It's been a surreal start of the year. We've dealt with the unexpected eruption of the Taal volcano, the forest fire in Australia, and rumors of war because of the tension between the US and Iran. All of that happened just within the month of January. Today, three months into 2020, we are facing a longer and heavier challenge: the covid-19 pandemic. Sometimes I still don't believe that everything that's happening now is real - no schools in all levels, almost all businesses are closed (except for the essentials), and everyone is being encouraged to stay home. It feels like the dystopian world has crossed our reality, and the plots that we usually see in movies are now happening in real life. I wake up each day dreading to check the news. What are the trending topics on Twitter? How many people have been confirmed positive in the country? How many have died today? Did the government do something stupid again?
I felt like I needed to constantly step up and challenge myself. Initially my parents were not confident with me driving too far on my own, but I have to prove to them, and to myself, that I can actually do it. This also roots from that incident at work wherein at that time I was involved in a project that was critical and confidential because it's being tracked by external auditors. I always wondered why my superiors didn't give me the chance to own that project, and then I realized that I should have shown them that I was confident and capable of handling it. If they saw the initiative from me, they'll become less worried and would let me do things on my own. I realized that that's the right attitude to wing it.
The younger ones, (like me woot woot) who have been chosen as "tribute", now flock the supermarkets to buy supplies for each of their households. I find it funny that most of us are carrying pieces of paper with the list of items to buy, and are stopping awkwardly at the isles repeatedly looking and double-checking the list. With the more techie ones, they are live chatting and video-calling with their moms and siblings asking for instructions on which items on the shelve to purchase.
- Maintaining this blog is actually keeping me sane. If you've noticed, I have been unusually posting a lot this month. I still have a lot in my backlog so there's really no downtime for me.
- It's also great timing that I maintain a bullet journal now so I constantly have tasks as top-of-mind priorities each day.
- There have been a lot of online activities that became available, and I try to keep myself engaged. I have participated in (free!) online classes by I Go Beyond Yoga. There's also the #AstroAtHome lecture series done by the Philippine Astronomical Society.
My inner astronomy enthusiast is alive again. 🪐 |
- Being physically active is a great challenge today (it's so tempting to just lay in bed all day). I heard my colleagues complaining (during our zoom meetings) that they feel like they're getting fatter each day that passed. Meanwhile for me, I am experiencing the contrary. I have been more physically active these days more than ever! Before the enhanced community quarantine came to place, I was beginning to get invested with those 30-day challenge exercises (thanks to a colleague's advice). I have been doing planks everyday and since the work-from-home setup, doing this became even easier! Immediately after work hours I would set up my yoga mat and do 30-second planks. Each week I bring it up to 10 seconds longer. I am currently at the 50-second stage and I am proud to say that I am feeling my body getting stronger. 💪🔥 There's also this 30-day yoga routine I am following on Youtube. Exercise releases endorphins, so I guess that's what lifts my mood everyday.
- I am also spending more time meditating, and Headspace has been helping me with this journey.
- An then there's the online concerts! You know how much I love artists and concerts so much, so I was hugely delighted when musicians started doing this live concert sessions over at Facebook and Instagram (thanks to Chris Martin of Coldplay for being the trailblazer!). I super loved watching Chris' performance (his bandmates were very accurate in describing him as this huge ball of energy in their documentary). Many artists followed suit, and one of them is my all-time favorite Vanessa Carlton. I am a huge fan of hers and I will always remember my "missed concert opportunity" memory of her. This is why seeing her live performances on IG and learning that she is still making music (and actually just released a new album this week) made my fangirl heart so happy. 💓😍 I also got the watch THE Ryan Cayabyab and THE Andrew Lloyd Webber play some tunes on the piano on Facebook.
- I was so inspired with the musicians I watched online so I'm starting to play the piano more often now. I have relearned playing (half of) Joe Hisaishi's Summer (which I studied playing years ago) and Viva La Vida by Coldplay (just the chords hehehe).
- I do miss my friends at work so we set up a recurring meeting to just go on Zoom and chat. It's a requirement for us to turn on the webcam and I found myself playing around the virtual background feature. 😂
- Because our internet connection has a data cap, I consciously have to limit my online activities, especially now that I am working from home (no internet = no work can be done!). So I am going back to the old school way of consuming media -- using my oldie but goodie mp3 player to listen to songs and looking through my torrent-downloaded movies archive to check for titles to watch.
- I play with our pet cats and dogs. I envy their innocence from this pandemic. Indeed, ignorance is bliss.
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