Surely you know what I mean!
They say our children, yes the children of this era have made history. I nod in agreement as I read this opinion a third time in 4 weeks. In my head, ‘my own be say, make una shaa open school abegi’. I need the children back in school…sharp sharp!
It’s not happening soon though. Now I hear, ‘the kids could be home till September!’ What! Another one month and more without school? So in light of this not-so-welcome revelation, I have decided to grab the long horns of this bull and…..smack down. Here is, how to survive a lock-down.
Before all this started, my heart’s desire was to take a long time off work and just stay at home. Do nothing! You see am na, staying at home doing nothing is no longer as appealing as it appeared when I looked at it from the outside. Mind you, all those extra stuff I thought I would use the time for, besides staying in bed, are still waiting to be actioned (permit to sound political, just this once). To survive a lock down, this present lockdown, first make a list.
Write down the things you need to do (in bullet points). I believe taking action is made easier when one has a visual prompt or reminder. Every point you write down becomes an action plan and if they have sub-activities to perform in order to complete each plan, put them down too. Assign a time limit for each task. So if you have 3 action plans A, B and C and three sub-activities for each plan a1,a2 a3; b1,b2,b3 and c1,c2,c3, you can give 15 minutes to each of the sub activities, totaling 45 minutes a day to complete one plan. Try one plan a day so its easy to vary things around- Clear? Good…..Clear!
Oh….I find that setting my phone timer for each of the 15 minutes gives life bit of a zoom.
Go for a run! There is something about the cool breeze and a clear head. It’s not a competition, so a 20 minutes jog across the countryside (if you are that lucky) makes magic happen. If you’ve got kids, take them with you, remember its not time to chit chat and socialize with brother-walk-my-dog-in the park, it is bonding time! Best thing about taking the kids, especially if it’s an evening run, is that they come home tired so bedtime almost afterwards. This works for me at least.
Dance! For everyone like me to whom dancing may seem a bit daunting. You know when you can rock up the best dance moves in your head, but in reality you are ‘fido-dido”. The good news is trying those moves anyway can be good lock-down therapy. Choose the right music though.
…..now, two days in writing and I’ve come up with just 2 and a half points…hahaha!
I guess what I’m trying to say is, find ways to fill up your day, chunk by chunk, nwayo nwayo. This too shall pass…soon. I’ll be back again with more. Until then, happy quarantine!