AnaMarwan.com

Happy 2021 everyone.

There’s a very good reason why I completely abandoned blogging in 2020. As I’m sure everyone did, I struggled to survive 2020. 2019 was a really bad year for me, and to top that off with another bad year was incredibly draining. At the end of 2019, my mental health deteriorated which drove me to leave a job without securing another. Thankfully, I secured a new job in January 2020. I thought it’s a great way to start the year, and I had high hopes for 2020.

And then shit hit the fan.

2020 in a nutshell

For some, working from home may be a blessing. But to me, it was exhausting. There’s no clear divide between your work time and your personal time while working from home. I’ve always taken it for granted but commuting to and from work provided that clear separation — putting myself in an “I gotta work” mindset in the morning vs “okay I’m DONE with the day” mindset in the evening. There was none of that.

Working in an e-commerce company at the height of the pandemic was tough. I was sleep deprived, had multiple breakdowns and I didn’t even have the time to worry about my own health amid the pandemic, because my days and nights were filled with work.

How I’m coping with MCO 2.0

I’m especially thankful that I’ve been at my parents’ house since 3 January 2021, so at least I’m not stuck in PJ alone. I struggled last year but I feel like I’m managing things better this time around. Here’s what I’ve observed how I have subconsciously done to manage myself better:

 📝 Learning new things

One of the things I’ve always wanted to learn was calligraphy. I’m not a bullet journal-er or anything but I find videos like this highly therapeutic. Every day I will practice for about 30minutes to an hour while I watch random YouTube videos. It’s fun as it helps to take my mind off things, especially work. Who knows, if I get good enough I can possibly even do a side hustle with this, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves la hor.

 📚 Reading

I must confess I haven’t been good at this. I’m not on a reading slump or anything but I find it hard to start and commit to a book. So recently, I forced myself to start From Blood And Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout and I’m happy that I’m already 62% into it so far. I put aside at least an hour in the morning before work, 30 mins during lunch break and 1 hour after dinner to read and so far it’s been great!

🙆🏻‍♀️ Connecting with friends

I’m one of those people that often forget to reply text messages, especially when I read them in the middle of something. So now I try my best to be mindful of this. If my friends invite me to video chat on Discord or WhatsApp, I’ll try to participate if I’m not doing anything. Or simply sending funny memes and TikTok videos to friends signifies that I’m thinking of them. It’s the little things like this, I think, keeps the bond strong despite not getting to physically be with each other right now.

💻 Planning tiny home projects

Oftentimes I find myself in the mindset of “why does it matter, I can’t do X, Y and Z because I’m stuck here”, which I feel can be quite toxic. Yes, I can’t travel nor can I freely go out to a nice cafe to enjoy a cuppa while people watch. I’m in parents’ home and not in my own place in PJ. But that doesn’t stop me from doing what I want indoors. So now, my pet project is to build a gaming PC. If I can’t go outdoors to have fun, I might as well bring the fun indoors. It can be anything, really. Like planning to cook for my parents, baking something I’ve never baked before, do a vlog… anything. It cuts through the monotony and gives me the excitement to face another day indoors.

🏃🏻‍♀️ Move

I’m struggling to set a routine for this but I’m getting there! I’ve also gotten my mum to join me, so while I run around our housing area, she’ll have a stroll behind me. If you know me well enough, you’d know that I hate running, and I only do it during my WODs in CrossFit classes (because I have no choice but to do it or suffer the wrath of my coaches). Ever since covid happened, I haven’t been working out consistently. So now, I try to run at least 15-20 minutes a day in the morning and it just puts me in a better mood.

These are just things that have helped me cope better with the second round of lockdown. I’m sure you have your own ways too. While I may not be very optimistic about the future, I can at least make my present more bearable in my own little way. And to whoever’s reading this, I hope that you can find your own way too. If you have, I hope you grab and hold on to it as we face this storm together.

Here’s to a better 2021!