel room, got freshen up and laying down in our beds. The journey has started to show its effects on us, but our empty stomach won’t let us sleep. It’s 8 at night and instead of ordering the food from hotel, we managed to get out and try food at a local nearby place. Although, it’s hard to go out after such a hectic journey but I always try to see the night life of the cities.  We had some momos(Dumpling), spring rolls and buns, that was all for our dinner tonight.

Night view of the city side from the hotel room.

It’s 10:00 at night and we are back in our rooms, tomorrow we have planned to spent a day here in Solan only, I am familiar with a few local places here so we are going to explore it tomorrow. This was much of our day today.

Chapter-3 unfolds on next Saturday, It will be more fun as i explore local areas.

Good bye, Thank you.