You are not stuck at home

My ex roommate used to argue that I trick my brain. I never disagreed with her on that nor did I view it as something bad. She was referring to the notes I posted on the wall all around my room. Some of these notes read “This is a great country.”, “I exercise every other day.”, “People are nice.”, “All is well in my world.”, “Allah loves me.”, and my personal favorite “Baby, remember what you came for.” 

That is how I program my brain. I know if it’s not me, someone else will. However silly it may sound, that is one way I deal with anxiety and fear. Think about it, what’s the harm in reciting “Today I am saving someone by staying at home.”, “I enjoy quarantine in my own ways everyday.”, “I’m slowing down the pandemic.” or posting these somewhere visible to remind you of the positives in your situation rather than having the scary, what-if thoughts. 

Here’s my opinion, if you stick these mentioned positive thoughts in your head you’ll feel unstuck at home. In other words, you’re stuck in your head not your home.

Photo by Smachewh

This is not denial. Of course the time you spend at home, the activities you can’t do, the events you can’t go to or organize, the people you are not seeing is increasing. This is not a distraction mechanism either. You do keep yourself updated on the local and global news. You make sure to get your up to the minute information about the disease itself. You are smart enough to do that but you are also smart enough to limit yourself from overdoing it. If you will be watching news ALL DAY, then you are doing a bad service to your health, mental or otherwise. 

You are not stuck at home because there is only a limited number of activities you can do indoors. The problem is not that. The problem is still your mindset. There must have been very significant tasks you have put away for when ‘you will have time’. If you JUST want to chill throughout the quarantine while procrastinating on your to-dos and ignoring your hard-to-face feelings (which seems detrimental for your health and an immature decision) then I still argue that you can find the means-to-chill. There’s an infinite amount of books, publications, movies, tutorials and exercise videos out there. Being at home doesn’t stop you from getting those, thanks to the internet (which you most likely have if you’re reading this article).

As a responsible human of our one home planet called Earth, you can still go out to get fresh air and stay active. It doesn’t kill you not to hug people or shake hands for a while. You might then argue, I am tired of waking up late and having to cook for myself or eating leftover injera, going to my desk, not being productive, watching movies then going back to sleep after hours of social media time. The same routine everyday. Well, you are the one who can change the routine if it is not making you happy. Chances are, you would have also been sticking to a routine even if you were not staying at home all day. Rewire your brain. That is all.

In numerous studies, the more positive people expected their futures to be, the better their mood, the fewer their psychiatric symptoms, and the better their adjustment to diverse situations including college transition, pregnancy, cardiac surgery, and caregiving (see Carver and Scheier, 1999; for a review). For further reading, check this publication. For the millionth time though, You are not stuck at home. You are keeping everyone safe by distancing yourself.