Lockdown Listicles.

This lockdown, it’s akin to a house arrest, what we’re in.

An organism, a microorganism, has grounded us, boxed us in, and, sadly, is boxing many of us to death.

It is giving us all a harsh crash course on basic home training: Wash your hands, don’t shake with the same hands you sneeze\cough into, don’t talk to strangers or anybody, if possible (nah, I made that up); on being responsible and unselfish: Yes, you own yourself and can carry it anywhere, but only so far as it doesn’t endanger someone else; on privacy and stillness:

Stay home. Period.

Observations, predictions, advice or more, here’s “Lockdown Listicles: 7 Tiny Thoughts on Here and Now.”

1. Dwindling or Shape-shifting Costs?

Cost of living in the lockdown mightn’t necessarily fall simply because you’re not going out. There may rather just be a diversion of expenses e.g. your transport fare budget draining into data costs—video calls, movie streaming, etc. (Data merchants should make more profit.)

The rest of it would go to feeding.

Boredom and idleness or generally being in a comfort zone can make people tend to eat/snack more. Over a few days, you can monitor your spend trend, regulate the flow if worth it, and plug any leaks.

2. The Hustle is Now Over-the-Air.

The corporate world, amidst the financial losses, is forced to fully adjust to the fact that the digital economy might have just become the new market square. Virtual work and sundry remote gigs are not doubling, they are proliferating, er, virally, sorry.

Hence, this might be the time to get internet-savvy.

Befriend Google, scale up your surfing skills. Here’s this link again for a wide-ranging offerings of courses, if you missed it the last time I shared. https://qz.com/1514408/400-free-ivy-league-university-courses-you-can-take-online-in-2019/

The event of the entirely-online terrain also means we’re ditching desk for digital space, which means increased competition for clientele which could mean subsidized access rates and onboarding costs.

So you might want to be on the lookout for that online course you’ve been eyeing but your bank balance has been eyeing you back with a hiss. There’s no shame in coupon-and-discount-code mental alertness. And especially not in the quest for knowledge.

3. The Demands of Discipline Peak.

It could be deceptive to think being on lockdown guarantees fixation on a task or goal. Not with internet access. So if you know discipline is going to be a challenge for you especially with focus and concentration, consider that:

a. Android 9 and later offers a quite useful “Focus Mode” feature to turn off distracting apps. Find it under the “Digital Wellbeing and Parental Controls” in your “Settings”.

b. Most online courses, including those with videos, have transcripts. You can download the transcript, do your study offline, and later make submissions/assignments online.

c. You can limit your social media rounds to evenings or other down-times.

 

What’s unplanned and unscheduled has just been given the liberty to run its course anyhow. So redraw your budget—your time budget.

 

 

4. Attention is now Cheap. Attention is now a Luxury.

Thanks to the lockdown, people are now nearly unavoidably online ( and so long their toys are juiced up, they’ll almost always be). It means whatever you have to say, there’s more people listening.

The flip side is you’re not the only one talking, creating content/marketing products/offering services. It’s a loud arena. What that means is while people are listening/subscribing/buying, etc, they will only keep doing so if you’re offering promised value and making consistent sense.

5. Info Snowballing.

You thought you were frustrated with forwarded-as-received broadcasts? Hehe. That was trial version. Here’s the era of premium info flaunting. A message’d have circulated million times before someone discerning queries it. Others, maybe not so lucky.

The motivations to share info vary: Showing they saw it first, a genuine desire to keep others informed, updated, safe, protected, while for others it’s just—what I like to call the SIS; See-IgnoreNeedToVerify-ShareInstantly—impulse. It could be a mix of those motivations for others. Being largely a panic time, more falsity than ever before could make the rounds unverified.

6. Relationship Realizations.

The depth and dynamics of what we tag affection might be challenged by the lockdown. It might be interesting to find out firsthand what physical under-/over-availability can bring out in people. Seeing the true number of freckles on her face can drive you nuts; his naturally knotty beard can begin to travel from adorable to off-putting for you.

Over familiarity can start to churn out contempt-children. Both distance and proximity may begin to reveal their up- and down-sides. This time might prove if the family-is-everything slogan we say while at work because we’re missing home will ring the same tune when we’re forced off work and stuck with said family. And if out of sight will indeed be out of mind.

7. Retrograde Relaxation and a Threat to Health.

Ideally, being at home should at least mean a bit of rest and peace, but the dread of COVID-19, fueled and worsened by the constant updates of death and new cases statistics and how it’s drawing closer to you, can pull your heartstrings, and not in a good way. Worry? That vermin robs everyone who gives it room. And leaves a dent of its presence. So relax. Qué será, será, remember?

And if you must read, can you read the accounts of those who recover, for some balance, at least? You don’t want this pandemic to be over and you’re nursing high blood pressure, or worse, as a souvenir, do you?

Adding to the tendency to be a food junkie is the challenge of a life of limited motion. Sedentary lifestyle, they call it. You may consider doing some brisk walking in your living room, if you can’t go skipping or jogging outright. And while that meal is calling you for the umpteenth time in one hour and a love triangle wants to be happening between the fridge, the microwave and your tummy, you might want to remember your waistline, believe the bathroom scale digits, and trust your mirror a bit more.

~ END ~

PS: The Knight is a fire writer!!! Thank you for gracing our blog with your words, we hope to see more.

Look for other #CoronaDiary posts.