Date Archives March 2020

Isolation Diaries: 3 Things I Will NOT be Doing Amid COVID-19 Pandemic | Lockdown Day 8

Family & Personal Movies & Entertainment People & More

Yes, its dark and daunting, yes we’ve all the time in the world and yes its all about mental well-being but here are 3 things that I refuse to indulge in, no matter what!

Join TikTok

No. Nopes. Nada. Never! I will not be joining the infamous, video-sharing social networking service unless ByteDance decides to donate billions worth of canned food or fund mass production of COVID-19 vaccine.

Binge Watch Netflix

I no longer harbour the patience and perseverance required to watch a complete TV show. Those 15 minute compilations of ‘Top Olicity Moments’ over atYouTube are enough to quench my thirst of angst!

Redecorate

I will not give in to a home renovation project – irrespective of what my mother thinks! Do not have the head-space or the money to do so. I will leave furnishings and ornaments to the expert influencers over at Instagram.

Let me impose the gravity of the situation on to you (my reader), we are NOT STUCK inside, we are choosing to save lives. And we can do just about anything to keep ourselves occupied, entertained and in good spirits. But that does not mean that you will see me in a lip-sync video anytime soon!

P.S.

Work from Home Day: 12
Lockdown Day: 08
Books Read during Isolation: 9
Books Read in March: 12
Recipes Tested: 04
Floors Mopped Day Count: 08
Exercise Day Count: 07
Old Movies: 04
New Movies: 02
Breakdowns: 04

 

 

 

 

Isolation Diaries: 16 Things I Am Grateful For | Lockdown Day 06

Books & Reading Family & Personal People & More

Yayyyy! It’s the weekend, as if I had an erratic work-week with no time for myself. In the midst of dark, dark times, I cannot help but feel blessed and grateful for basic necessities of life which we often take for granted. More often than not they seem “just because” or “obvious” but can mean the world to others.

Here are 16 things that I feel blessed and grateful for especially when my province in under a lockdown and there is no hope of a future paycheck.

Mom’s Health

My mom is a diabetic of 22 years and during these uncharted times to to see her hold-up is nothing short of paradise; SHUKARALLHUMDULILLAH. ✨

My Patio

We spend our evenings out on the terrace away from public and close to nature. 🌳

My TBR

At the beginning of the lockdown, I had 23 books on my “to be read” pile and under these circumstances, I couldn’t be more proud of my hoarding (with respect to books only). 📚

Parents’ Medicine Cabinet

Since I can remember we’ve had a fully-stocked medicine cabinet, a habit that has helped us multiple times during our isolation. 💊

Brother’s Spanner

My baby brother is studying to be a CA at the moment but just like Pa he has this natural inclination towards ‘fixing stuff’; during a lockdown his skills have come mighty handy especially when the water pump refused to start! 🔧

PTCL

I have been repeatedly told to chuck out PTCL Broadband and go for a private net provider but boy do I love them or what. Imagine not having internet connectivity; how else would I unleash my negativity onto the world? 📡

Savings

And not I am not referring to what I saved over the years. With pandemonium around us and no frequent visits to the bookstore, think about all the money I am saving during this lockdown. 🙈

Yoga

I have this tendency to gather weight on my cheeks and my yoga mat has been helping me to keep the mass at bay. ☯️

YouTube

And to all those beautiful souls who upload old, murder mysteries… 💻

Tomatoes

Undoubtedly the most versatile vegetable ever – after potatoes obviously. Did I mention I’ve perfected my Shakshuka? 🍅

Zero Maintenance

Bushy brows for the win! 👍

Vitamin D Supplements

If it wasn’t for Osnate-D, I would literally whiter away in my egregiously built room. 💀

To be Brown

Imagine all those young men and women who are isolated inside an empty flat/apartment right now; I am never going to complain about smothering parents. Ever! 👩‍👧‍👦

Babies

And how one big baby living next door is compelled to annoy me every 30 minutes without fail. 🐣

Techy Bae

Need I say more? 💋

Will I Start Sagging TODAY? 🆓

Isolation Diaries: Top Tips for Mental Health | Lockdown Day 04

Business, Tech & Workplace Family & Personal Movies & Entertainment People & More

All right, time to showcase a tiny bit of positivity, and believe me its not something that comes natural to me. Here are my top 3 tips to boost mood, build resilience, and improve your mental well-being when the world outside is changing dramatically.

Tip 1: Start your Day with Movement

I could not recommend this more; you know all that crap you read on the Internet about the benefits of exercise, and how when you exercise, your body releases chemicals called Endorphins which result in feeling happier – turns out its all true. Before those 30 minutes on my Yoga Mat, I see the future collapse right in my living room but soon after, I am ready to take the world head-on. Start with a 15-minute stretch and gradually find your groove with a bit of help from YouTube.

Tip 2:  No Social Media Past 09:00 PM

They say in today’s day and age the constant consumption of information can be overwhelming, well what do you know, they were right about this too! Honestly to let go of mindless scrolling down one’s Twitter feed or Insta stories is nearly impossible especially when you know very well there is nothing else to do. However I’ve personally experienced the difference in the way I approach isolation as well as my sleep patterns when I forbid myself from social media. I understand that in uncertain times you cannot completely forsake your phone but try to limit the use of social media throughout the day and disconnect before hitting the hay.

Tip 3: Do Something You’re are Good At

Dedicate a part of your day when you are not looking for jobs online and calculating your savings. Impossible, right? But take my word for it, do something that comes naturally to you, something that you know you cannot fail at; opt for doing something that you absolutely love and it will do wonders for your mental health. Indulging in an activity you’re good at, and achieving positive results boosts self-esteem and helps you focus better on the things that need your attention for the remainder of the day.

Start with may be one and slowly venture into the world of bliss! And feel free to share your tried and tested formula to a positive mind-set. Kudos!

 

 

Isolation Diaries: Lockdown Day 03 & My Daily Routine

Family & Personal People & More

“I am not going to talk about it…”

That seems to be the starting point for each and every content creator nowadays and ultimately ends up donating at least 3 minutes to it. But I chose to address it! And why wouldn’t I?

It changed the very shape of this planet, how can you NOT address it? But first as you all know I am a Type-A control freak so let us begin today with a quick, smart lesson:

First of all people – it’s not a “Coronavirus” pandemic!

Coronaviruses

are a family of viruses that range from the common cold to MERS coronavirus, which causes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome and SARS coronavirus causing Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

What the world is fighting today is caused by a “Novel Coronavirus”, which brings me to my second point; the virus is called “SARS-COV-2” that causes the newly discovered, infectious disease we know as Coronavirus Disease 2019 or more commonly called as COVID-19.

Now that we are clear about the names, let’s “address” the situation at-hand or as my brother puts it: Its Pandemonium I tell you Sis, Pandemonium!

I am sitting here in my PJs on a Wednesday morning trying to explain to people what is COVID-19 and on the inside, I am screaming knowing very well that I might not be getting my next paycheck. These are uncharted times, nobody expected World War Z to actually happen, did they? Whether you talk about local businesses like Liberty Books or giant corporations like McDonald’s, doors are sealed-shut everywhere you turn. And of course it was need of the hour, the only way we can fight this pandemic is to stop the spread as much as humanly possible. #StayHomeSaveLives isn’t just another trending hashtag on Twitter, it’s our reality.

The path ahead is dark, dubious and daunting, practicing social distancing and keeping the bills on the side is the best we can do. It isn’t a solitary fight, it is a global combat and whether we like to admit it or not, we are in it – together.

We often find ourselves complaining over how quickly a weekend turns to a Monday morning and here I am freaking out on Lockdown Day 03 only. Just goes to show, we as humans cannot be contained and cannot be satisfied.

If you are reading my thoughts from the comfort of your home, trying to look on the positive side, I might not be helping you. Think about it, many of us have already lost our jobs while the rest are pondering on how to scale back operations, announce pay cuts or even lay off resources. A 120 nm virus changed the way the world works and will have changed buying habits of 7.8 billion inhabitants once this is all over.

Instead of mumbling into nothing, should I focus on how the air seems to be a little less polluted? How these dire circumstances have brought us closer together? Or should I be worried when my baby brother declared earlier today, “Sis, I am bored, I just want to blow-up the world and get it over with…”

You (yes, I mean you) are probably lying in bed, reading my anxiety-induced-piece and wondering why you ever clicked the given link but do you know what you just did my friend? You helped #PlankTheCurve / #FlattenTheCurve and we all are playing our part but is that enough? The pandemic will end but our lives will never be the same again. Right now this very moment, we’ve people trapped with an abusive partner or families with zero financial cushioning praying the virus would be far off better. And it horrifies me to my very core to think about the world soon after. We will all have to adapt to a new way of living and working, some of us will lose more than others and will result in intensely vulnerable conditions.

These and so many other questions leave me wondering through the night so what do we do about that. We try to stay calm (or in my case pretend in front of Mom that all is good), try to maintain a daily routine and prepare for a draconian future because for an indefinite period of time, this will be OUR NEW NORMAL.

In order to better grasp the circumstances, I’ve stuck to my daily routine and have made use of all the time we have been blessed with. Majority of us are either working-from-home or self-isolating or even under a lockdown and with uncertainty comes uninvited mental deterioration; implementing a daily routine is proven to help with our overall mental health and productivity. Daily routines can look particularly different from person to person, the end objective is however the same; here’s what my day looks like, feel free to share with someone who might be in search for some motivation.

My Typical Lockdown Day

Wake-up: 06:00 AM

Get Fresh & Make the Bed: 06:15 AM

Chug a Glass of Water: 06:20 AM

Open the Laptop & Put it on Charge: 06:30 AM

Yoga: 06:35 AM

Breakfast: 07:00 AM

Office Work + Personal Blog: 07:10 AM to 12:00 NOON

Chores: 12:00 Noon to 02:00 PM

Lunch Break: 02:00 PM to 03:00 PM

Check Emails & Wrap-up Work: 03:00 PM to 05:00 PM

Me Time (Mostly Spent Reading): 05:00 PM to 07:00 PM

Dinner: 07:30 PM to 08:30 PM

Telly Time with the Family: 07:00 PM to 09:00 PM.

Reading in Bed (And Attempt to Not Scroll through Twitter): 09:00 PM to 10:00 PM

Get Ready & Hit the Hay: 10:30 PM

Ahhh! Feels good to get it all out, doesn’t it?

Time to mop the floors; catch you later!

Hello! How Have You Been?

Family & Personal

Hola Everyone!

Long time no see – literally. I haven’t spoken to anyone out here since December 2018 and what a year it was. I am back (indefinitely) and before I venture out in the world yet again, let’s catch-up; playback to 2018.

2018 started out just fine, work was flourishing, family drama was on-point and I was hitting all the right marks with my TBR pile and then lo and behold, Mom’s ear infection turned my world upside down.

2018: Vertigo Takes Over

The infection turned into vertigo and in August of 2018, I took a sabbatical from my full-time job and opted to work on a single project so I could stay at home and take care of her and my baby brother (not so baby anymore, he is turning 22 this year, touchwood). It wasn’t all that bad, I was making enough to sustain my household and yet I was with Mom 24/7 – that particular part made it all worth it.

In early November, a phone call came along and I was just about ready for the ride of a life time. My mentor asked me to come back and work a new product and of course I said yes. And the rest is history, well not technically because I didn’t document any part of it.

2019: Ready to Pop Out

2019 just flew by, Mom was feeling great, I was heavily + happily pregnant with my new baby and things on the relationship front were finally settling in. I took a step back from my personal writing especially because I spent the better part of my day, documenting every single thing my Development Department did or did not do. I clearly made a mess of my blog, which you can still witness on my homepage, feel free to browse around and not make sense of it at all.

2020: Buggy Software

Now that more than 20% of global population is on a lockdown, I have found the time to revive my blog and continue to speak to you beautiful people through ‘my words’…Ahhh I love the sound of: Myyyyyy Wordsss….

See you soon!