Khursheed Nabi

Spending time is biggest challenge; isn’t it?

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Since the World Health Organisation declared the Covid19 outbreak a global pandemic, all of us regardless of being or not being infected by the virus, have to quarantine in our homes. In order to prevent the spread of an infectious disease social distancing, quarantine and isolation play a vital role. So we are supposed to spend almost all the time — 24×7 — within the four walls of our homes. We may desperately want to go outside, but we also do not want to get infected by the virus; and certainly we do not want others to get infected because of our behaviour.

So while sitting at home, we have a critical choice to make — to waste away the precious time or to use it to our advantage. The time can be spend watching television, but it has a tendency of making the day dull. We can also utilize it for self-improvement and helping others. It is not that hard to let the days and weeks fly by without using it for constructive purpose. Better is to use this extra time towards productive and prolific endeavors.

This is the best time to think about doing all the things we wanted to do. We always claim scarcity of time for doing some activities which are interesting and help us to explore or develop our talents in different fields. These activities may include learning a new language, writing something regarding yourself and your life, reading some interesting novels and books, learning to play an instrument, etc. We can engage in all such activities and it will help us to accomplish our unfulfilled wishes. The schedule will not be confined to a single activity but we can engage ourselves in more activities in a day, because we have a lot of time on hand as the routine activities like getting ready for the work in the morning, travelling to and from the office, are no longer part of our schedule. This extra time can be used to catch up on some reading. We can find some cozy corner in home and immerse ourselves in a favorite book or novel.

Quarantine time is a blessing in disguise for the busy millennials. This is the great time to reconnect with our family. We have been complaining of not being able to spend time with family much because of the work commitments. But now most of us are working from home, it is a terrific gift to spend quality time together. A good time can be spent with our elders who will facilitate us with their best life experiences, which will add to our knowledge and comprehension. Remember we are obliged to take care of their health as elderly people are more prone to infection because of weak immune system. All this will make us happy which we will feel for a long time.

Most of the people blame their busy schedule to be the reason for not being able to pay attention to their own health. This is the time to chalk out a workout routine for ourselves. There are various exercises which can be done with comfort at home. Think how great will we feel going to work (after lockdown is over) looking fit as compared to the other people working in the same office.

Gardening is probably one of the most relaxing activities all the time. Some people love gardening and for them this is an ideal time to grow plants and take care of them. We have enough time to give special attention to our green friends. In this way we will be contributing to a healthy environment as well as enjoying the act.

Another way of utilizing the quarantine time is to help the poor and needy people of the society. We have to search for such people who are really in need of help. Some people may be facing shortage of money and may not be able to meet their basic needs. It is our responsibility to help such poor and downtrodden segments of the society. During shutdown we can’t visit them personally but we have a variety of means to contact them. The act of helping people is not confined to this end but there are other ways by which we can use our extra time in a productive manner and at the same time help others.

While schools across the nation are shut for weeks, many parents are finding themselves plunged into trying to home-school their children. We can therefore provide online lessons to help children to meet their academic needs. A good time can be spent by providing online lessons and lectures to cater to the educational needs of the children.

Online meetings can be organized with the help of different online applications like zoom etc. During these days it has become a common practice for various schools, colleges and universities to provide online classes to their students. We can play our role and help the students to continue their studies during the tough time of pandemic.

We can also use this time in documenting what is happening around us, how we feel and what we do during the  day while we are social distancing. Irrespective of how spooking it is, we are in the middle of a pretty unique moment in history that may be interesting to look back at later in the life. Recording these events of quarantine will serve as good memories.

It is impossible to ignore the near-constant headlines with updated numbers of Covid19 cases alongside the photos shared on the various social networks. So it is advisable to actively engage ourselves in one or the other activity so as to avoid negative impact of the pandemic on our mental health.

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