My heart goes to those who depend on their daily wages to survive. To those who couldn’t afford to hoard. Not everyone has a thriving online business or jobs that can be done in the comforts of their homes. A lot of people must go out to be able to feed their families.
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My heart also goes to those who have been terribly hit by the virus and they will always be a part of my prayers. But despite all the craze, the hoarding and the panic and the boredom the virus has been giving us, I realized that the Universe might also be trying to say something.
Maybe it’s a way of telling us to reflect deeply, ask ourselves questions that we keep on avoiding which affects our moods, our attitudes and how we live our daily lives.
Maybe, it’s about time to ask ourselves, what are we doing in this life? If this is truly the end, what are we doing to positively contribute to this lifetime?
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The streets are almost empty, school is off and there are more and more empty spaces in the aisles of the supermarkets. People who can afford to stock up on basic needs want to make sure that while mother earth and patients heal, there’s enough supply to live on.
House arrest will be the new stay-cation until further notice and for introverts and book-lovers, this is just a dream come true. For those who are healing from depression and trauma like me, it’s a gift to just be able to go deeper into meditation when isolation is a new norm but for those who aren’t, the real challenge is to keep themselves entertained and occupied at all times.
In my past life as a mindless shoe addict and social butterfly, I would have panicked upon hearing the news and the receiving the confirmation that shopping malls, cinemas, clubs and other establishments have been shut down and social distancing must be observed at all times.
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I would have started fretting at the thought that I would need to spend a lot of time with my problematic self who couldn’t stand her own presence.
If this pandemic came during my very lost and brokest state, I would have made sure that all the series and movies I have missed are on standby just waiting for my shaky fingertips to hit the play button and start binge watching. That for sure is how I will go about killing time and then later on wonder what I did during all this time.
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This post is for the readers of this blog who sent me emails asking how and when to begin their personal development journeys. The perfect time has arrived. Here are the things that you can do to make the most of this time off:
Dig Deeper
This is the perfect time to write down all of your questions and truly answer them.
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What do you still want to work on?
Which qualities, habits and traits do you still want to have?
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Which areas of your life do you still feel unsatisfied about?
What pain do you need to heal from?
What can you do to make your life better?
What emotions do you need to acknowledge?
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What outlets do you have to release anger, hurt feelings and frustrations?
Read also: How Journaling Cured my Depression
How do you express your creativity?
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Which skills do you want to learn? Which hobbies do you want to have?
Stop ignoring what your gut is telling you. Until you listen to it fully, you will not be truly in peace.
Read Also: 31 Self-Discovery Journal Prompts
Life Detox
Purge every negativity that is blocking your way to feeling light and happy. For you to feel the peaceful flow, you have to make room for the light to come in by taking out what is not serving you any more.
Read also: 10 Toxic Things I Removed from my Life to Finally be Happy
It could be that friend who always takes a lot of your time improving yourself by indulging in so much chitchatting and gossiping. It could be your mother who kept on dragging you down and keeping you from reaching your true potential. It could be your job that doesn’t make you feel excited about going to work.
Only you know what is weighing you down. Only you know what will make you happy. Only you can define your dream life. Don’t be afraid to let go of things or people who aren’t helping you be the person you are designed to be.
Of course it is painful and uncomfortable. I know because I have cut a lot of people out of my life who are making me feel that I don’t deserve to be happy. Cutting them off from my life of course makes me feel guilty sometimes but I know deep down that it is what is best for me so I just let it this way.
I don’t want to go back to my old life if that also means being forced to live in a box just to keep these people happy and proud of having me in their lives.
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Being alone in peace is 1000 times better. It just takes a long time to truly get used to it without feeling unloved, lonely and homeless.
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Finding peace is expensive.
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Goals
Take this time to do an inventory of your goals. Check if everything aligns. Revisit your list and find out what is working and do more of them, what is not working and stop doing them. Discover your strengths, weaknesses and limitations.
Ask yourself again and again if you are really doing what you want or you’re just doing them because you think that you don’t have what it takes to live a life according to your terms.
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You always have the choice and you have what it takes to achieve anything that you desire. Be specific in what you want to achieve and don’t stop until you get it.
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Connect. Reconnect.
Only the establishments are closed but family and other loved ones are there. Take this time to bond, cook hearty meals together, look back and talk about happy memories or just chill, rest and heal together.
Play with your children or spend time with your ageing parents. Call your friends that you haven’t seen for a long time. Save the relationship worth saving. You have the time now.
Read the Books
Revisit your reading list or make one if you don’t have one. Reading is a very good way to help your perspective shift and see things from a new light. For me, reading has been an addiction that has been helping me cope with depression and understand myself and the others better.
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Not everyone around us have the right or enough words to express how they feel but when you read often, you’ll come across words, different points of views and situations that might not be exactly the same as yours but somehow will make you spot a resemblance.
This will resonate well and will make you become more compassionate and understanding. Start with one page then challenge yourself to read ten and before you know it, a new habit has been formed and you’ll be reading more than you’ll realize.
I will never be able to justify enough how reading changed my life. Use this time to explore great minds by reading their works.
Read also: 10 Books That Dramatically Changed My Life.
Learn New Skill
In this age of technology, it is so easy to learn anything you want.
You can google everything and teach yourself in YouTube. In no time, you will be able to beef up your resume to finally go after your dream job or learn how to monetize your passion and finally quit your job.
The best education you can get is the one that you teach yourself how to master.
You want to learn a new language? Check apps out or instead of watching trash TV shows, watch YouTube videos. There are so many YouTube videos you can choose from.
Read also: Learning German: A love-hate relationship.
There are podcasts to listen to that will give you free tools to change your life. Udemy is an online school that has a wide variety of affordable courses that will teach you how to design websites, how to code, photography, languages and many many more.
Instead of endlessly complaining how staying at home is making you feel insane and die of boredom, why not look at it as a little retreat where you can use to start becoming who you are supposed to be?
Read also: How I Finally Stopped Complaining
You are not too old to start learning something. You are not too old to start your happiness journey. Make yourself your investment. You are worthy.
Money Matters
A truly beautiful woman knows where her money goes and empowered by her financial knowledge. She knows how to grow and use it as a tool to get what she wants out of this life. This lock down season is a good time to start looking deeply into your budget or starting to have one if you don’t already.
Read also: Can Financial Literacy Truly Empower Women?
Financial books and articles are every independent woman’s best friend.
Read also: Why It Feels Powerful To Be A Woman In A Male-centric Society
Source of Inspiration and Motivation
While it is so easy to get bored without the normal daily routine, it is not hard to find activities that will keep you inspired, motivated and entertained. This season is the perfect time to use your internet to explore new things.
Everything is googleable. This is how I grew this blog. This is how I learned to design a new life after hitting the rock bottom.
Read also: 8 Life Lessons Hitting Rock Bottom has Taught Me
Don’t look back one day and think that this season has made your life miserable and made you waste a lot of your time by mindlessly spending every precious minute of it bored at home. Use this time to get to know what brings you joy, what triggers you and make you feel excited about being alive and create the version of yourself that you wanted to be.
Self-love
I am looking at this season as universal healing. Let us take this time to deeply rest, slow down and give ourselves the nutrition that our bodies truly need to be able to protect itself from any disease whether physically, emotionally or mentally.
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Let us take this time to reflect, to be whole and to be healthy.
Xo,
Dani
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I just loved your article. It was quite inspirational and full of life.Thanks alot👍