Read

This Quarantine Doesn’t Have to be Productive

Published:
February 15, 2024
April 18, 2020
Feel at ease when you read here why it's okay to have low productivity while in quarantine.|Feel at ease when you read here why it's okay to have low productivity while in quarantine.

If you’re on the same internet I am, you’ve probably seen an idea or two for what to do with the stay-at-home time that COVID-19 has imposed on us. Time has, in a sense, slowed down, ostensibly leaving room for pursuits different from all that usually occupies our time. But I fear that the emerging attitude may be doing as much harm as good.

Without commutes or the usual social obligations, the social media collective seems to be saying that there is now time to learn a new skill or reconnect with friends. Or declutter or catch up on reading. Or get in shape. Or jump-start your spiritual life. Or all of these.

Free (and not-so-free) resources abound as many people shift their skill sets into an online presence. You can tour museums and watch concerts and take classes all from your most comfortable chair.

My feeds are full of friends taking advantage of this unique opportunity by baking beautiful artisanal bread and setting up imaginative children’s activities. Stories of Sir Isaac Newton are also plentiful: it was when the plague sent him home from Cambridge that he developed calculus, studied optics, and worked on his laws of motion.

This is a special time, the narrative goes. Even, perhaps, a sacred time. A unique opportunity, not to be wasted.

What a good, brave, beautiful human impulse.

I so admire the drive to meet adversity with creativity. I love that so many are striving to forge a path of generosity in a time of scarcity. I’m honored and humbled to know people making such goodness come from a big, scary thing. This is resilience on display.

But I've also been feeling a lot of pressure to make something extraordinary of this stay-at-home time. It's tempting to try to do too much with it. As a recovering perfectionist, it’s easy to slip into a mindset of wanting to do this time “right.”

I want to start every project, to deep clean my house and master sourdough and sew face masks and write a novel and work out. But I know full well that I can’t do all of those, and that splintering my attention too much is likely to lead to further frustration in an already difficult time.

Frankly, I don’t think I’ll remember this as the best time in my life. It has its gifts, and I’m trying (hard) to remember them, but this is tough. This is a global crisis. People are getting sick and dying. We’re coping with collective grief and fear and trauma and powerlessness on a scale few of us have ever experienced.

The ramifications for us as individuals are real, and they’re hard. Many of us are lonely. Mental health struggles are likely increasing; many healthy coping mechanisms have been taken away just as a lot of anxiety has been added to our days. For many of us, this thing is revealing pockets of anxiety and brokenness we didn’t even know were there.

Plus I still have to do all my regular work, which feels like more, not less.

But maybe that’s enough. Maybe keeping your household running is enough right now. Maybe caring for your mental health needs most of your attention. Maybe recreating basic routines from scratch is using up all your internal resources.

That in itself is resilience. Resilience doesn’t need to be displayable to be real.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t do extra things right now. We’re all dealing with this thing the best we can, and if you find it lifegiving to step up your domestic efforts, please do.

Doing some things, carefully chosen, could even be part of your self-care during this time. Using our gifts in creative ways is a good way to remind ourselves of who we are and to retain a certain sense of normalcy.

But for me, at least, it’s important to temper this urge, to find a reasonable balance between the self-care of flexing my creative and intellectual muscles and the frantic urge to do all the things. The reality is that the world is not normal right now, and it’s okay if my lived experience reflects that.

When I do have the energy and mental space to do something extra, I’m finding that having one book and one craft going feels about right. One input and one output — friendly, familiar things that I’m good at and that give me some sense of control.

But even that might be too much for you. It is for me some days. As much as I admire it, I don’t consistently share the impulse for constant creativity. So if you’re finding yourself overwhelmed or confused about why you feel so tired, and maybe even crying in whatever scrap of private space you can find, just know you’re not alone.

There’s no perfect quarantine. Simplicity is enforced right now — much has been stripped away. Maybe instead of rushing to refill it, we could embrace a simplicity within the simplicity. We don’t all have to be Isaac Newton, but what we can be is ourselves, living out our unique version of resilience in myriad wonderful ways.

Creators:
Jessica Mannen Kimmet
Published:
February 15, 2024
April 18, 2020
On a related note...
You Have 4,000 Weeks to Live — How Are You Spending Them?

You Have 4,000 Weeks to Live — How Are You Spending Them?

Maria Walley

Beat the Winter Blues with New Hobbies and Friends

Beat the Winter Blues with New Hobbies and Friends

Grace Poppe

Revamp Your Morning Brew With These 4 Coffee Recipes

Revamp Your Morning Brew With These 4 Coffee Recipes

Lauren Lawson

How to Maximize the Lazy Days of Summer in the City

How to Maximize the Lazy Days of Summer in the City

Jennon Bell Hoffmann

Horseback Riding For Children with Special Needs

Horseback Riding For Children with Special Needs

Grotto

Train Yourself to Take Alone Time

Train Yourself to Take Alone Time

Mary Cunningham

4 Ways to Cultivate Joy in Our Lives

4 Ways to Cultivate Joy in Our Lives

Chris Hazell

Thanksgiving Meals for Every Dietary Restriction

Thanksgiving Meals for Every Dietary Restriction

Mariah Cressy

Free Download: 30-Day Random Acts of Kindness Calendar

Free Download: 30-Day Random Acts of Kindness Calendar

Grotto

3 Things LGBTQ People Can Find in a College Support Group

3 Things LGBTQ People Can Find in a College Support Group

Julia Erdlen

9 Apps that Keep Your Social Media Use in Check

9 Apps that Keep Your Social Media Use in Check

Maria Walley

Breaking Bad (Habits)

Breaking Bad (Habits)

Ben Wilson

3 Lessons from this Pandemic That Might Shape Our Future

3 Lessons from this Pandemic That Might Shape Our Future

Chuck Lamphier

How Our Friends Impact Who We Become

How Our Friends Impact Who We Become

John Tuttle

4 Ways to Celebrate Mom During Social Distancing

4 Ways to Celebrate Mom During Social Distancing

Marye Colleen Larme

How to Stop Feeling Like an Imposter

How to Stop Feeling Like an Imposter

Molly Cruitt

3 Tips to Know Before Getting Your First Tattoo

3 Tips to Know Before Getting Your First Tattoo

Josh Noem

How the Almanac Can Help You Live Seasonally

How the Almanac Can Help You Live Seasonally

Evan Holguin

Are Your Relationships Too Competitive? Try Shifting to Win/Win

Are Your Relationships Too Competitive? Try Shifting to Win/Win

Khang Tran

After 15 Years, Has Facebook Made Your Life Better or Worse?

After 15 Years, Has Facebook Made Your Life Better or Worse?

Chris Hazell

newsletter

We’d love to be pals.

Sign up for our newsletter, and we’ll meet you in your inbox each week.