Dear all,
We hope you are healthy and in a good mood. This pandemic caught us all by surprise and as time is passing, we are all trying to figure out what to do how to stay mentally healthy and prepared for all the changes that might come.
As we were briefing whether we should also write something about the current situation, the conversations with you, our community led us to the decision to publish this article. As important meditation, connecting with your loved ones and staying sane is, hundreds of millions of people around the world are at home with their own thoughts – and all of them (all of us) have all kinds of concerns.
So, this article focuses on your concerns and we hope that our perspective can support you. In the following you find three main concerns that came up when speaking to you:
“I can’t walk around or have a cup of coffee outside; I can’t watch a movie at the cinema!”
Of course, the situation is nothing but normal. There are no open coffee places, cinemas or restaurants – but this is an opportunity to foster our creativity. If you live in a country where there aren’t as many restrictions, you can take a walk (with the respective precautions) and appreciate your surroundings. You can create home cinema with a projector or have a video call with your friends and watch a movie together – you’ll have the same experience even if you are not at the same place. You will also have the opportunity to learn how to make delicious coffee at home! (Find some tips at the end of the article, including how to make your own projector)
“I don’t know when I will be able to travel and my loved ones are in a different country”
Unfortunately, this is the thing that is the saddest because I cannot give a straight answer to that problem. I, myself, am also far from my family and I don’t know when I’m going to be able to see them but then I think of all the things we have now that weren’t available in the past – phone, skype, zoom, Instagram, Viber, WhatsApp, etc. etc. The thing we should do is think about what we can be grateful for. Instead of focusing on the bad, now is the best time to learn how to focus on the good.
First, the world hasn’t seen a crisis where people were so connected. There are thousands of calls made every day, live videos, free content, communities helping other communities. These are the great tools of today and we should keep thinking about them!
Second, we can reflect on the travels we’ve had. In the busy everyday life after returning from out trip we are usually immediately off to something else (work, responsibilities). Now, we can organize pictures, appreciate the good times from foreign places and maybe create some lists – your favorite places you’ve been to, what those places brought you, wish list for the future or anything else that comes to your mind!
“People are getting crazy buying in bulk because they are afraid”
The chaos and fear are as contagious as a virus. The news are running 24/7, you go to your local store only to see that almost everything is gone, big supermarket chains struggle to reload the goods and the only thought in your head is ‘maybe I should also buy 10 packages of toilet paper, soap and other stuff because I don’t know if they are going to be here next week’. That way everyone starts doing it and it becomes a chain reaction, very hard to stop/interrupt. Here you can just stop for a second and think in a calmer way. Get what you really need, plan your meals in advance, keep your fruits and veggies fresh. Maybe if most of us think and shop logically, the chain reaction might reverse!
Practical Tips:
In case you don’t own a projector, good news for you: You only need a few things and build a DIY-projector on low budget. You need some cardboard paper, a pen, scissors, and a magnifying glass and a few more things you probably have already at home. Feel free to follow us on Instagram and Facebook to find more tips, including a template to recap your past vacations, a meal planner and recipes for homemade coffee.
PS. We are not giving answers only opinions and the big take away we hope you get is that in times like these staying creative and trying to look at life from a different angle can make a huge impact and change in the way you live.
By Anna
journey of happinez 