Last week I wrote about what got me on that plane to India and spend time with family. This one is more about the two weeks I spent in this 14.5 square meters hotel room that was in my SHN dedicated facility in Singapore on my return from India, with a little window to open. I still recollect what I told my mum when I was leaving India, “Now my 14-day holiday begins”. Well, that’s the way I chose to see it and not really as a quarantine or being stuck inside a room. For this realisation to kick in, it took a couple of things to be tweaked. The first and most important was to auto-correct my mind (never lose sight of why you made this trip in the first place during times like this), a bit of preparation and planning that made it smooth and enjoyable.
We have a ‘quarantine’ list now in the house. This list has gone through various iterations. So here is mine that helped me not only survive these two weeks but make the most of it:
- Pack right- I was living off only on a few clothes and very comfortable ones. I lived in 4 Ts and tracks. If you are used to going on treks or remember your college trips, then this is not hard for you.
- Bluetooth speaker and good playlists- I had a speaker blasting music in my room all through the day. A dear friend reminded me of ‘Lionel Richie’ (oops gives away my age), so I made sure to quickly get that playlist in place. I spent time every night making new playlists for the next day.
- Set a routine- This helped me to bring a structure to the day and took away the boredom, monotony, or anxiety of what to do next. I had even made a list of friends I wanted to connect with :-)
- Break the monotony from work- I often took breaks from the work routine and indulged in watching movies mid-day (something I haven’t had the time to do in years). After all, I wanted this to be a holiday.
- Create zones in the room- Like a reading zone, chilling zone, and work zone. I got to the bed only when it was really time to sleep.
- Order favorite food- All my favorite restaurants deliver food now. Blessings of Covid-19! This one was a big draw for me. I made a shortlist of all my favorite restaurants in the neighbourhood and pampered myself to good, healthy food. Not one single day did I ask for home food, so you can imagine how much outside food I love. Blessed to have some friends who surprised me with meals too.
- Exercise- This may work for a lot of you but I stayed away from it. I looked at this as a ‘complete break’ and did everything I would do if on holiday (and exercise doesn’t fit into that!)
- Books- My husband had this on the top of his list, but for me, it had been a while since I indulged in some leisure reading. I am forever reading at work, so am exhausted when it’s time to leisurely read. I made the most of this quiet time to actually read for myself.
- Get your newspapers- I can’t start my day without The Straits Times (I need the print copy). Again gives away my age! So I had it delivered to my doorstep daily. I spent an hour every morning with the paper and a hot cup of coffee.
- Snacks & Coffee- Make yourself comfortable with your favorite snacks and coffee/tea sachets.
- Keep the room clean- This helped me to kill some time over the weekend and improvise on my housekeeping skills but that’s the ‘OCD’ side of me.
- Netflix/ Prime- I don’t remember the last time when I binged watched TV like this. I was smart to install it straight onto the hotel TV and not watch it on a laptop. So gave me a feeling of being at home :-)
- Don’t soak yourself into too much work- This is the best ‘quiet’ time you can earn after a crazy year. So make the most of the quiet and just unwind.
- Online course/ Pamper yourself- It’s the right time to enroll yourself into an online course that you have been eyeing or put on that face mask and relax for hours. No doorbells ringing and no kids shouting out for you. I know someone who actually developed ‘codes’ after many years during his quarantine. I used this time to master the art of online shopping and learning new skills on Medium.
- Instagram post- I would think of one IG story that I would put up every day. So this meant I had to creatively think of some action within the room that I could take a photo of. I had challenged myself that I shouldn’t repeat my pictures.
From quarantine being a fearfully boring and scary experience, it turned out to be the most rejuvenating, detox period with me finally glowing!
Blessed that I had the opportunity to make that trip home and spend some priceless days with family. My 13-year old quipped one night to me, “You know mum, Netflix, and Grab Food is a killer combination. Why would anyone complain”. So with that attitude and soaking in all the love showered by friends and family via all the constant check-ins, I made the most of this experience.
I exit this room today thinking this was probably the new way to take a solo holiday, something I had been doing every year for a long time.
