Lockdown - Warning: Unleashed inner drama queens running amok!

Let's drop our inner drama-queen. We will survive this (well, most likely...)

We never experience something like this before. Some say the war comes close to it... But I am not sure. In this respect, while all the dramas is going on and emotions fly high, let's not forget one simple thing: We are all on the same boat! And even though now buffeted in the storm of the Covid 19 pandemic, we know the shore is not too far. And that one way or another, we will make it through it.

It is easier to cry like a baby and inflict our desolation on whoever happens to be our proximity - which modern technologies have extended to our "virtual lives" as well now... Courtesy of omnipresent streaming apps such as Zoom.in, Skype and the like - Thank you very much!

But let's just find a moment of "rational sobriety" and think about it:
- Do we really NEED to let our inner drama queen running amok, right now?
- Is that the best course of action that we can see on the horizon - in between spying with weird curiosity on our neighbours from the window?

Let's get real, shall we?

Because amidst all the fears and uncertainties, there are also some significant"upsides" in our current “seclusion” - Which is by the way very “relative”! Most of us live in comfortable enough apartments, with running water, and - last but not least: an internet connection... The last safeguard to preserve for many technologies junkies at least a little grain of sanity!

By comparison, think about poorer countries: there being locked-down can easily mean sharing a windowless room with a more or less friendly assortment of relatives - Yes, in laws included (OMG)!
And no, no Netflix to keep all numbly entertained hours on end...

Besides, most of us can still go out for X number of reasons... The last coveted pillar of freedom, for many fresh-air adrenaline junkies (guilty as charged, here!).

For instance, in the south of Germany (like other “no-nonsense” democracies as well), it is perfectly allowed to stroll out for some movement or sport in the fresh air - provided you are alone, or only with the people living in your household anyway, and keep the prescribed "safety distance" from other passersby.
Funnily, I have never before seen so many joggers and bicycles roaming out there like now!

Which leads me to some subtle upsides of our “western-style", soft lockdown...

1- Healthier meals!
Whatever you cook at home is way healthier than whatever you get cooked outside in any restaurant.
No surprises there!
The incentive for selling food is not primarily to get you the healthiest meal - but the tastier one, where you would come back for more.
And that taste mostly comes in the hidden form of ubiquitous sugar, chemicals and other such addictive food enhancers.

2- Less time commuting = More time for exercising at home!
There are currently plenty pf free online courses and videos for keeping easily (but effectively!) fit at home.
I got happily tipped with the DownDog app, for one!
And if you are willing to throw a few bucks, you can get some minimally "invasive" home equipment to keep you fit, which do not occupying much space at all. Have you ever tried some TRX Suspension Training?
Apparently it was first invented for the Marines for use in the field, so that they could keep fit anywhere, even when confined within their camps, in a relatively limited space.

3- More time at home = More time for reading, learning... Or for whatever fine-tuning still on your "bucket list"!
I know Netflix and video games are other options too.
But reading is to the brain, what exercise is to the body! Plus, quality adds more value quantity. So reading it is! And why not tackling some of the books you long have on your “wish-list”?

Now we have the time!

In a nutshell, I believe that:

If you are “smart” and “flexible” enough, you can get out of this crisis fitter than ever!

You know what! Let's be even more daring.
I bet that even those who missed seizing this relatively quiet time as an opportunity to reflect and reboot, will eventually miss the extra, quiet time, once this will be over.

Because for sure, for the good and for the bad: this is all “exceptional”. And it will be over, sooner or later.

Here on my blog at play.therules.club, I basically make the point, loud and clear, that:

There is no better TIME than NOW to reboot your thoughts and give your day (and why not? Your life!) a fresh START.

We have a choice between:

- Either unleash to our (fully unhelpful!) inner drama queen and hold a grudge until this is over, inflicting misery to all those we cross...

- Or look upon this time as a sort of quieter, prolonged New Year Eve… Except with more time for introspection. And a chance to weigh some life-changing, rather than frivolous (!) “resolutions".

Enjoy the extra time. Till it lasts…