Binge-watching Netflix was just a suggestion. As more and more people are finding out, there are so many other more productive and creative ways to while the minutes and hours away while on lockdown.
By ALEX Y. VERGARA
When a certain media personality got more than his share of flak after posting on social media an unoriginal thought, it turns out, soon after the Luzon-wide lockdown took effect a couple of weeks ago, which went like this, “Your grandparents were called to war; you are being called to sit on the couch to watch Netflix,” the fellow wasn’t being “simplistic” and insensitive, as many of his critics accused him of.
Perhaps it was simply his attempt at being ironic, which again misfired among not a few Filipinos who still can’t distinguish the difference between irony and plain straight talk. As I see it, it was actually an indirect appeal to do ourselves and our healthcare workers a favor. So as not to compound our doctors and nurses’ woes any further, we were simply being asked to avoid other people, practice social distancing, stay at home and, well, binge-watch on Netflix.
After all, unlike during our grandparents’ time, there’s no point really for us today to be in the frontline unless we’re trained healthcare professionals. The most we could do is to contribute money and time by helping mobilize resources.
This war is stranger and in many ways more lethal and dangerous than any conventional war we’ve ever seen or fought before. But there’s also no point either of spending your entire time watching and rewatching everything on TV. That would have been mind-numbing.
Going on a Netflix marathon was just a suggestion. As more and more people are finding out as we go on Week 3 of our collective and self-imposed quarantine to help minimize our exposure to the deadly coronavirus, there are so many productive and creative ways to while the minutes and hours away while on lockdown.
The long hours spent at home, like what many of the respondents we’ve interviewed in this story have experienced, could help reacquaint you with an old passion, introduce you to a new one and maybe, just maybe, help you get in touch again with your soul.
Everything is a prayer now.
The washing of dishes and bathing of the dog.
The dusting and the mopping and the watering of plants.
Even when I look at my dwindling resources, I find that I worry less. Lift up more.
Everything is a prayer.
Our meals are taken together, and seated across our narrow table, there are no distances or masks. Still, after I have done the dishes and the house falls into quiet in the afternoon , I try to fight off the despair.
So, today, I took a walk to buy veggies at the barangay hall. Our village guard offered me a ride on his motor. He had no mask on. I took mine off as I clambered on .
Vegetables in my bayong, the afternoon wind on my face, and the sun beating down on us as we sped along the deserted village road.
It was a short ride. Not even five minutes, but I had never felt so alive in my life.
Everything is a prayer. Everything , a leap of faith.—Floy Quintos, award-winning playwright and director
I try to focus on positive things like listening to gospel music while doing stretching exercises before breakfast. After getting ready for the day, I relax and listen to other uplifting music while I paint. It would be good if I could paint more hours in a day. However, constantly washing hands and sanitizing everything around me tend to disrupt my creative flow as well as eat up a great deal of the time.
Sometimes my son and I watch Mass with Pope Francis or the 6 p.m. novena through Zoom with Father Felipe from Everest Academy.
The most exciting part of my day is around 4 p.m. when I have TikTok dance lesson with my son. I really encourage him to do this exercise every day with me so we can keep from getting on each other’s nerves.
Since my family is apart during this time, we make sure that we have our video call every other day. I’m hoping and praying that everyone is staying safe and healthy during this difficult time.—Hera Geriene, “socialite who’s painting for relief”
It may be inconvenient. At times, even infuriating. But mostly, the lockdown is boring. The first three days were challenging. Then it hits you: This is probably the new normal!
I wake up at around 9:30 a.m. Wait, that’s a lie! My partner wakes me up at 9:30 a.m. I then join him for breakfast before I aimlessly putter around the house. Make lunch, do some chores, then make dinner. It seems that our days are marked by mealtimes.
On the fourth day, I discovered boxes of watercolor and color pencils. I also found sheets of watercolor paper. I purchased these materials years ago in hopes that I’d be able to return to painting.
I felt a bit rusty at first, but after a few strokes, I finally regained my bearing. You can’t really blame me. Although my first love has always been painting, I’ve somehow lost my instincts for it after years of designing mostly books using software and computer paper. What do you know? It never left me!
I really wanted to help in numerous volunteering efforts. Unfortunately, I think I might compromise other people more should I be in the middle of it. I can be useful in some other ways.
I continue to work on pending projects—mostly book designs and publishing projects—just before the lockdown happened. I’m now beginning to realize that with this lockdown, I’ve discovered so many things about myself. That I don’t have to be out there all the time. To be mindful in discerning what’s important and what’s not, to be conscious of the fact that our life in this planet is so fragile. We have to choose our battles accordingly.—Ige Ramos, book designer, author and cultural worker
Work goes on. I’ve been helping out my company issue circulars and social content for its residents, tenants, staff and customers. It’s a challenge to write non-stop, with speed, clarity and transparency. This is the most meaningful and relevant communications work I’ve ever done in my years as a communicator and marketer.
I also try to do some baking for a few friends. Wish I could do a lot more, but I’m limiting my trips to the supermarket for baking stuff. Cakes and cookies lift people’s spirits during sad times, I’ve learned.—Boboy Consunji, marketing consultant and part-time baker
“It’s okay to not be at your most productive during a f*cking global pandemic,” reads a meme I posted last week when I gently allowed myself to wallow in worry and gloom while glued to the couch all day.
This week, though, I have decided to adopt a pro-active attitude of gratitude and channel my feelings not just into cathartic cooking and comfort-eating, but towards productive distraction (besides trying to be of help to others, of course).
I realize how fortunate I am to have, upon retiring from corporate life late last year, rekindled old passions: ballet and fiction writing, picking up from where I left off decades ago with former teachers Perry Sevidal and Cristina “Jing” Pantoja Hidalgo, respectively, whose classes have moved online: Perry teaches ballet via Facebook Live, and Jing, through a chat group with my other classmates.
Diverting my anxiety and nervous energy into getting better at something I love doing through regular practice, whether the goal is tangible (for fiction, it is to produce short stories) or not (for ballet, it is just to “be in the moment,” dance better, as well as reap whatever fitness benefits I can) is what fills my days and helps me look forward to getting up in the morning. This sort of constant creative escape offers a momentary respite from the world’s troubles—essential for recharging, if not saving my sanity in the face of our current tragic reality.—Myrza Sison, writer, editor, speaker, model and host
Not too many know that aside from being a furniture designer, I am also a farmer by heart. The lockdown gave me more opportunity to focus on my second love, which is planting.
So much hope to see them grow and ultimately bear fruit. I’m a firm believer of what you sow is what you’ll reap—literally and figuratively.—Milo Naval, furniture designer and gentleman farmer
An idle mind is the devil’s workshop, ’di ba? The past two weeks have given me time to do the things I’ve put on hold and find ways to continue what I’m used to doing on normal days.
Richard and I were able to declutter our closets, and segregate and put clothes we don’t need anymore in marked boxes, which are to be donated once this is all over.
I was also able to organize my hobby area, gathered some unfinished bags and started working on them. I also got to make a few more! The Internet, as we all know, is a great tool for discoveries. More so if you have plenty of time in your hands.
For gym-time, which was put on hold, I signed up for online aerobics classes, and discovered a few more useful and doable fitness classes on YouTube to add or complement my fitness regimen. And for prayer time, I follow Sta. Maria Goretti live Masses on FaceBook, so I could join everyone else in prayer for our nation and our people’s well-being.—Marina Benipayo, model, actress and part-time bag designer
I keep myself informed with what’s happening in the country. And that’s giving me insight to see the bigger picture outside of my own bubble.
I’m also in constant communication with my family (we are in quarantine in different places: New York, Cagayan de Oro, Antipolo and, me, in Pasig) and my close friends from all over the world. This connectedness with people important to me makes me feel alive!
I don’t normally exercise but this time I have learned to throw punches (in my kaftan at that!) at the punching bag so quickly and it’s such a good release for all the tension and stress inside me. —Queenmelo Esguerra, LGBTQ rights activist
I’m a marathon runner and I am literally climbing walls because I am bursting with energy. Fortunately, I have five kids and we find creative ways to keep ourselves healthy while having some awesome family bonding moments.
There was one night, after having danced the “tinkiling,” that we built a “campfire” in the garden and I taught my son how to barbecue chicken. We also made s’mores after.
On some days, we play old childhood games like hide and seek, tag and sword fights on a make-believe bridge that I built.
On top of that, running hundreds of times around my garden with my dog Louie, biking around and riding my Vespa scooter in circles inside our compound keeps me sane! Strangely, the days do go by so fast with work from home and helping in anyway we can with the COVID-19 crisis. They’ve kept me also quite busy.
At the end of the day, I meditate and say prayers of gratitude for having a roof over my head, food on the table and a loving family, as this crisis has reminded me never to take my blessings whether big or small for granted.—Ton Concepcion, owner and managing director, SMEG Philippines
The first week was the easiest part of the lockdown. I was able to finish backlogs of pics to edit and some housekeeping like hard drive cleaning and cataloging.
As for the most part of the lockdown, what gives me normalcy is to cook for my family. Making not so elaborate dinners so we can dine together and bond as a family.
Not thinking too much of the future. Just taking it day by day. Everything is up in the air so I’ll just worry about things I actually have control of. Like my family.—Dix Perez, photographer
While the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted our daily routine, especially our constant attempts to try to balance work and home, family time and me time, it has also managed, for me, to create certain groundbreaking realizations:
1. That you can be surprisingly productive when you’re locked down inside your home. You work while at the same time help your son do his project. Momentary breaks also mean having the chance to play a game with your toddler or help out set the table. And because of very few distractions, you can easily accomplish requirements needed at the office or the business organizations I work with.
2. Suddenly, there are certain activities such as going to the gym that you thought you couldn’t do at home, but now realize that you could.
3. Things that you haven’t had the time to do before at home and now you have all the time to do it: tidying up your closet, taking care of your garden and fixing little things in your house that have become long overdue.
4. 24/7 bonding time with your loved ones makes you realize how family is all that matters.
The best realization for me is that the lockdown was able to provide not only the work-life balance that we’ve all been constantly trying to achieve in this fast-paced, post-digital world, but also the means to achieve a unique work-life blend. Hopefully, these realizations are going to make the whole world stop and think of the need for more positive changes once things get back to normal.—Lucien Dy Tioco, EVP, The Star Group
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