Coping with Change during the Corona

It's been exactly two months that I've been working from home. The hardest part was the first three days - March 17 to 19. I still remember what March 17th felt like - I had my computer set up in the living room of my former flat; it was very cold - I couldn't find the remote of the heater and I didn't think of bringing out my blankets. I spent so much time just reading the news trying to understand what was happening and fearfully thinking about what could happen (I would refresh the new button every 15 minutes - no exaggeration). The news was scary - the cases around the world was increasing. I was just counting the hours to the evening of March 19th which was when I could move to my new flat (where my husband and I currently live), hoping and praying that there won't suddenly be some kind of lockdown that would prevent me from moving.  March 19th evening came and in the evening I moved to the new flat, but we were restricted from visiting other flats/meeting friends but I felt so much better in the new neighbourhood I moved into because I had a lot of friends who live nearby. Even though I couldn't see anyone, I just felt less isolated that in my previous flat. I was very surprised with this feeling; I was always happy and content being alone, but I think those three days felt very different because it also meant I couldn't see my fiance! The 20th was Nawruz, and I spent the 21st cleaning and organizing the new flat which kept me happy and busy, and on the 22nd I resumed working feeling a lot more comfortable and at ease. Later that morning, we got a call that changed everything - our wedding, which wasn't schedule until two weeks later, got moved to...that evening! Nuri moved his things in that afternoon, we got married in the evening and it's been bliss ever since. We didn't take a break after our wedding - we continued working the next day and for nearly two months we've just been at home, in the lockdown together.

Around two weeks ago the government started easing the restrictions, and Nuri had to return to the office. This was a very difficult change for me because since we got married, we've been together every single day and suddenly I had to be alone at home 10hours a day - five times a week without him. I didn't panic or slow down; I wasn't "sad" especially because he's just a few meters away and he would visit/continues to visit during his lunch breaks, but I had to reorganize my daily routines. A few activities came naturally to me, and I thought I'd share the few things I did to cope:

1. Around the same time that Nuri resumed working in the office, the weather started becoming hotter. During the lockdown we went from spring to summer. So little by little, I started re-organizing the flat. I went through my closet and folded away all my jackets and sweaters and kept away the boots; I packed our duvets and replaced them with thin blankets. I used to light candles on the tables, but since we're using the ceiling fans now, we can't light candles so I've placed them here and there as decorations. I went through our kitchen and looked for things that would be affected by the heat and either stored them in cooler cabinets or in the fridge. All this took a few days. I've always enjoyed cleaning and organizing the home/work space (I find it therapeutic). Our flat is completely exposed to sun/open space on one side, so it can easily get hot - and while cleaning I made sure things were organized in such a way that air can pass through and that there were no stuffy corners. There wasn't so much to change since we're still relatively new in this flat, but for those who have lived in the same place for a long time, this quiet/down-time is a great chance to deep-clean!

2. I took some time to think about all the things I've wanted to do for a long time but never got around to. This included simple things like:

• Cleaning out my phone and laptop (we all have photos/documents that we don't need, will never really need and are just taking up space!)
• Reading - I started reading a book at the beginning of March and stopped after I moved, and I recently picked up from where I left
• Blogging!
• Cut my hair! My plan for a long time was to cut my hair after my wedding. Since hair dressers were closed, I chopped off nearly 30cm of my hair by myself!
• Learning how to bake. For the longest time, the only thing I knew how to bake was a cheese cake. More than a year ago, I bought a hand blender to encourage myself to learn how to make new recipes...but I never did this! Every time I had to make a dessert, I'd opt for my easy no-bake ice cream cake. During this lockdown, I learnt how to make two new cakes!

3. Actually work. There are times when my work load is low - and that's when I'd used the time to do some personal things around home. But I noticed that on days when my work load is high, time would go by very fast and I'd feel very satisfied at the end of the day especially when I accomplish the tasks. There were/are times when I don't have personal things to do around home, so I started giving myself more actual work. I looked back at my work diary, and found a lot of items on my to-do list that have been unticked for many months. I found tasks that I once marked as on-going/not urgent and we know what happens - they sometimes become forgotten! So I brought a lot of those tasks to the forefront of my to-do list and starting getting back to them. A lot of these tasks require detailed research and reading, and I've really enjoyed this because it's helping me catch up with work and learn, and stay connected to my work. 

4. As I mentioned earlier, during the first three days of the lockdown, I read global news religiously and I was deeply affected, but after I got married I've just been in another world - HAPPY! I would still read the news every now and then but mainly just the headlines and not the specifics. While the news was mostly negative, a lot of inspiring and exciting news came in from the Baha'i communities around the world. The creative ways Baha'is and friends have taken to cope with these circumstances - zoom classes, devotional meetings, service projects to neighbours, informative radio programmes, even here in our community the friends have very swiftly come up with creative means to stay connected and keep each other uplifted... This is the news/social media I've been tuning into over the last few weeks. I've basically chosen to tune in and read just positive things. This was a conscious effort. The Nawruz and Ridvan messages from the Universal House of Justice this year remind us humanity's inherent oneness, and calls us to remain firm, steadfast and prayerful as we rise above this. Reading/watching/listening to the global efforts of people seizing the opportunities presented by this crisi has kept me positive and hopeful. 

5. Not knowing when things will get back to normal, and seeing how time is just passing by made me decide to write down some goals. Even though I don't exactly have a lot of free time on my hands right now, there are of course perks to working at home - you have a little more control over how you organize your time. So I thought of writing myself a list of some things I would seriously like to get done (eg. study/read this, learn that, create this, continue this, etc.), and this list has a time-frame. I don't often make myself lists like this - I habitually make daily and weekly lists (mostly work-related), so this might take a little while to get used to but so far, just knowing I have this list have given me a little more focus. I have three goals on my list - two are ongoing, but one is time-sensitive, and just seeing this list on my table everyday is helping me fill in blank moments and not lose track of time.