There's a plague going on. To reduce the burden on the healthcare system, I (and many others) have been practicing social distancing. This post is a reflection on my everyday life routines for the past few weeks. Maybe you'll find something to do or something you like.
The 3 sections are:
I like music and computers. If you're also interested in these topics, I'm happy to chat! If you're looking to learn a new skill (e.g. picking up an instrument, software skills), I generally like teaching and would be happy to answer questions.
Music: I sing and play instruments: ukulele, guitar, piano (Youtube).
Computers: By trade, I'm a full stack software engineer.
Some of my life routines haven't changed. These include habits around self care, which I'll define as taking care of my physical and mental health. Maintaining these habits helps keep me happy and healthy.
One guideline I live by is to put physical health first. This unsurprisingly involves:
Getting plenty of good sleep.
Drinking plenty of water.
Eating plants.
Moving about.
I think putting physical health first is incredibly simple, but important. Many negative emotions have a physical root — I feel more sad and anxious when sleepy and more irritable when hungry. Taking care of my physical health helps put me in a far better position to handle everything else in my life.
Another self-care routine I do is regular check-ins. In the morning, I do a daily check-in to reflect on 3 questions:
On a weekly basis, I'll do a check-in to reflect generally on:
There are 4 main areas of my life that have changed due to shelter in place: work, LDR, jams, and exercise. Over time, I've gotten better at modifying routines to the current situation.
WorkI'm grateful that as a software engineer, I can work from home. The biggest tip that's helped me is to move my work laptop off my desk and onto my shelf when I'm not working. This helps maintain a physical separation between when I'm working and not working and helps create a dedicated environment for focus.
LDRBecause there are no in-person visits, my relationship has temporarily converted to a LDR (long distance relationship). Here's some assorted activities and games that we've enjoyed:
Play games together over the Internet.
Play games together over Steam.
How this works is you download the Steam app on your computer, and it lets you play games on your computer. Many games can just be played with the keyboard. However, if you'd prefer to have a controller, you can get one that plugs into your laptop — I have this Logitech gamepad.
I generally like cute/lighthearted games. Here's what I currently own and if you can play them with 2 people. Some games support Steam remote play-together, when 2 people play together by sharing 1 person's keyboard.
Watch a movie at the same time.
Take a walk while on the phone.
Go online shopping + buy each other gifts.
Learn a language.
Send snail-mail.
Read a book together.
Music groups (a cappella, ukulele) that I'd normally meet in person have been meeting remotely via video call. Unfortunately, there's no realistic way to make music and jam together remotely due to network lag — it takes time for the audio/video signal on your computer to make it to somebody else's computer.
For my a cappella group, instead of jamming together, we just call to hang out, chat, or play games.
For my ukulele group, we make do with a virtual jam:
Moving about is important for general physical health. Since gyms are closed, I get exercise by going on walks or bike rides (while maintaining distance from others). I aim to go outside for at least 30 minutes a day.
On busy days, this consists of a short walk around my neighborhood. When I have more time, I like to go on a bike ride. I have a folding bike, which fits in my room. The Lyft bike share program is cheap ($2 for 30 minutes) if you just want to try out biking.
Thanks for reading this far. I hope this has been helpful, and I wish you all the best.