Hari Om Sai Ram ,

Since most people are/soon will be working from/stuck at home and children are off from school, these testing times of being struck by a pandemic can be both scary and frustrating. However, you can better chanelize your time and energies rather than giving into the natural fear of the situation or sheer laziness and frustration that can grow rapidly.

Below is a list of things that you can do at this time –

1. Spend good quality time with your family. We spend so much of our time prioritizing work and social commitments over spending time with souls that are most closely connected with us: our family. Use this time to connect/reconnect with your parents, partner, siblings and children as lack of time spent together is a shocking reality in most families.

2. Watch movies, read good fiction and non-fiction, play board games (on actual boards rather than mobile screens), take up a new hobby like cooking or gardening, learn a new skill and most importantly – EXERCISE.
Time away from your daily routine can be a great way to unwind and pick up on personal goals that you may have been procrastinating for a while (learning how to cook, shedding those extra pounds, reading the book that has always taunted you from the shelf). Do include some form of exercise as that helps reduce stress and burn calories that your body is accumulating since you are at home.

3. Talk to people over the phone. Make use of video calls to stay in touch with your loved ones and catch up with old friends and acquaintances.

4. Spend time in the sun, it is very important for your body. Do take out time to sit in the garden or your balcony during the day as being confined with four walls can get depressing over an extended period of time.

5. Reduce expenditure as there is no surety of how the situation will progress in the following weeks. But, do not cut back on the salaries of your domestic help, car cleaners and other staff members who help you around the house/office. Since a lot of them may be mapping their household expenses against what you pay them, it would be really unfair to reduce their payouts or discharge them from their duties. Rather, pay them even for the days they don’t come to work insuring the course of this pandemic. Also, have a conversation with them to spread awareness about the current scenario and precautions if needed.

6. Get into a good routine. Laziness can easily creep in when you have little work or can work from home. Don’t let that sway you from a good routine. In fact, if you’ve always struggled with maintaining a routine, now is the time to set that right.

7. Be cautious, but not scared. Take all precautions needed and adhere to WHO and government/medical guidelines. If you receive any alarming news, check the source before you let it affect you and definitely before forwarding it to others.

8. Don’t worry. You can’t find a cure, decide or implement government policy or control what tomorrow looks like. So focus on how you can improve your own immunity and take necessary precautions.

Most importantly, sit back and take stock of what you are doing in life. Slow down, it is not a race. Ask yourself – If you have really prioritized your loved ones? If you have valued nature and spent time appreciating it? If you have a purpose or it’s just a meaningless rat race? If life is purposeless, are you ignoring that idea or embracing it? If you are grateful for each day?
Use this time for course correction, if needed.

Have faith and pray. Prayers can heal.

Hari Om Sai Ram