Self-isolation: how to stay busy – and sane
I’m the type who distrusts the silver lining and spots the worm in every apple, and whose cup often remains stubbornly half-full. I’m 67 and have an autoimmune condition, which places me in a high-risk category for Covid19. I’m a nervous flyer. So, when I arrived at Nelson airport for a flight to Auckland last week, my nerves were a-jangle at the prospect of spending an hour thousands of feet above the ground in a narrow metal tube, with a crowd of possibly contagious fellow humans.
A haze over the airport meant that several flights, including mine, were delayed and then cancelled. The flight I was transferred to was also delayed and cancelled.
Finally, nine hours later than my original ETD, I scrambled gratefully aboard a flight for Auckland. My worry about dying of a virus or in an air accident had vanished. All that concerned me was getting on to a plane – any bloody plane – and getting to Auckland.
A single minor uncertainty had crowded out the fear of fast – or slow – death.
This suggested to me that ragged nerves can be soothed with a bit of distraction. With this as a working hypothesis, I’ve come up with some cheap and distracting activities to help stave off anxiety, especially if you find yourself in self-isolation, alone or with family:
Appoint yourself research and communications officer
This is a vital job and will keep you very, very busy.
You’ll need to be a news junkie, a whiz with technology and a good communicator. It’ll be your job to keep abreast of the latest (accurate) news about Covid-19 and the best ways to respond to it.
Filter out anything that is inflammatory, fearmongering or just plain crazy, then convey this information in plain language to family, friends and neighbours via mobile devices and email. Create an old-fashioned phone tree for people who don’t have a computer or mobile phone, remembering that older people are less likely to have either.
Use the communication channels you develop – digital or analogue – to help people keep in touch with each other, thus alleviating loneliness and isolation.
Keep a diary
We live in interesting times. Write about it. There are historical precedents. Daniel Defoe’s novel A Journal of the Plague Year was probably based on notes his uncle made during the Great Plague of London. In his famous diary, Samuel Pepys also wrote about the London plague.
Irishman Brian Keenan wrote An Evil Cradling, an account of the four years he endured as a hostage in Beirut in the 1980s, much of it in solitary confinement or blindfolded. Read it and feel grateful that your isolation is self-monitored.
Old-fashioned entertainment
Revisit the non-digital pleasures of jigsaw puzzles, board games like Monopoly, or card games. Happy Families, anyone?
Don’t buy new: op shops have literally stacks of jigsaw puzzles for just a few dollars: easy ones for the kids, and gazillion-piece puzzles for adults, featuring everything from kittens to Scottish castles and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Or stock up on second-hand books at Founders Heritage Park, the recycling centre or op shops.
Modern entertainment
Go digital and download eBooks and audiobooks for free through Libby the library app. Ask your research and communications officer how (see above).
Kanopy is a streaming service that’s free if you have a library card, and has a great selection of documentaries, movies and TV shows. Don’t watch medical dramas, or movies with apocalypse or pandemic in the title. Do make your own popcorn.
Time travel
Recreate that great childhood holiday you had at your friend’s bach. Slip on a pair of jandals, sprinkle sand on the lino, and once more enjoy yourself with a few crummy paperbacks and an ancient Scrabble set.
Play charades by the light of a 25-watt bulb. Cook dinner on a one-ring stove. Jaffas for dessert.
Build a family tree while looking to the past. With just a few names and birth dates and a free account on ancestry.com, you’ll be amazed at how fast you can grow it.
Dig out old photos and ask Who? Where? When? questions about them. Dig out recent photos, too. Delete the rubbish, sort and rename the rest. Jim on Ukulele Xmas 2019 will be a whole lot more useful for your biographer than 4123.jpg. Both of these projects are ideal project for the young-uns and the old-uns to work on together.
Take a flight of fancy
Faraway places with strange-sounding names aren’t likely to be on your itinerary for a while. While you’re waiting at home for an exit visa, plan the most fabulous holiday you can imagine: no destination too extraordinary, money no object. Or emulate Xavier de Maistre, who in 1790, while under house arrest, wrote A Voyage Around My Room, giving more than average attention to the everyday objects around him and the associations they provoked.
Be inventive
Italians sang on their balconies. The Irish staged Paddy’s Day marches at home and uploaded them to the internet. Imagine what New Zealanders could do with No 8 wire and a bit of ingenuity.
Recreate that great childhood holiday you had at your friend’s bach. Slip on a pair of jandals, sprinkle sand on the lino, and once more enjoy yourself with a few crummy paperbacks and an ancient Scrabble set.
Read more at greyurbanist.com.