Today has not been a day that I’ve been all that productive, but that’s okay. I decided to reflect what I have been able to do during this period of Quarantine – working on myself is something I want to continue doing and something I have been able to take great pleasure in during the COVID-19 pandemic. These are the three aspects of my life that I’m focusing on right now:
- Learning – I read the books that I have wanted to read for a very long time. I really enjoyed Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half a Yellow Sun, a book that for some reason I never sat down and read. I liked it so much that I was really sad to get closer to the end of the book. It brought to attention a period of history that I had never studied or new about, the 1960’s civil war between Nigeria and Biafra. Biafra was a state that existed for a few years in former East Nigeria from 1967-1970. I also did courses online, on websites like Skill Share, LinkedIn Learning and Future Learn with the focus on areas of work that I am interested in. I studied hard a few hours a day doing one course at a time. For me learning more about digital marketing using Google’s Digital Garage made me feel more confident in specific jargon as well as knowing all the aspects involved in being a digital marketer. Something I didn’t know what to do a week ago only took me a week to be familiarized and versed in skills of that occupation.
- Learn how to cook really healthy meals – I try not to spend too much time on social media but as soon as I get to food pages, I just keep scrolling on forever. At uni, I learned three or four dishes that I made use out of whenever I was hungry and didn’t have energy to try something completely new. I adapted these dishes, learned how to cook great desserts like strawberry crumble, coconut and raspberry cake and I filmed myself doing it, both to try out my skills in cooking and video editing. Being able to cook the things I wanted gave me a sense of freedom and choice, that I have missed, being at home with my family. Using recipe books we already have made my family also want to try out new dishes using many of the same ingredients already lying around the kitchen.
- Working out – I’ve never liked traditional workouts and so after finding Chloe Ting on YouTube and trying her workouts I became hooked on learning more about the body. Doing her workouts I realized that doing 20 minutes a day of her videos could really change my body. In the first week of her 2 week ab challenge I felt muscles being developed in my body like never before. After 20/30 minutes I could be completely done with the workout, feel challenged and break a sweat. I’m still going with it and feel really good and motivated.
These are a few things I have been doing, not putting too much pressure on myself to be productive. Spending quality time with my family watching movies together in the evening and playing cards has been really enjoyable and made me feel less anxious. I hope everyone is doing well, keeping safe and well.
RUPA SUCHAK 