No, I Don’t Need to ‘Maximize’ My Time at Home During the COVID-19 Outbreak

Times are, to put it mildly, challenging.

COVID-19 is wreaking havoc across all corners of the globe, sending entire populations of people into lockdown, quarantined inside their homes. Companies and schools alike are sending employees and students home to navigate work and study from the safer but confusing confines of their living rooms. With heavy hearts, small businesses are closing their doors, artists are rain-checking their gigs for the unforeseeable future, and freelancers are taking cuts while clients reallocate resources and dollars. Families are suffering the losses of loved ones, the elderly and immunocompromised communities are risking their lives shopping for the ever-more scarce necessities they need to survive in isolation, and many travelers are stuck overseas following travel bans and restrictions.

While an inundation of motivational messages is spreading faster than the virus itself, it's important to remember that while we're all affected by coronavirus, some of us are more deeply impacted by its wrath. We don't all have the luxury to just catch up on Netflix when we have small children at home trying to follow along in an online classroom format that few educators have been trained to teach — or when we are those educators simply trying our best to ensure a better tomorrow. We can't all relax to hold space for others when someone we love has been hospitalized with the virus — or when someone we love is stuck with canceled flights half-way across the world, and we can't just teleport them. And we aren't all able to kick back with a book in the bathtub when we're scrambling to find a paycheck to make ends meet.

Of course, in all times of crisis, there's some semblance of a silver lining. 

At this time, those of us who are privileged enough to have safe spaces to retreat to are spending more time with our loved ones. Some of us are practicing more self-care as we finally find the time to be with ourselves, whether or not it was a choice. Many of us are conscious of making healthier decisions. We're all finding new ways of maximizing our food products to feed ourselves and our families — and minimizing waste in the process. We're using our imaginations more to maintain our sanity indoors. We're feeling more empathy, showing more compassion and participating in isolated togetherness — as evidenced by the Italians playing music for each other from their separate balconies, the Spanish exercising in unison from their individual terraces, and the infinite people around the world jumping on social media to share recipes, conduct live group meditations, and spread love, light and laughter through... painfully relatable memes.

One thing we shouldn't be sharing, though? The pressure to react to this harrowing situation in any sort of way, including by "maximizing" our quarantine time.

You've seen the posts. "Sir Isaac Newton developed the theory of gravity and came up with calculus during the Great Plague!" "Shakespeare wrote King Lear while in quarantine for the plague!" There's been an onslaught of "now's-the-time!" and "use-this-time-wisely!" language that, while to some may be inspiring, isn't always striking me as such. During this period of chaos, there are some days where I just don't want to do anything at all. Not because I don't have the privilege of choice, which is true of so many others. But because I just. don't. want. to. 

Sure, on the one hand, I'm all for getting after it. 

If you're finally doing more of what you never quite had the time to do, that's beautiful. Personally, I'm living on my own in a van in Australia — as far away from home and my family in New Jersey as physically possible. It's not easy being so literally alone while I watch the world unravel around me. But, yes, van life in one of the least-populated places on the planet is ideal for the whole self-isolation thing. I'm practicing my ukulele more. (Am I a cliche? Yes.) I've started more seriously brainstorming the book I've always said I'd write. I'm churning out content for my blog that's been on the backburner for longer than I care to admit. And I'm creating a lot of jewelry with all the crystals I've been collecting from my travels. That all feels good, so I do it.

Source: Instagram