Things I discovered about Myself in Quarantine

My Quarantine Diary

2020 is still my best year yet, let the church say Amen. In my last post i gave a mini rant about my online church experience, and as at the time of this post, the lockdown on religious gatherings have been lifted accompanied with a number of tedious rules, hence I will still be worshipping online for the time being.

I have been doing a lot of new things in quarantine and this post will give a kind of sneak peek of my quarantine diary, my life in quarantine and my work from home experience. These few months at home have seen me move from one coping mechanism to another; because a main feature of living things is adaptability. I work in a very compliant educational institution and the chances of resumption are quite slim and we seem to have settled well into the work from home policy, having stayed at home for 4 months and still counting.

My Stages in Quarantine

At the first stage of lock down I was elated, to be very honest I needed a break from work, I had just celebrated my birthday a week before and I had a corona scare that week. All I wanted to do was stay at home; self isolate, and be safe from all the stuff happening around.

Before the lock down I wrote down a comprehensive list of the things I could not do without. I bought water in large quantity and I stock up my house with food, food, and more food because hunger is a pandemic on its own. Thankfully the office paid earlier than usual.

Just like everyone, I felt it would not last and things will soon get back to normal. I spent my first month reading all those fictions that I have been dying to read. It felt so good to finally take time to enjoy reading with no sense of hastiness, t’was a nice feeling. I amassed a lot of African literature and I accompanied it by eating food, snacks and because why not?

Then I moved to Netflix and watched till my heart’s content. I went down memory lane and watched Fresh Prince of Bel Air, the 90’s sitcom that made me fall in love with Will Smith. Then I developed a fondness for K drama, I enjoyed it so much because Koreans have a great sense of style. The only thing I missed about my office was constant internet other than that I was doing just fine. YouTube was next, I was subscribed to all the coolest youtubers and I enjoyed content from them. It was at this point I considered being a youtuber because I had so much free time, and these guys look like they are living their best lives while making money off it. My house walls are painted white, perfect minimalist colour; times to create content after all they said do it afraid. I guess I was too afraid to start.

After that stage, things started to get so tense in my corner. The pressure in the air became so obvious, seminars, webinars, classes, courses, online meetings and all were happening in quick succession. I had to learn the need to breathe, calm down and slow down. I tried to reduce tension by making video calls with my friends and family members, nothing like a good laugh and teasing here and there; coupled with the fact that we all started adding two or more inches in the face area and the waist line was expanding.

Then everyone started talking about navigating work life balance in the new normal. For a while, I was in denial, I bought stuff in preparation post lock down resumption. I remember ordering for a couple of makeup and a new dress fit I have been dying to have for a while. Now I fear that this going to expire in my stash, God epp me.

Navigating the New Normal

I don’t miss going out, I mean dressing up is quite stressful. I just miss the ability to make decisions to go out or not (that is what I tell myself). At this point, I am changing my 2020 plans and restrategising. In the light of current happenings one must not be rigid,

I spent most times at work and I miss my frolleagues (Friend+Colleagues) so much. Humans were created with a need for social interaction with others, and I can hardly believe myself and all the things I have been through in this period of social distancing. My body has betrayed me and I would definitely put up a post on my fitfam journey. Fam I started to work out, like I lifted my body and started working out seriously. I bought a pricey yoga mat and I surprised myself. So far so good, we have been doing our best to stay fit because corona has got nothing on us

This period made me realize I give out way too much casual clothes because I spend a lot of time at work. I had to shop for new casual clothes because we are not finna look homeless because we stay at home. I have also decided to use my perfumes and deodorants regularly, my lip balm is my only make up accessory because we stay fresh and work from home. Once in a while I wear a bit of foundation and lipstick to take an indoor picture. This way I stay happy and glory in my god given beauty.

On Self Care (Skin and Hair Care)

Because I have more time on my hands, so I am paying more attention to my hair and skin. Staying up late to watch videos on hair care and skin care. I have decided to take my natural hair journey seriously this period let’s see how it goes, wish me luck guys.For years I have been in the category of girls that cannot be bothered about their hair growth because my hair always grows, but this period has me touching my hair and body regularly. I am beginning to care for it because it is the temple of God. These days I am busy doing length check on my hair, trying out ayurvedic herbs and becoming a product junkie. I even used avocado pear on my hair for the first time in my life. In fact I have used it more times in this quarantine than I have used in my entire hair journey, I don’t know if it works, I just put it on my hair to try it out. 

On leaving my Comfort Zone

I am also learning to show love to strangers on the internet, seeing that I spend a lot of time there, this includes sending compliments and generally engaging with posts on social media because I love them, their sense of style, creativity and content, no more secret loving, we are loving people in public and in private.

On Self Development

I decided to do something more fun and educative, I am currently on a 3 month streak, learning French on the Duolingo app. I wanted to refresh my memory as I have begun to forget the little French I picked up in 2018, plus Duolingo app is a bully, it will pester you with reminders until you reach your daily goal. The classes have been so much fun and it is unending.

Currently I am hoping for the best

This period taught me to learn to appreciate the things I took for granted, for example having my entire siblings in one place. Things are slowly returning to normal in this part of the world,in spite of the pandemic.But it is very important that we stay safe.

I have also derived peace and contentment from the fact that little progress is still progress. You just need to keep moving, keep doing something even if the only thing you do entails staying sane and safe, you are doing well dear.

It took me over three weeks to complete this blog post,so please share your thoughts in the comment section. Special shout out to my friend who took this beautiful pictures of me.

Your comments will mean so much to me, tell me how your quarantine has been going have you resumed work, or do you work from home.