Self Help: Living abroad and dealing with the pandemic.

 Hi everyone,

Welcome back.

    I hope you are doing well. Today, I've got a lengthy post about the pandemic and how it has changed me & my family.

    I understand that the pandemic has affected us all in our own way. This is not used to compare what you may have gone through but its for me to share what I've been through and what I have learnt from it.

    The pandemic which has lasted for 1.5 years now, has changed us all. For me, it has made me more appreciative of what I have, be more grateful for the people in my life and also, make me rethink of the value in my expenditure. By living abroad, I do feel homesick more now than ever and the thought of not knowing when I can ever go back to Malaysia to visit my family, worries me. 

    At the end of the day, eventhough we are going through a pandemic/lockdown, time still carry on. We still get older, we still celebrate birthdays/anniversaries, weddings and pregnancies still continue. I believe this is where we start to feel even more left out than before by not being able to be there for the people we love. Besides that, even our daily routine has changed from needing to wear masks, use hand sanitizer, be wary of when you should leave the house and also plan things in advance in order to avoid any issues.

    Who knows how long this will last and how will our lives change after the pandemic but all I can say for now is that..

1) Let's make time for things that matter to us. 

    Instead of waiting for the lockdown to be over, or waiting for the pandemic to end, let's make time to catch up with people that we love by using Skype/Zoom. Let's use the time to nourish ourselves with things that we can control now such as doing something you enjoy. I must say, making time for me has been the most important lesson I have learnt from the pandemic. 

    At the start, I was just hibernating at home, thinking it will be over soon. No one expected it to last this long. Now, I'm using the time to prioritize what is important to me and invest time into those things such as making the time to keep in contact with my family back home despite of the time difference, do things that nourish my mind & body such as yoga and reading. 

2)Use social media to our advantage 

    We all know social media can bring more harm than good especially with the amount of data we choose to share online but by using it to our own advantage, it can help us stay more connected to people that we love, make more plans with friends and feel less isolated in a time like this. 

    I also use social media as a form of distraction or a method to unwind after a busy day at work. Instead of constantly worrying about my family back home, I use Youtube & Instagram as a method to distract the negativity and place those thoughts with something more positive & inspiring.

3)We are all in this together.

    As restrictions eased with time, do not ever forget that the only way we can come out of this pandemic is by everyone playing their own part in this. Just think of those around you when you go out. I know I do. Although, lockdown is ending tomorrow in the UK and face masks are now optional, I still have anxiety over not wearing it at all when I am out considering there are still a rising number of cases in our area. We just need to be mindful for this period to protect ourselves and our loved ones so hopefully, by next year we can all meet up again and go on holidays together. What we done now, will determine what will happen tomorrow.

4)Enjoy a slower pace of life

    If its one thing the pandemic has taught me to be, its to slow down and do absolutely 'nothing'. Before pandemic, we took advantage of shops & restaurants being open that we spend most of our free time, outside of the house spending money like we use water. With us going into lockdown, all we could was either go to work/stay at home. With social events being bare minimum/non-existent, for me, I felt stuck for the first 3 months. Lost of what to do and  how weird it felt to have all this time to do absolutely nothing. 

    Suddenly I realize, my days are getting longer and I could do either two things: do something productive with my time or just lay back till all of this blows over. Eventually, I learnt to do things that helped me get through it mentally & physically. I was using youtube videos to exercise indoors, I was meditating more often, I read more books, catch up on Netflix, learn new recipes to cook/bake, playing Animal Crossing on my new Nintendo Switch. Activities that I would find it hard to do pre-pandemic. 

    I've been doing these things for at least 8 months now and for my own mental health, it has helped a lot. I'm less anxious now & I'm more in control of my thoughts and feelings. Seeing as how the Covid-19 has taken away our sense of control in our daily routines, all of us had to find new routines that works. After 8 months of enjoying a slower pace of life & as things starts to open up again, I am grateful for having this time to re-evaluate what is important to me & how I should be doing those things more often once all of this is over.

5)Money is important.

    As much as I hate to say this, but the pandemic taught us how important our saving accounts are and how valuable a job is. My spending habits have changed throughout the pandemic. To be honest, its been an important factor in helping me go cold turkey when it comes to buying unnecessary stuff or anything that is not classed as 'essential'. Even now, I use the same strategy when I buy new clothes/beauty products/tech stuff etc. I ask myself, 'is it essential' and 'do I need it now or is it more of a treat?'. 

    I learn to value my stuff even more and stop buying things that I have enough of. Instead, I encouraged myself to be more mindful of the goods I have & use them up before buying more. For me, that's easy to say than to do but I've made a big leap of progress throughout the pandemic and for that, I am proud of myself for being able to save & value my hard earnings more. 

6)Take time for yourself.

    During this pandemic, as much as I'm worried of my friends & family back home, I recognize the importance for taking this time to be 'ok' with myself too. I also know that I can only do so much from this end of the world and try to make them as occupied with their time as of mine. You shouldn't have to feel guilty about taking time for yourself. You don't always have to be ready to skype/zoom every second of every day and it's ok to say NO if you need a timeout from it. 

     What I am saying is, this pandemic is tough on all of us. Not just on a health & safety level but also on an emotional level. We have to be kind to one another, be more understanding of each other's personal space and be more respectful if we need some time apart. 

7)Reinvent your life.

    Take this period of lockdown to evaluate what is important to you, what works for you & what does not. This is the perfect period to reinvent yourself, whether it's improving your fitness to learning more about yourself, this is the perfect time for that. It does not have to be something big, even the smallest change like a change in mindset could give you new perspective to your life. 

     For me, being able to live in a slower pace of life, I realized I don't need to go window shopping to enjoy my weekends off work. I don't need to always eat out in order to feel like I'm having a great social life. For me, I've learnt to go back to basics such as appreciate my cooking skills, spending more time in my house doing up the garden, reading a book to unwind. I have learnt the importance of senses pleasure.

    Senses pleasure is things you do that engage the 5 senses in your body (touch,sight,smell,taste and hear). I've learnt the importance of incorporating these hobbies into my life. 

8)It's not about the goal but the journey.

    I remember, at the end of the first lockdown in the UK, everyone was slowly going out again, restaurants opened for takeaway only and people started going back to work. I felt like I have not achieved anything in that time. Did you felt the same? Everyone was obsessed with working out and on social media, all I saw was before & after pictures of people getting more fit and because I didn't had a massive change physically, I felt disappointed. 

    What I learnt was, it's not about the results but the journey/progress I have made. That to me was enough to be proud of. So yes, no matter how much progress you have made towards your goal, any progress is good progress- you should celebrate it. 

                                                                                 .........................

                                                                                       ...........    

                                                                                          .....

                                                                   

     There you have it, those are my lessons learnt so far from the pandemic. The pandemic is far from over. Cases over here have been rising yet rules are being more relaxed so who knows, what will happen next. For now, all we can do is enjoy our present. 

    I hope this post has helped you shed some light if you had any doubts of how the pandemic has affected/changed you. I want you to know that you are not alone. It has been tough for me. I have lost family that I couldn't go back to see for one last time and it has left me with a heavy heart =( but all I can do now, is protect myself, protect my family as much as I can so we can all meet up once all of this is over. 

                                       With that, I hope you all enjoy the rest of your day and spend it

                                                                        with people that you love,

                                                                           See you in my next one,

                                                                                             G.