When COVID19 first hit out shores in Singapore in early February, it started of with a few cases and grew and grew into over 500 cases. It has now become a global pandemic and disaster.
For many of us, especially being business owners, the impact of COVID19 has not only affected our businesses in terms of income, but also everyone around us, families, businesses. Employees are working from home, offices are almost empty.
You step into a shopping mall and it is almost dead silent, shops are still open but closing earlier than their usual retail operating hours. In the US, UK, everyone is self isolating and can’t go out.
Whilst Singapore is not on lockdown, the impact of COVID19 especially those being at home can cause strain on our mental health especially being at home, unable to leave the house for 14 days.
I’m very much a home body, but not for long. These past few days, many of us globally have really seen the impact of COVID19, it’s taken a few months and even weeks for the severity of the situation to hit us all.
The coronavirus is a global pandemic as declared by the world health organisation. Whilst every single country on earth is battling COVID19, here are some of my tips whilst battling boredom and overwhelm during self isolation.
01. Leave your house (if you’re able to)
For many of us in Australia and Singapore, because our country is not on lockdown, we are able to leave our houses to still go out shopping and run our errands. If you can, it is good to get out of the house while you still can and get active.
It is important to be wearing a mask and avoid crowded areas. Staying at home self isolating is important and essential, but so is getting out of the house occasionally to get fresh air is important too, to avoid overwhelm and boredom.
02. Do not panic buy.
Here in Singapore, when the number of COVID19 cases started to grow, everyone started to panic buy overnight and our supermarkets were out of toilet paper, food, noodles etc. Our shelves were empty.
There is no need to panic buy, there is PLENTY of stockpile. Be considerate for those working in healthcare, risking their lives to battle COVID19 in the frontline emergency departments, nurses and doctors.
Remember, the world is NOT coming to an end, there will be enough food to feed everyone. Supermarkets are also limiting the number of food items each person can buy to avoid stockpiling.
Be considerate, only buy what is necessary.
03. Keep in contact with friends, family and your community.
Whilst many of us are self isolating and working from home, it is so important to keep in contact with your friends, family and engaging on social media to keep in check with your community.
If you are on lockdown and are unable to leave your home, hop on video calls with your friends, give them a call, organise a virtual hangout via zoom, skype or google hangouts/meet to “meet” each other and being able to chat to one another and keeping each other sane is essential.
Just because you are on lockdown doesn’t mean it’s stopping you from sending a text to your friends, we are all in this together globally. The power of the internet, phones and computers enable us to connect digitally.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed from COVID19 and the seriousness of the situation wherever you are. Know that you are not alone in facing COVID19 and that we WILL get through this together.
What are some of the measures you’ve been taking to keep yourself occupied while self isolating during the COVID19 period?
Stay safe everyone!
