Corona-coma: The Wishlist Era
A particularly useful read, if you are a frivolous millennial.
Close to 3000 saved posts on Instagram, 27 boards on my Pinterest account, 14,579 pictures on my new phone which was bought in October of 2019. I live for content! And that is how many things I have saved up in private spaces, on the internet.
An odd thought occurred to me a couple of weeks ago. Are you also saving things for the future? A fictional time where you will not be exhausted from balancing health, life, work, relationships, never-ending procrastination?
It has been an exciting time, companies are asking their people to Work From Home (or ‘Work From Hell’ as one of my friends call this time — scrambling between our phones, televisions, and laptop screens in memory of our multiple work monitors). I woke up on Saturday, thinking I had overslept my alarm, grasping thin air looking for my glasses (which I do not even have), freaking out that I had overslept my alarm and needed to get to work which is now five feet away from my bedroom. Given that there are 100,000 articles about this on the internet right now, I’d like to share some free/paid tools and tricks I actually found extremely useful and can be used IRL in this time of uncertainty, besides Netflix of course. SO in the light of “Making my MESS my MESSAGE” as Robin Roberts would say.
Here goes nothing…
WORK HARD, HARDER THAN EVER BEFORE
Some people are calling this the world’s largest remote work experiment. With our current internet speeds, supercharged minds, and unlimited access to knowledge and support from our circles, we really have no excuses. I am fortunate to be able to have a job that actually does not feel like a “job” but a hobby. Working in PR — writing, talking to people, and thinking of a narrative — either through text, video, or voice is probably the best job I could have ever asked for. I never went to “communications school” or studied journalism per se, I picked up everything on the job and learning from experts /journalist friends and bosses, and so this was an exceptional time to catch up on the jargon that comes with a career in public relations.
Neuroscientists believe people may learn to have a growth or a fixed mindset in their early years, because of learned behaviour from parents and caretakers. However, fret not — you can at any point in your life, rewire your thoughts and response to a more open, experimental process. A growth mindset allows you to think more positively, be fearless about failure and looks at challenges as an opportunity to stretch!
Free source: Coursera
Paid source: Masterclass
INDUCE ENDORPHINS
It has become easier than ever before to work out, at home, or even just around the block (whatever is allowed). I got lucky when my belly dance teacher started hosting her classes online, while I suck — it is a great core work out. Maybe reach out to your friends who train and ask them for some advice or just look up free videos online. I also randomly found BollyX today (remember this guy from Shark Tank), discounted during the Corona period, and a lot of fun. You know what, I’m the laziest person I know, but seriously! Put on a mask, go downstairs — just a for a short walk, you will feel so much better.
The other thing easy to pick up and surprisingly fun, with the addition of being incredibly grounding, is gardening. I have been able to grow lots of little things in my balcony, including a vertical herb garden.
Another thing here I must mention is Dilip Chopra’s Abundance Challenge. It set everything rolling for me! I might have even been a wreck before a friend added me to this group. At first, I thought it was bougie, and while I loved watching Oprah, most of the things on her show were probably very first world for someone that grew up in Pune in a middle-class home. But then again, a lot of this Abundance challenge added up and even though the Americanised Sanskrit words on those voice recordings, the manifestation exercises really brought out the best in me! I have also been using the Headspace app, as I was struggling with insomnia for a few weeks. Even if you stayed still for a while, and just took deep breaths, it immediately calms the mind (don’t believe me?). Try inhaling for 4 counts, holding 4 counts and then exhaling with 4–3–2- 1!
Free source: Rebecca Louis, a walk in the park or around the block
Paid source: SWEAT app, BollyX (on a discount right now)
STOP HOARDING
One thing that I’ve wanted to crack has been a capsule wardrobe! Man, how cool are those people who have pinned down 333 and influencers on Instagram looking chic even on a tough as hell day!
At the end who is looking at what you are wearing under your t-shirt on a Zoom call anyway? 😐
Excuse me while I use my fashion budget on buying plants.
Free source: Miss Louie, endless Pinterest results if you type ‘capsule wardrobe’.
Paid source: Project 333 [Paperback available on Amazon, and digital version on Kindle]
KONMARI YOUR LIFE
Clutter is real and shows you your current mindset. You cannot get efficient work done, or sleep too well with things lying around all over the house or around your desk. When I lived in Bangalore, we had an extra bedroom — slowly but surely it became a graveyard of clothes and things that were never visited. The more space, shelves, drawers you have the more crap you will hoard.
In no way am I saying I am a minimalist — however, when I met my boyfriend who lives in Hong Kong, I was intrigued to see he wore the same black t-shirt, jeans and sneakers every single day. He said it took out so much clutter from his mind, having to decide what to wear! Not only does he look hella chic, but he also saves 30 minutes of his life every day!
For the rest of us humans, I have really come to terms with the fact that I do not need 500 pieces of clothing, several, multiple repeats of the same thing. Spending 15 minutes, set a timer on it — every single day to declutter gives you a sense of control and happiness.
Free source: Tidying up with Marie Kondo (provided you have a stolen Netflix account)
Paid source: The Life-Chinging Magic of Tidying Up
GOOD TIME TO START SAVING?
Buying the most exquisite cooking ingredients and supplies cost lesser than ordering in regularly. A rough calculation would show you that cooking your own food, costs about 3X less. An excellent thing to introspect on if what are your expenses currently?
Less travelling, less commute expense has helped me have more saving at the end of the month. While everybody should go back to travelling soon — we can keep a lookout for deals on various websites now for later. Everybody is doing discounts and the past three months have been a great time to capitalise on them.
Another thing, I have been doing is reading tonnes on different things to save in, in the future. What are all these, what do they mean and how do they work?
DOCUMENT, JOURNAL, RECORD
We spend so much time thinking, some of these thoughts are actually great creative ideas. Take pictures, draw, start a show — even if no one is watching!
This happens to be a result of me trying to follow through this exact thing. Which is what I am doing with this right now.
When I started the abundance challenge in March, I used an already used journal with pages empty, that soon became my book of self-reflection. Soon it helped me realise, several people share their journey’s only when they’ve finished them. How can you inspire people to swim in a deep pool when you’ve reached the other side and climbed out?
Free source: A notebook + pencil, voice recorder on your phone, Google keep, Trello.
Paid source: Sticky notes
BE KIND FOR F***S SAKE!
Walking down the street, I noticed several shops were closed, this has left many people with not being able to pay for their basic needs. Migrant workers in India are walking home, they are walking for days just to get back — with no support, no one to help. What gives us the right to complain? It is essential to recognise your privilege and allow it to humble you. What you have is plenty! And if you cannot share, at least be kind to others who might not be as lucky.
Free source: SMILE!
Paid source: Kiva, Milaap, Our Democracy
GRIEVE
Staying in must really bring a lot to the surface, it certainly did for me. Being even more productive than usual on most days (not all), I have started to have time to process, process losing my mom, process fighting a tough fight against cancer. Process other things that happened in the past small and big make sense of them, forgive them and accept them. Apologise for some things, thank some people for some ideas.
I recently learnt about something called a ‘Significant Emotional Event’. This could be something small, like a traumatic experience your mother may have had while you were in the womb or a loss of a parent/child/partner — this ‘SEE’, or any other can stick with you, without you knowing, and change you in years to come. In worse off cases, it turns into disease. Personally, I learnt where all my health issues were coming from! Like the gluten intolerance caused by a break up that means nothing to me now, or a hormonal problem that happened because of childhood experiences. It’s allowed me to grieve old breakups that were shelved, disagreements that ended with ghosting. Bad behaviour that should not be ignored (both mine and others).
It’s allowed me to finally reach out for help. Learn new things about myself, I never knew.
Most of all, it’s allowing me to reset.
Free source: Reach out to a friend
Paid source: Therapy (I have some recommendations, inbox me if you are interested)
ADOPT DON’T SHOP
Doesn’t it feel like the best time to get a pet to fill up that empty space you are feeling? I recently met a cat in my building complex, and she is the sweetest. We now buy some pet food on our trips to the grocery store and feed her in the evenings. My landlady is not okay with there being any animals in her house (she even put it on the lease). That said, why would we buy bred animals when we can adopt so many cats and dogs and bunnies looking for homes?
Free source: PAWS in Bangkok, Soi Dog in Phuket, CUPA in Bangalore, Animal Lovers League in Singapore
Paid source: NONE!
But honestly, man, stop freaking out! 💖💖
