The world is at a standstill as if the clock has stopped ticking. The usually busy airports are now deserted, shopping centres are unusually empty, commonly noisy schools’ playgrounds are muted. And in Europe, in my case Switzerland, the highly anticipated Friday night out dinners and aperos are not on anyone´s agendas as the doors of bars and restaurants are shut forthwith, at least ‘til the end of February. Looking out from my balcony, I could almost hear the snow falling in contrast of the eerie placidity of the cold and infinite white blanket. Countering to backdrop, as if we are in one of the Twilight Zone episodes, only this time it’s for real, people are restless, bored, anxious; children are crying, shouting, fighting while parents are busy bickering at each other. Some, particularly those who live by themselves, are just lonely, missing their ritual office gossips sessions in the pantry, end-of-work drinks, Friday night out, Saturday lunches and parties, but we are now bound to only stay at home.  

As far as the saying ‘home sweet home’ goes, this is the time to really pan out this cliché in the wake of the many lockdowns imposed by affected countries around the globe due to the COVID-19 lockdowns - the sequel. Well, as the famous quote from Monty Python says, ‘nobody expects the Spanish inquisition’, the pandemic has really caught us by surprise. When I first read about it in January last year, I thought it was just only in China, but when the virus finally arrived in Italy a month later and we had to cancel the trip back to England to attend my mother-in-law funeral, I knew something was brewing to explode. Then almost the entire Europe was in lockdown for a few months till spring. Come summer, when the first lockdown was lifted, thousands of people went out to have fun, but little did they know, the virus was planning a comeback. Well, it was a successful one indeed, as we are now in a second lockdown. My husband, who has been working from home since last March and I, have had a fair share of our own lockdown meltdown, but we survived. It seems pretty simple at first, just to stay at home for a change, but little did I know, it takes more than a lucid mindset, to retrain our needs to go out and socialise. Learning from the many mistakes of the first lockdown, including broken glasses and ashtrays, arguments, depression and loneliness, I vowed to get through this second one happily and productively. In other words, no more Netflix binging, no more of endless drinking, lounging, and sleeping, as I can’t treat this as a holiday anymore. So I have listed some of my personal tidings that are helping me and perhaps some other people too, not to lose their mind during this second lockdown.

As a journalist back in Kuala Lumpur, I never had a schedule as everything was relatively impromptu, my daily assignments, my overseas work trips, stock market movements. I only planned what to do on the weekends, to go out and have some fun. Now, as a housewife who is still on the lookout for a permanent job here in Zürich, I still have the luxury not to plan my day as I could wake up or sleep as late as I want to, go out whenever I feel like it or be a couch potato for a day or two. But, doing this day in and day out during the first lockdown obviously has done more harm than good. I ballooned up by six kilograms, depressed and lonely without any recent achievements of my own. So, the first thing I do during this second lockdown is to have a schedule. I wake up in the morning, make a mug of Earl Grey and start learning German, as I plan to continue my language class soon. Then, after two to three hours, I get busy in the kitchen for lunch. After lunch with yours truly, I turn on my desktop to check emails and apply for jobs, if any. Then I would continue writing for my blog, just like today. At the end of my ‘working day’, usually when my husband has done with work in the other bedroom, we would have a cocktail and dinner together before ending our night with some television. Sometimes, we do have guests for dinner or go out to small dinner parties, as per permitted lockdown rule of course. You too could plan your daily activities, although not as interesting as mine, but something similar. If there’s any children, plan their day as well- online school, lunch, revision and playtime, for instance. Essentially, you treat this lockdown like any other given day at home. Everyone in the house should have their own working, learning or playing space, to avoid any unnecessary friction and boredom of seeing one another the whole day.

Another pertinent aspect that I observe during this ‘stay at home’ exercise is personal care. Although one could afford to be in pyjamas all day long without a wash or taking a shower, make it a point to look your best, even at home. So, wake up, brush your teeth, comb your hair, wash your face and other parts of your body and change your attire. By having these morning rituals, as if you are going out to face another day, it brings a bit of normalcy back in your life.

There will be days during the lockdown when you had enough of the routine, meaning that you want to take a break, but can’t go out, to just window shop, or have a pint or two. Rather than lounging on the sofa and start to do the inevitable channel flicking, you now have the luxury of time to reflect, talk to your inner self, ask yourself what’s your passion in life, for example. In short, have a hobby. For me, I nearly dismissed the idea, as a professional journalist, that I could also write for pleasure. So hence this blog, where I am adamant to come up with two to three blog articles in a week. It seemed pretty frivolous and pointless at first, but after receiving some great feedback from my readers, who are mostly my beloved friends, it is leading up to somewhere, at least in terms of compiling a different genre of articles that could be an added advantage to my resume and job hunting. Besides that, I also learn to cook for myself, families and friends. As it is quite difficult to find Asian dishes here as great as I had in my hometown Penang, I start to watch YouTube in search of authentic recipes from back home. It was quite hard to find the ingredients in the beginning, I finally found a couple of rather good Asian groceries in Zürich. Although I am not a professional chef, I do have an eclectic palate as I am a girl from Penang, the food paradise of South East Asia. Believe it or not, I have cooked my first beef Rendang, complete Nasi Lemak with Sambal and Har Mee in Switzerland, and my friends love it! Thanks to the lockdown. So, these are my hobbies and you better start thinking of yours now.  

Another brilliant idea is to create a project with your other house members.  One could start a painting, build new furniture, get rid and recycle the stuff you don’t need in the cellar, spring clean the whole house- the key element here is to do it together, especially in the weekends where everyone is usually free from any commitments. My husband and I have a project too as we plan to rearrange the living room and get rid of all of the unwanted junk, we have hoarded over the years. Still to be executed though, but it is something to look forward to in the next weekend.

Last but particularly not least, is exercise. For me, it’s mostly vanity, as I do not want to end up buying a whole new wardrobe at the end of the lockdown. I get depressed if cannot get in my size 6 dresses and skinny jeans, so after gaining weight in the first half of the first lockdown, I decided to exercise and it worked. I have always been a skinny girl, never exercised in my entire life but now it has become a part of my routine. And, I am proud of this one- I manage to persuade my husband to get on the exercise bike too, almost daily now, as he needs to get rid of his beer belly before his impending knee surgery.