How To Enjoy Life During COVID And Stay Strong

How to redesign life during COVID

The past 10 months have been challenging us with a huge impact on all domains of life, from health to family and social relationships to a working environment with devastating economic repercussions. The invisible enemy has catapulted us into a new dimension by dictating how we live, what we can and cannot do, and limiting our freedom of movement and action like no other.

But because human beings have –  fortunately  – enormous coping skills and immense power to adapt to new situations, we will go through this time and get rid of  COVID! Sure thing. But the question here is not about when and how the pandemic will be over; it’s more about how the post-COVID time will look like.

We all know humans forget quickly, and we like to restore things as they were before because they are familiar to us. But it would be insane to think about going back to what the world was like before COVID!

What do you think?

I fear that more pandemics are likely to come back if we are not prepared for a radical life transformation!

While we are now facing the second wave of the COVID spreading in the northern hemisphere, the uncertainty and the threat of ongoing lockdown and limitations on our freedom are affecting us even in a greater way.

And if you live alone, you are even more affected by social distancing and self-isolation and depression that inevitably can take it out of you.

At this time, it’s wise to arm yourself not only with patience but also with good ways to stay strong.

Here are my great tips to help you enjoy life, become more resilient, and stay mentally and healthy fit during the COVID-19 pandemic.

10 Tips to stay mentally strong during the Pandemic

We are more confronted with isolation and limited movements during the pandemic’s winter months due to shorter daylight. To maintain high, the spirit here is what you can do:

1. Stay connected with family and friends as much as you can. If you can only communicate online, use tools that allow you to video-chat to see and engage more in the conversations.
2. Create a “Safe Space” for an intimate small group of close friends and/or trusted people in your favourite channel that could be Skype, WhatsApp, Messenger, or other, where you can always go back when you feel the blues and talk to someone.
3. Don’t let self-isolation and anxiety sneak in and rule your life and mood. Whenever you are feeling down, look for your “virtual haven” where you can speak your heart out. You want to stay strong, so becoming aware of it and taking action is how to cope with the blues. We all go through the same in different ways, and we all need emotional support.
4. Enjoy the simplest things in life because they matter, and they make the difference. We are constantly bombarded with lots of distractions, surrounded by noise, and we now have a unique occasion to enjoy the silence and fully focus on ourselves and our own space.  Flip this over and create, out of an unfamiliar situation, a new good habit.
5. Take care of your neighbours, interact, check how they feel and how they are going. Offer to exchange contact email or phone number, mutually help out in case of necessity or reach out for a chat. This enhances the community’s spirit a lot and makes you feel good about helping out with whatever you can.
6.  Make good use of the lockdown during COVID. Invest in learning a new skill or personal growth, such as meditating, exercising, playing an instrument, picking up a new language, cooking class, creating videos, podcasts, and writing books. There are endless opportunities that are just waiting to be embraced. Personal growth is the best and evergreen investment with a massive return.
7. Turn unfamiliar things into familiar and familiar old habits into unfamiliar. Just observe your way of living for a while, and you will see which ones need to be changed or adjusted. And you will be amazed by discovering how much we need to do.
8. Try to get outside as much as you can. Walk and/or exercise on your own. Walking around the block or in the park is a great way to let all tensions go, free the body from toxins, bad thoughts, and the best time to talk to yourself, find inspiration, and have new ideas.
9. Pick up new opportunities. Don’t look further. In your home town, there may be volunteering opportunities or a business opportunity lining up. From walking dogs to assisting older people with home delivery or anything else needed locally, serving the community and helping others is one of the best ways to grow your self-esteem and increase happiness.
10. Join a local virtual book club, if any, in your hometown where you can discuss book topics and be part of a local community or a local virtual group that discusses how to make life more sustainable in your community.

With the upcoming festive holidays, people living alone who will not travel may start thinking about the idea of preparing and spending Christmas day alone during the pandemic.

10 Tips to stay fit and boost health during COVID

There is nothing, not even a vaccine, that can 100% protect you from getting the infection of COVID-19. While we can all welcome the vaccine against the new CORONOVIRUS disease, this will bring a huge relief to the medical and para-medical people and people with pre-existing diseases. One of the priorities I can highly recommend is to boost your immune system and make your body stronger.

The stronger and well-functioning your body and its immune system is, the stronger it reacts and protects you from any infection and the Coronavirus disease.

So what can you do to stay fit and naturally boost your health during the pandemic?

1. Eat the right food: natural, possibly organic food, veggies from local farmers, seasonal fruits. If you are eating meat, make sure if it is not free-ranging farming. Spices also are vital. Add them into your food when cooking, from turmeric, curry, ginger, chilli and more.
2. Cook your meals at home, and stop eating pre-packaged food, snacks, or food with additives, chemicals, colourants and preservatives.
3. Stop eating sugary snacks and drink, such as soda water, and if you can, eliminate sugar from your diet.
4. Check the ingredients label on packaged food and see additional sugar in them, additives and colourants. The shorter the list, the better. And first and foremost, put back on the shelf those products that show “sugar” as the first ingredient on the list.
5. Integrate your daily nutrition with natural (organic) food supplements, this is the best boost for your immune system you can do, as food alone is the cornerstone, but it will not work alone. The essential vitamins you need to intake are 
Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Zinc, Vitamin B Complex, Probiotics, OPC, which I highly recommend.
6. Work out in the outdoors regularly, and try not to take this as a chore! Exercise means having fun. A 20-30 min walk is enough if that’s all you can find in a day.
7. Create a morning ritual that is an anxiety-proof morning ritual. It can be one hour, 30 minutes or chunks of 20 min in a row of three.
   1. Exercise: Jogging, Walking,  Aerobic, Yoga, Meditation, Dancing etc. etc.
   2. Reading or Journaling, listening to music.
   3. Prepare a healthy breakfast with blended greens for juice, cereal bread, light protein, black, white, green tea, or coffee with no sugar.
8. Drink plenty of freshwaters. Possibly between 1.5-2 litres of fresh, natural water throughout the day. You can integrate with any teas, or freshly-pressed juices, with no added sugar.
9. Get enough quality sleep. At least 8 hours of sound sleep. To help you sleep, deactivate all phones, videos and electrical devices near your bed and possibly keep the room well-aired. Use an ergonomic pillow and sleep on a good quality mattress.
10. Be sure to detox monthly; there are many ways to use natural organic sulphur (MSM) or drinking herbal teas, taking OMEGA and more natural organic food supplements.

What about travelling during COVID?

Shall I or shall I not travel during COVID-19? This is probably one of the most controversial topics on Social Media.  I’m sure you have come across all different opinions and comments, from defensive to aggressive reactions.

Now, I don’t want to get judgemental here, and I’m not surprised by how people reacted. In fact, there has been a huge division on all different aspects on how to cope with the pandemic to local political decisions, to implementing rules and restrictions, to the perennial question of wearing masks or not wearing masks.

But who is immune to all this? We all did that. We all complained, blamed and took sides. And if we could all stop doing that altogether and take 100% responsibility for our actions, that would be the most sensible way of individually and collectively contributing to tackling such a complex situation. No one has a magic sphere to predict and/or have a one-fits-all solution.

Back to travel. Shall we travel or not?

While I cannot take sides here, I’m neutral: I feel that everyone has the right to travel, within reasons, but you should take an informed and responsible decision whether or not to travel during COVID. I can highly recommend travelling alone, even if you have never done it before, and this may be the right opportunity to step out of your comfort zone and embrace the amazing world of solo travel.

Check this article to help you overcome fears and worries about travelling alone.

While you may need to travel for various personal reasons, from work to health and family issues, leisure and free-time, make sure you follow the local rules where you live, and in the place, you are travelling to.

Also, weigh up the risks altogether vs the necessity of travel, and try to minimize the risk of putting yourself out to the infection as much as you can. And also protect others by taking all precautions.

If you are not prepared to comply with the basic rules of wearing a face mask protecting yourself and others, as requested by your local authorities, then please do not travel. It’s easy, and you can opt to stay home and stay safe until all restrictions are lifted.

Resources for travelling during the pandemic

If you need to travel to an overseas country, check with all official websites first to be sure you know what to expect and you are well informed about the entering procedure plus the risks you are taking.

You may also check with your travel insurance and what kind of coverage they offer if you need to cancel or fly home due to COVID.

Before making up your mind, whether to travel or not, here are a few useful resources and websites that will help you make an informed decision on where to and when to travel during the pandemic.

Alternatively, you can also check the IATA travel site with their current COVID map of countries too.

Here is a world map with daily updates and the situation by country COVID-19.

Final thoughts to stay strong during the pandemic

I hope you find the above tips for staying strong and healthy during COVID useful for your daily plan and gave you some inspiration and ideas to implement with little to no effort that brings great results.

If I look back to November 2019, when I left to visit Bangkok, Thailand, and then went on my usual 3 months of solo adventure around Australia, it feels like it were a few years ago. So much has happened in such a short time that it feels as if it were a decade!

Nonetheless, after an initial devastating feeling that made me feel lost and desperate, I haven’t let the pandemic pull me down. I have been using this time to work on new projects and new ideas. It has been a very profitable time that ignited a deep transformation, and I’m very excited about it for the new things to come into my life.

I hope you, too, can turn the devastating impact of COVID into an opportunity to grow and take your life and business to the next level.