Chase away the blues of a mandatory shelter-in-place order by cultivating your creativity, instead of ceding your idle hours to moments of boredom
Staying cooped up all by yourself in your home for days or at worst, for an indefinite period of time, can really be downright disheartening. Until your community or state can control the spread of the Covid-19 disease, the best protection you can have against possible exposure to the virus is to stay within the safety of your home. However, there may be occasions when you experience moments of loneliness and anxiety, which could lead to depression.
Understanding the Rationale Behind Shelter-in-Place Restrictions
Keep in mind that you are not the only one who is going through this type of ordeal. Millions of people in China, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Poland , El Salvador and Spain are going through the same experience. The governments in those countries have implemented mass quarantine, as a measure that will prevent the disease from infecting the majority of their population.
Except for Italy, which took on the mass quarantine approach at a stage when thousands have already been infected, most of those countries, including China, have succeeded in “flattening the curve” so to speak. “Flattening the curve” as the World Health Organization (WHO) explains, is that phase of an epidemic in which the rate by which the infectious disease is spreading, has already slowed down. Once achieved, health care systems can manage and effectively attend to all patients needing medical attention. .
In the U.S. only the states of California, Illinois, New York and a handful of communities in Colorado, Georgia and Maine have imposed mass quarantine measures, which American authorities prefer to call a “shelter-in-place” directive. The rest of the nation is still trying to mitigate the effects of Covid-19 by ordering the closure of bars, nightclubs, casinos and movie houses, as well as prohibiting the holding of events, concerts, fairs, festivals or any gathering where more than 25 to 50 people will be in attendance.
Currently, the U.S. is still dealing with a rapid rate by which the Covid-19 disease is spreading. As it is, the number of community-transmitted cases has spiked from hundreds, to thousands, which to date is nearing 20 thousand in a matter of one week.
Embark on Creative Activities to Chase Away Quarantine Blues
Many of those who are currently under mandatory quarantine or shelter-in-place order, have put forward recommendations on how to while away time creatively and productively. So far, the most popular recommendation is to cultivate one’s creativity by learning how to draw, paint, sculpt or recycle scrap materials. After all, there are several how-to, easy-to-follow instructional videos available at YouTube.
Learning how to draw seems to be the most practical, since you will only be needing pencils, papers and erasers. Painting and sculpting materials tend to be expensive, and it would be wiser to save whatever extra money you have for food and for emergency purposes. However, do not drive yourself to frustration if it seems you do not have a natural ability to draw, no matter how hard you try.
According to astrologers, creativity among individuals comes in different aspects and not just in terms of creating art works. The sun sign and moon sign of a person can influence the kind of creativity possessed by a person, which suggests that it depends on the inclusive zodiac signs dates in which a person was born.
Some are said to be born under zodiac signs that yield individuals with natural talent to create artwork. Some others demonstrate creativity by analyzing and solving problems in ways that not everyone could imagine. There are also zodiac signs that influence a person’s creativity in developing designs, concepts, methods, approaches or applications on how to make life on Earth better.
The point being driven at is that in order not to be frustrated with your creativity project, it would be best to first find out your creative strengths. That way, you can focus on areas where you will likely be more productive during the shelter-in-home period.