Deer in the headlights as I grasped all the sequels of what COVID-19 pandemic has brought us and the government-imposed community quarantine and social distancing.
As a sword to fight for productivity, certain people are being accustomed to working from home, engaging to webinars, whilst some are having their perfect fitspiration to tone up, or catching up with a multitude of books, decluttering storage and closets, and even trying new recipes like dalgona coffee or something that’s all over TikTok, so to speak. I have even read and shared that Sir Isaac Newton had to work from home in 1665 as the University of Cambridge temporarily closed due to the bubonic plague, the time used for him to develop calculus and theory of gravity.
These whirlwind of productive activities are the onslaught feed of the internet nowadays for people to spend their extra time in a good manner. I’m in awe that I so admire people from pushing this through and taking the advantage of quarantining. What an impeccable perseverance which serves as a rebuttal to the overabundance of time and scarcity.
However, I feel extra pressured to keep hustling and fill my time to complete and finish the tasks I have. For instance, there are times that I take a glance at the finalization of my thesis in graduate school and later disrupted that I can’t seem to get it done for the past month since the enhanced community quarantine has been imposed. And I always tend to take a break and do some other things which can lighten my mood for a while or rest. Moments that I feel like I’m procrastinating or having an instinctive physiological response to take fight or flight. But I guess it’s something that I should not be invalidated for.
We are all going through this global pandemic phenomenon, and we are being inundated with tons of anxiety-inducing news about coronavirus update which really affects our mental health. We are stuck in this traumatic experience which adds to our emotional discomfort and unsteadiness. It’s indeed hard to process when we’re still in the battle, so it’s really not a bad idea to give some grace and be more gentle with ourselves during this time. It’s going to take some time, but that doesn’t mean that we fail as a human. Plus we still have to work on our regular routines. I’m not saying that we don’t need to exert hard work, but we also need to change our rhythms. It’s okay to just sit on a couch for a day, binge watch your favorite K-Dramas and movies on Netflix, play games, answer some gibberish, listen to music, discover obscure talents, browse on your feeds, connect with family and friends, support our frontliners, reflect, pray, meditate and most importantly take care of your mental health as we are all coming from different hurdles as we cope up during this quarantine.
Yes, we are all adjusting, sometimes it’s okay not to be productive, what we can do is just to trust the process. Don’t let other people define how you manage your time, we are no Isaac Newton, but we can be enough being ourselves to cope and survive. Live anyway, this too shall pass.
It is important to be gentle on ourselves especially now that we are in a pandemic.
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Yes, trust the process. I am also guilty of not being productive and it bothers me a bit but we just have to take it a day at a time.
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We really are just doing our best to get by! I am definitely just surviving some days and that is okay!
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This is such a great reminder! We all are doing our best. It is okay to have lazy days. I’ve been having them!
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Yeah. We’re all coping differently and are not required to be productive in a pandemic. So long as we get through this sane, I’ll be good.
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What an awesome message. That’s true, we shouldn’t let other people define how we manage your time. Let’s just do our best.
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I can identify with a lot of this, this situation has taken its toll on me emotionally and my focus and energy is nowhere near what I’d like it to be, I have a grad school review in the coming weeks and it’s making me anxious because I feel like my productivity has been lacking, I just hope my supervisors will understand! I have a blog post about the effect of this time on our energy that you might find interesting – https://www.bethantaylorswaine.com/wellbeing/energy-in-a-pandemic
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Such motivational message, you pass now days, this is actually we need to boost each other during this time thanks for sharing your thoughts.
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There are days that I feel restless and want to do more even at home. And I get anxious about going out again, because there are still so many things that I need and want to do once this gets lifted. But there are days that I just choose not to do anything at all. Like I just want to be completely at rest and relaxed. I think we do everything that keeps us sane.
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My affirmation for the week is: “I am enough. I am where I am supposed to be.” Your post is right on time for my weekly mindset focus.
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It can be hard some days with coping. I have my ups and downs but I will be glad when things are safe again
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Super important to be gentle on ourselves during this time. Focus on the things we can control 🙂
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I completely agree with you! These are unknown times for everyone and we should’t pressure ourselves to be productive if we don’t feel like it!
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I agree: we are doing our best. some days are better some are worse but ti is completely normal
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I trust the process. Even though I understand that it’s okay to stay unproductive, I prefer to stay productive. This is because it’s my way of doing something which is under my control.
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This post is so timely for me, as I’ve been feeling exactly this way recently. Sometimes, just taking a deep breath and focusing on the positive things help.
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Don’t feel the stress and the pressure to do anything or be productive just because others are doing so. Take your time and just relax, one step at a time.
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For me ha.. di mo kailangan mag bake ng ube cheese pandesal or mag simula ng halaman.. or maglessons kayo ng bagets niyo.. kahit nakahilata ka lang OK lang. Di naman kailangan makijoin sa bandwagon. Ang important eh yung self care. For me its rest. I did that 1st month. Ngayon work hustle na ako uli. I hope you were able to rest and then youll have the strength with your thesis na
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