Five practical ways to spend your Corona Virus practical-distancing time

In light of yesterday’s corona virus post which gave some helpful information and strategy in terms of dealing with covid-19, i thought it might be helpful to drop some ideas for those of us who are trying to take this thing seriously without giving in to the panic:

[1] Visit a Museum or take part in an online cultural experience: There are various online virtual tours you can take of museums and other cultural spaces and this article details a number of them that you can enjoy from home.

[2] Consider the elderly and at risk: While visiting those who are more at risk is not a good idea at this time, finding ways to connect with them definitely is. If they have capacity for a video call then consider those who might become even more lonely and starved for connection during this time of self-isolation. But otherwise just a live call so that they can hear your voice and perhaps increase the frequency of calls to make up for the lack of visits.

[3] Be creative with time spent at home. An easy go-to in the time of isolation or quarantine is to head towards the screens and set up shop. i think it’s natural that we will all do a bit of this, but also try prioritise work projects you have wanted to get to at home and get creative with non-screen ways of connecting with each other – jigsaw puzzles, sudoku, board games, trying to bake or cook some new dishes you’ve always wanted to try… What else?

When it comes to the screens why not seek out some new, fun, not-the-usual shows to watch [ask your social media crowd] so that you don’t exhaust the shows you are busy working through. Two that Val and i are really enjoying which you can find on You Tube or via Google are Taskmaster and Spicy Wings.

The first one sees a group of five comedians from the UK performing a series of quite random tasks individually and then watching how they did together with fun banter and hilarity. The Spicy Wings show is presented by Sean Evans where he interviews a celebrity as they work through a series of ten wings that get spicier and hotter as the interview progresses. He has such an interesting interviewing style that goes much deeper than a lot of interview plus you have the added bonus of watching your favourite actors cry, scream obscenities or just get very uncomfortable as the show progresses. A third show we surprisingly enjoyed a while back, which you can find on Netflix is called Blown Away which is a reality show involving glass-blowing that probably doesn’t sound all that interesting – but trust me – everyone we put on to it absolutely enjoyed it and it really is fascinating watching people who have phenomenal skills in something you might not be particularly interested in.

[4] Write a Poem: my friend Siphokazi Jonas has launched this amazing initiative on the Twitterer [@Siphokazi_j] inviting all the poets to write a poem under the heading of Hope in the time of Corona: Poems of Comfort which will be collated and distributed as a free PDF to anyone who is interested. Chris Martin [Coldplay] and John Legend have already committed to streaming mini music concerts online so follow the action on the Twitterer if you want to be a recipient of that.

• Poem must be 20 lines or less
• Send poem in body of email, not attachment
• Include your full name, country and social media
• Deadline is 31 March 2020
• email poems to coronapoems@wrestlingdawnarts.com

[5] Exercise: There are a number of ways you can do this around the house – planking is an exercise that uses a lot of your core muscles and the world record for this was just broken by George Hood setting the new bar at 8 hours 15 minutes and 15 seconds, so there is a lot of work to be done.  But yesterday afternoon tbV and i drove to the green belt and managed to have a 2.5km walk without seeing too many people and so there is a way to get out [walk around your local neighbourhood perhaps] that doesn’t put other people at risk. There are various online programs that will walk you through exercises depending on your level of fitness and so this is a great way to spend some of the time you are trapped in your home and maybe something to get your whole family involved in.

There are obviously many more things you can do and i’d love to hear your ideas in the comments as well as some stories of what you have decided to spend some of your time doing during this global time of staying away from people.

One thing i would love to see less of is the stockpiling of food and supplies which seems to be a bit of an international thing as i saw toilet paper fights in Australia and the USA but now it seems as if many of our own stores are being emptied of products in a way which we haven’t seen since the threat of Y2K [and we all remember how that turned out]. Fear-induced buying only promotes more fear when people go to the stores to buy what they need and someone else has already cleared them out. So let’s be kind and use what we need and not go overboard with the fear of what might happen sometime in the distant future. Because if you are one of the wealthier people who has access to binge-buying then after this whole thing plays itself out – as it will – you will still be the jerk who made life more difficult for those around you.

Let’s try make it through this thing with character and integrity intact. Spend some time giving serious thought to those who this situation is going to hit more severely [those who can’t simply work from home and whose jobs and livelihoods put them more at risk, musicians and artists and tour guides and more] and let’s be creative with kindness and resource-sharing so that everyone makes it through this alive.

Have anything else to add to this list? Drop your thoughts in the comments below! 

[For some more facts and strategies and thoughts concerning the corona virus, click here]