One day, you’re living your fast-paced life, checking off a to-do list, and planning your career for the next five years, and then weeks later, you’re only goal is to come out of lockdown and hightail it to the closest hair salon. Or maybe during the governor orders to stay home had you hoarding toilet paper as your number one strategy to survive a pandemic.
We’ve all suffered one loss or another ranging from the deaths of loved ones to a loss of a job, or even a career. Some people have lost their freedom to travel while others lost their free time now that they are forced to stay at home with family.
However, there is another perspective. With all this downtime and even for some stimulus and unemployment checks, it’s time to take online courses or even watch YouTube tutorials which could lead to decreasing boredom as well as, a change of career for many of us.
If you’re someone who has maintained your health and are not caring for sick friends or family members, here is my list of practices that will help you thrive during the COVID19 pandemic.
- Learn a new skill by watching YouTube tutorial. This ranges from container vegetable gardening to cooking, to yes, cutting your own hair.
You might learn to sew, bake bread, or any other number of useful skills.
2. Take an online course and earn a certificate.
I had been wanting to learn Reiki so that I can facilitate healing in animals. When I researched local in-person Reiki courses I would have had to raise around $1,000 to take the three levels and get attuned. Enter Udemy (and other similar online education sites), I joined the site during a big sale and signed up for several courses for less than $100. I paid for the courses with my stimulus check and the courses which are related to my profession (or change of profession) are tax-deductible.
3. Help a neighbor or a friend.
There’s that saying, what goes around comes around. This applies to helping your friends and neighbors. Yes, you maintain physical distancing. Drop off groceries on a doorstep or give your friend face-time on Zoom or Skype if they feel lonely or depressed.
If you feel comfortable with it, you can offer to walk an elderly person’s dog, mow a lawn, or leave a bouquet of spring flowers on someone’s porch to cheer them up. This all falls under acts of kindness, and kindness is an ingredient that keeps giving.
4. Research a topic that you desire to explore.
Since we’re all our computers anyway, now is a good time to learn a new topic such as archaeology, cultural anthropology, or to at least do some armchair traveling.
5. Visit a virtual museum.
The Smithsonian and other museums are offering virtual tours. I still need to check out to see if the Louvre is offering a virtual tour. Could you imagine?
6. Create Art
Compose a song, write a poem or a story, paint, or photograph your neighborhood. One photographer in London, photographed all her neighbors at a distance and often separated by glass then she created an online gallery. The project was so successful it caught the attention of a journalist with The Guardian.
7. Give card readings to your friends and colleagues via Zoom or Skype or phone
While we can’t gather around a table and read each others’ tea leaves or do card readings in person over a cup of tea, we can still give online readings. Light some candles to create ambiance and put on new age music as you read your friend’s oracle or Tarot cards.
8. Proofread or Critique a Friend’s Literary Work
Okay, so this one seems like work while the other options are fun. But it’s a good way to brush up on editing skills and you would be helping your friend write better.
9. Spread Kind Messages on Social Media
This also includes giving reviews to local businesses that have pages on social media and joining groups where you share your expertise on a subject.
10. Meditate or Practice Yoga
And then dedicate your practice to God, the angels, humanity, or Gaia.
I’m sure that not every item on this list will appeal to each of you. So, pick the ones that resonate with you. The mission of this list is to curb the fear in the world by redirecting people’s hearts and minds. Do what you love and the happiness will follow.
However, if you find that you suffer from survival guilt or that it’s your job to take on the world’s burdens, please sign up with a mental health counselor or grief counselor. You have the right to thrive during any crisis or even in the best of times. We each walk our own paths and the best way to navigate any path is to remember to express compassion and kindness which is as simple as a smile to a neighbor.
Also, eat healthy, exercise, and spend time drinking up sun rays.
You deserve to thrive.
Metaphysics 4 Everyday Living 