The Isolation Journals Week #2

The Isolation Journals is a weekly post on life during the unofficial lockdown or Restricted Movement Order (RMO). The journal will be updated every Wednesday. This is the journal for Week 2.

By Farhira Farudin

How have you been spending your days during the RMO?

Now is the time we've been seeking for previously when we had our normal, busy life. This is the free time we've always asked for to chase for our little dreams, pursuing our hobbies, boosting our self-love routines. We find ourselves catching up to the TV series we've always wanted to see but barely got pass the first few episodes, watch the highly raved movies that your colleagues have been forcing you to see so they could have someone to talk to about it (Parasite, perhaps?), listening to newly released albums from your favourite bands (read our review for The Strokes' new album here) or maybe just discovering hidden gems through Spotify, becoming the next Masterchef in our own kitchen, or perhaps we vow to finish the pile stock of books sitting on the shelf to reignite your love for reading. I took this chance to watch Fleabag, which is a masterpiece on its own and my current obsession, and I am also trying to finish the books I borrowed from the library. Whatever it is, this quarantine feels like the best time to do the things you've always wanted to do, but never got the chance to. This is the time to be our best self. 

Or so we thought.

There has been an overwhelming tweets on how we need to spend our time in quarantine wisely, because we might never had such free time again in the future. They said this is the time to write the next literary masterpiece or become the innovator the geek inside you have always wanted to be. There is an immense pressure to be proactive during the quarantine. It almost feels as if people are saying, "If you aren't coming up with anything interesting after the quarantine ends, your quarantine is basically useless." Is it really useless if we are living, and perhaps surviving, on anxiety waiting for all of this to end? People seem to forget that we live in quarantine out of our own will. It is a quarantine after all. Not a continuous leave from our jobs and schools. Forcing people to be productive during this time of crisis feels inapt. In fact, many of us are not living in the best circumstances. Many has lost their jobs, some have to live away from their family or living with an abusive one, some are even struggling to eat. Is it really the perfect time to be productive? 

The quarantine has been forcing many of us to live outside of our comfort zone. I don't think there is anyone right now who genuinely enjoy being stuck at home and having all the free time in the world to pursue their old hobbies or discovering new ones. Everyone is coping and surviving with their own ways, in the ways they know how to. There shouldn't be any pressure for people, especially creative ones, to come up with a project or anything at all after this quarantine ends. During this free time, people should be free from pressure to be the next local Shakespeare or simply the person we have always been, regardless of what it may be. It's already suffocating to be clueless if any of this will end soon, there shouldn't be any more demand on how to spend our days better. Sometimes it's just enough to do nothing at home. Sometimes it feels as if we all are living in a bubble filled with feeling of anxiety in the air, and we are hoping that the bubble might be popped someday. And we are hoping that day will come soon enough.