Will Walker, owner of Will’s Pub, Lil’ Indies and Dirty Laundry
I’m spending time in Lil’ Indies doing some improvements that I’ve been wanting to do for years. Doing something constructive has helped
with not getting negative! I’m FaceTime-ing my little girl like crazy. She was up in North Carolina visiting her grandparents. Had to make the tough decision to let her stay. She’s safer there. Listening to music a lot more. Working to stay positive. Trying to help the community with sharing and using our social media when possible. Buddy Dyer, Orlando mayor
Connecting virtually with friends and family — happy hours included and am now a Zoom expert. Walking the dog daily and taking different routes to mix it up. Experimenting with new cooking recipes, including making chicken salad 20 different ways so far. Doing crossword and jigsaw puzzles. Replanting the front garden. Ordering take-out every Tuesday and Thursday, ordering from a local favorite one night and the other night trying something new.
Rimma Bergeron -Langlois, Orlando Philharmonic concert violinist
During this quarantine what has been keeping me sane is being able to spend time with my family, my husband Gabriel and our two boys Albert and Laurent. It has been full of ups and downs emotionally. Not being able to work is hard for both Gabriel (who is a bassoonist) and I, but we are doing our best to stay positive! We are busy homeschooling Albert who is finishing 5th grade, cooking, playing music together, recording “sound bites” for the Orlando Philharmonic, FaceTime-ing our families, teaching our students online and enjoying our backyard. Our youngest, Laurent, who will be 4 years old next month, asked me to teach him the violin, so we started that a week ago. We are looking forward to going back to normal and being able to do our work which is to perform and to share our music again with our audiences.
Mo Bamba, Orlando Magic center
My family is all down here and I have set up things to where I really don’t have to leave the house at all. There’s a lot of time. The Magic dropped off a shipment with a bunch of different weights, a bench, a Kbox, a bunch of different things. They also left a program for me and I have been following that and working out every day — Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday I have been lifting and doing what I would normally do if I were at the facility. [Quarantine] is tough. It is just part of our lifestyle that you have to put on hold and it is tough. Honestly, it is really necessary. We have to get in front of this thing and it takes effort from everyone.
Mandaddy, frontman for local band Gargamel!
Honestly, some days are tougher than others. Like many, we are taking a walk once a day to get away from everything. We try to stay busy during the day. I have a part-time online gig and [my wife] has been doing a lot of yard work. It’s best to stay off social media but that’s hard when you crave connection outside your house. At night, yeah beer and Netflix are always there and late-night swinging around as Spider-Man [in the Playstation 4 game] helps. It’s been hard-to-impossible to be creative for me. Just part of my mind is locked up. Just basically knowing that we are ALL going through this and it is about US. Maybe when this is over, that will bring us together because right now, it sure as hell is tearing us apart.
Nao Tsurumaki, Garden Theatre executive director
To manage my stress each day, I jump on a trampoline with my “co-workers.” The world has turned upside down for all of us, and being silly on a trampoline is about the most UN-virtual thing we can do.
Nikola Vucevic, Orlando Magic center
It’s been kind of a mix. From 7 a.m. to noon is me chasing around my son, then he naps for an hour and a half or two, and then again for another few hours we chase him around and then he goes to bed. So, my downtime is when he sleeps. When he is up, it is nonstop running around. It is great because during the season we travel so much, we are away so much and he was starting to realize that I was gone. You could tell he was a little different when I would come home. Now that I am home, he is very excited. As soon as he wakes up, he comes into our room and wakes me up and wants to play. It is a great time. I know it is a difficult time, but one of the positives is to spend it with our families.
Alauna Friskics, Orlando Fringe Festival executive director
My family and I are fortunate to be employed and working from home. My first true advancement on figuring out how to make this new normal successful was to compartmentalize the day. Becoming a kindergarten teacher to our 6 year-old daughter in tandem with a full-time job took some scheduling magic. Next came a promise to myself to shower, dress and “get ready” every morning. It helps mentally prepare for each day. I remind myself daily that although my mental state fluctuates from totally fine to completely losing it every 10 minutes, my daughter is having the best time of her life. The memories we are creating (like fancy formal dress-up dinners, building our own escape room, and painting a bookshelf together) will last a lifetime. That’s what keeps me going.
Curtis Earth, host of Curtis Earth Trivia
I’ve been maintaining my sanity by watching movies, listening to Howard Stern on the newly free SiriusXM and hosting private virtual quiz game shows for area schools, charities and organizations. It’s working so far.
Meka Kyoto, frontwoman for local band Meka Nism
Our physical, emotional and mental well-being is of great importance at this time. Setting up daily goals and tasks to enhance my well-being really helps give structure to the chaos. I will play guitar, bake a glutenfree cake, write a new poem or song, look up Hungarian recipes, do yoga, make a craft, meditate, sew torn clothing, take a walk, practice Japanese, paint, reach out to a friend for an epic conversation or sing while doing all of it. My favorite way to stay sane is to dress up. Put on something that makes me feel spirited and motivated to dance around and even interact on social media. Sometimes just the act of dressing up for activity or interaction can get us unstuck. As much as we love being in pajamas all the time, changing wardrobe for different activities helps us get our minds ready for a variety of experiences. Also, acts of service are a great way to enhance positive feelings that can help the community. Donating $5 to a charity or ordering something online as a gift to someone in need can really activate a sense of purpose and connection. Get creative, use this time as a gift to promote well-being and dress fabulously when you need a burst of inspiration.