Quarantine - A Field Manual
Who told you quarantine had to suck? Well, they aren’t very imaginative. If Viktor Frankl was able to use the power of his mind to see a concentration camp as the Garden of Eden, I am willing to bet you are capable of seeing your home as something other than Purgatory for a couple of weeks… ok, make that a couple of months to be safe.
I decided to write a Quarantine Field Manual that also doubles as a ‘Thrival Guide’. Still not sure if I should call it a ‘Thurvival Guide’ but I feel pretty good about my pun so I’m gonna leave it as is, for now. Jokes aside, I am sick of people choosing to use words like survival when the option to make up a new word with thrive in it is very much on the table. Thriving is a state we can track towards, in both chaos and order, but I get it, people are feeling freaked out and a little lost so I thought I’d collect what has been working for me over the past three (so far) weeks of at home isolation. My hope is to help offer resources for those of you at home that are wanting to realign and use this time of isolation to work on yourself.
The Recalibration Period
Things are different now. Different doesn’t mean bad it means different. That is reality and sure, you can argue with reality, but, as Byron Katie says, you will lose - every. single. time. Things might stay different or they might get more different but they are never going back to the way they were and that is unsettling intel for some of our brains to wrap themselves around. Things get different every day but usually, the differentness happens in such tiny increments, the idea of it is manageable. This might feel unmanageable to you right now so you need to be gentle with yourself while you grieve the passing of what was. Give yourself a few days, maybe even a full week, (but no more than two) to get used to the differentness. I’m calling it a recalibration period. Symptoms are general discomfort in your own skin, listlessness, fear of infinite possible futures, helplessness, lethargy, an overwhelming desire to eat all your end time rations, and a nagging sense of paralysis. You are just going to have to be ok with being in it until it passes. If you fight it, it will persist so don’t do that, if you can help it. Keep in mind that in the moment there are rarely real problems, the majority of your problems live in the future and the future doesn’t exist.
Shift your Mindset from Productivity to Creativity
Ok, so now the idea is that you are all calibrated up meaning you are no longer operating from a place of fear but perhaps a place of curiosity. You might feel fearful or anxious in certain moments but it isn’t dictating your every thought and the frontal cortex is now back in action so you are no longer making decisions like a prehistoric lizard person. Now is the time to take a deep breath, let go of what you are powerless to change, and focus on getting amped about all the exciting new opportunities that have hatched. The catch is you won’t be able to see them unless you put on the rose coloured glasses of creativity. Your normal productivity mindset is not gonna cut it - it’s too old and cranky. Productivity asks of us to produce for usefulness sake when creativity asks us to create for the nourishment of our souls. The fundamental difference comes in a shift from being “busy” to being “engaged”. Honestly, which one sounds better to you? The catch is that you will end up being productive under either pretense, but the process and the outcomes will be very different. Moving on…
Get Dressed
Get up, put on real clothes that you feel snazzy in, and get ready as if you were going out to see the other real human beings of society. I have an honest to goodness question for you: If you wouldn’t want other people seeing you look a certain way, why on earth would you subject yourself to this lackluster, low vibe version of yourself? If you don’t like the way you feel or the way you look that is going to negatively affect your self-esteem and confidence and in turn dictate how worthy and deserving you think you are. You can deny it until you are blue in the face but it isn’t the conscious mind that decides this so it’s of no use to argue. The subconscious mind doesn’t care about your feelings, she is a cruel mistress and she doesn’t pander to the way you think things should be, only the way it is. So get dressed and bring forth the vital life force of a person who is showing up fully to thrive in the face of adversity and uncertainty.
Get Strong and Get After It
In the words of Justin Garcia aka Master Chim, weakness is the rejection of the process of building strength. Let that sink in for a second... It suggests that weakness is not a lack of strength but rather the rejection of the process of cultivating it. We need to track towards the cultivation of strength right now more than ever - strength of character, strength of spirit, strength of constitution. A strength mindset is necessary first to fortify ourselves and next to be appropriately resourced to be of service to our families and our communities. Service from a place of strength is not about rescuing victims but rather providing the support that acknowledges and enhances the inherent strength of the other. So how do you get strong? In the words of Jocko, you get after it, whatever “it” is for you. Here are some ideas to get you started:
Commit to a task or project that is just slightly out of your comfort zone, requires discipline, and that also excites you
Feed yourself highly nourishing food
Exercise regularly in a way that is invigorating to your body and spirit
Meditate on how you can be of service. Start as close to home as you can and work your way outwards from there
Keep a journal, see what magic and wisdom comes out of you onto the page
Take Up Space
Have you ever called in sick when you weren’t really sick only to spend the entire day living out the lie by moping about in your PJs in a low energy, guilt-ridden trance? The truth of the matter is that our words and our thoughts are powerful and if we align our energy with negativity and illness we are destined to attract more of it. Stress and anxiety are inherent in the uncertainty of our current climate but are entirely toxic to overindulge in and, for the majority of us who are able to stay home, pose as big if not a bigger threat to our wellbeing than the virus itself. In fact, my friend and Stress Coach, Nicole Porter has an entire program dedicated to treating and reversing the negative effects of stress in the body.
So, rather than aligning your mood with a state that lacks light, why not choose to align yourself with exuberance and brilliance? It might seem far fetched but it doesn’t have to be if it is what you actually want. Playing small by aligning your mood with the anxiety and fear in the atmosphere isn’t helpful, but sensitive people like me can easily fall into this joining behaviour without even noticing. Awareness is really all you need to snap out of it. How am I taking up space, well, all of the sudden, sometime last week, I realized I could just blast music like my girl Antonya’s Zumba Jams and dance around my house like a celebratory bundle of sass whenever I felt like it. I have also been joining as many of Baza Dance Studio’s online classes as possible because the teachers are amazing, the choreography elements are mentally stimulating, and joining my friends for live stream classes make me feel connected and reenergized.
Some Final Thoughts:
If you are counting the days you’ve been isolated, consider how much better it might feel to loose track.
If you are scrolling or posting incessantly on social media and finding it overwhelming, consider taking a break.
If you are letting the media hysteria suck your life force, consider not giving it your undying attention.
If you are feeling lonely, consider picking up the phone and calling an old friend - like that one that keeps popping into your head.
If you are feeling lost, consider finding yourself by investing your energy in a task that is challenging and meaningful to you.
With a healthy dose of awareness, perspective, and discipline, we could use this whole big messy and beautiful pause to refine our understanding of who we are and how we show up for life
- now that would be nothing short of a global miracle -