Like many parts of the world, Pakistan has also suffered coronavirus pandemic. As of March 23, 800+ cases recorded out of the 6 recovered and 6 died. Many cities of the world have been locked down to avoid the spread of the COVID19 disease. Many companies around the world are now asking for work from home. People are being caged at home and they can’t roam around. It is not easy to spend time at home, especially when you are not used to working from home. Men usually are not used to staying home. Below are the few things which you could do to keep yourself sane, productive while working from home.
- Besides social distancing, you should also do social media distancing to avoid anxiety and other psychological issues. This is very important. What’s the point of following the tally while you can’t do anything. You might not suffer from the virus but you’d definitely suffer from the “stress virus”.
- Dress as if you are going to the office. If possible then arrange a place in your home where you could work without any interruption. You can just put a table and chair in your drawing room by keeping the doors and windows locked during “office hours”.
- If you are a parent, spend time with your kids. Take care of their study affairs. Khan Academy has a complete guide from grade 1-9 for maths, science and other subjects which you can follow. Sit with your kids and teach them. They’d love it. Nothing wrong if you teach them “out of the course” stuff. No one stops you to teach your 4th or 5th grader about algebra. Books like What is Mathematics? and How to Solve it by George Pólya are great resources to teach your kids about the purpose of mathematics.
- If you follow a certain religion, you should spend time to study yourself to increase the knowledge and help your kids to do the same.
- Financial literacy is very important, many smart people do not know about the purpose of money, saving, credit/debit and investments. I am not sure about other countries by my country’s State Bank has launched a mobile app in which they have used gamification techniques to teach about finance. My 10 years old son loves it and he finally knows the difference between income and expense. The app is available for both iOS and Android.
- Being a male member you should help your ladies: Mom, Wife, Sis, etc in house chores. Maids are not coming home so help your ladies in house chores. Our Prophet(saw) used to help His wife all the time in house chores. This is also a way to strengthen your relationship with your family.
- Cook something new or learn cooking. This is the best time to impress your family members with cooking skills.
- Learn some new skills. As a father or mother, you should also help your kids to learn something new. Teach them about history, science or anything you think they should know. Sites like Coursera, Udacity have various courses on different topics.
- Do a daily workout, yoga, and meditation. Youtube has millions of such videos to help you. The least you can do is Plank which does not need any equipment. Google will help you to find more.
- Do work on projects which you always wanted to work on.
- Learn about your religion and study about it.
- Avoid news.
- Help needy people who are unable to earn due to lockdown.
Conclusion
I hope you will find these tips useful for yourself and the people around you. It is not necessary that you have to implement all of them as there are few tips which are more of culture/religion(s) specific. Irrespective of that, the main point is that you could avail of this opportunity to improve yourself and things around you.
Have a safe lockdown period. I wish all of you the best of health! Stay home and Stay Safe!
