Hi all, so I've been seeing a lot of posts about people unsure on how to adapt to WFH or quarintine. I've been sick for the past two weeks (thankfully not coronavirus) but I’ve had a few weeks already to get used to this.

The transition isn't as easy as you'd think, and just wanted to share some of the things I’ve learned and help people regain some agency over the situation:

Go for a walk/run every day (while we’re not under mandated quarantine/shelter in place/sick) – movement keeps you sane. Avoid heavily foot trafficked areas and carry some hand sanitizer or 70% rubbing alcohol to boot when touching common surfaces, but seriously, you’ll go stir crazy otherwise. If you can’t leave the house, see tips below on indoor workout plan.

Ensure you have a lot of soap.

Stock up on food – if things get bad, it’ll likely be a while. While National Guard is doing food deliveries in Washington/New York and in Italy grocery stores are remaining open, it’s better to make sure you can stand on your own here. Shelf stable is best. Make sure you have rice (like 5lb at least), oatmeal (I got two big towers of it, like the 2lb each ones), jars of peanut butter, corn meal, butter (get as much as you can and freeze it), flour and yeast. Canned items like beans, spam/corned beef hash and veggies/fruit are also easy to keep. Stock up on seasonings like salt and pepper. And, make sure you have things you like, not just need. Just because we're in a single place, doesn't mean we can't enjoy it somewhat :)

Stock up on liquids - Make sure you get water enhancers, like Gatorade mix/lemonade mix or Nuun tablets. I learned the hard way just water can fuck you up and spent time in the hospital because of it. If you drink alchahol, this likely is going to be a ‘luxury’ item but will help keep you sane. You should get a volume now to avoid doing so later. Think a jug of wine/30 pack of beer/1-2 handles of hard liquor. This should be more than enough for a month, but variety is always important.  

Get into video games for those who aren’t. You’ll want something you can just sink hours into – excellent for waiting for things to get better. Recommendations – Civilization series, Sims series, Skyrim/Fallout, etc. Most computers can handle these today and you can easily sink weeks here. Minecraft runs really well on tablets/phones. Nintendo Switches are also huge value for money in terms of hours you can sink in there – Mario Odyssey and Zelda: Breath of the Wild are really effective. Despite seeming like a weird recommendation, video games keep your brain engaged. If you’re just watching Netflix, it allows your brain to zone out/fixate. Keeping yourself in a rotation of distraction helps immensely.

If you have watched everything on Netflix, share logins to other services with friends and family.

Books can help. Like video games, it requires engagement. You can get tons via Kindle. If you want recommendations, just let me know. I’d say a fictional series will help best here – keep your brain off of things as they are, because this is probably going to get stressful. If you're looking for authors, Terry Pratchett and Brandon Sanderson write really engaging books.

Develop an indoor workout plan. If we’re doing shelter in place, you want the ability to keep as active as possible. Pushups, planks, burpees, are all good at getting heartrate up. Bear crawls and crabwalks are all effective in limited space. When you’re doing it, you should do your best to just gun it and go hard into it as possible. Don’t take breaks between sets, but do put a minute rest in into a rotation (like, 30x pushups, 1 min plank, 15 burpees, crab walk, 1 min rest then repeat). This is assuming you are healthy however. Skip this stage if you suspect yourself infected.

This is stressful. One of the key ways I’ve found in helping reduce my stress is just listening to this playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX9HwI3Crikcm?si=OA5HuRCfTECtUcadVa-A2A. Irish Jigs for some reason are hard to remain too stressed to.

But - above all else - think about how you can help. Get your family and friends ready. Figure out if you can volunteer anywhere. If there is a lockdown where you live, ensure everyone is ready for this eventuality. Post tips and tricks on the internet to help random strangers.

If you suspect you will have financial difficulty, write up a list of your expenses, income sources, how this was impacted by closure/quarintine, and send this to your legislature. Data helps legislation and relief efforts. If you can afford it, see if there is anyone in your circle who needs financial assistance. Buy their groceries, or offer to pay a bill. Help make ends meet before legislation catches up.

We aren't helpless. This is scary as hell. There is no denying this. But we are not helpless. Good luck and godspeed. May you and your loved ones make it through these uncertain times unharmed.