This lockdown has been, for me, a time of reflection and personal growth. I’ve experienced along the way significant mental distress, but by having the time to find the root causes and thoroughly analyze my experience, I’ve been able to grow out of my negative phases and learn how to tackle them once they reappear. Moreover, I have also built on my transferable skills and boosted my employability through the various webinars/courses/virtual projects I took part in. In essence, this lockdown has given me an unprecedented amount of free time. Which can be both a good thing and a bad thing, but mostly a good thing if you know how to go about it. So, without further ado, here is my advice for anyone who finds themselves with copious amounts of free time and no possibility of going outside:
Journaling has been highly beneficial for me in terms of my mental health and I would recommend doing something that would mimic its effects. Allocating an hour per week to express your feelings on paper is enough to make you more aware of and consequently more able to deal with your mental health problems.
The lockdown was literally the perfect time for me to learn new things. There are loads of sites with free trials and courses on everything from coding to knitting. I learnt a new coding language for free and in the process I have also improved my knowledge of other programs.
Previously I hadn’t known what a good source of free information the CareerZone was. There are loads of interesting speakers whose experiences you can learn from and the soft skills sessions are incredibly useful.
When I was isolating, I found it very easy for me to not answer calls or not respond to messages since I was “isolating anyway”. It can be a slippery slope so find time to FaceTime your friends and make use of apps like House Party to play games together (since there’s likely going to be little to talk about anyway)
Lockdown can be very overwhelming. When you realize you have so many choices and so many things you want to do, you might panic because there is still limited time. Have a bubble bath, watch a good show and meditate. You can’t do anything without mental clarity.
I left this last because I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone. It really depends on how willing you are to take on another responsibility and allocate time to another activity. I personally sold some of my items on a Facebook group and started to invest, but there are many other ways to make money online nowadays.
