What To Do During The Coronavirus Pandemic

6 min readMar 27, 2020

And how to make the most of what we have

Coronavirus is now truly a pandemic. It instills fear in most logical people’s minds (since there are plenty of brainless, selfish people who still don’t care). It’s taken a lot of people’s livelihoods. It’s separating families apart. It’s hurting the economy. Worst of all, it’s taking people’s lives.

It’s taken away the choices that we seem to take for granted, such as going out to eat wherever we want, whenever we want, with whoever we want.

It’s taken away the chance for us to do what we normally do on a daily basis, such as going to work, the gym, and spending time with people we care about.

It’s forcing us to change how we live our lives… but should we let it?

Of all the things COVID-19 has affected, continues to affect, and will affect, there is one thing that it has not and never will — one of the most important things in our lives — time.

We still have 24 hours in a day. We still have 168 hours in a week.

Yes, sudden changes are challenging, the uncertainty is uncomforting, and the unknown forcing us to revert to what’s familiar are all valid reasons as to why we’re struggling, but we have to adapt. Those reasons should only be reasons for a week, max. After that, they become excuses.

In my experience, the first week when classes transitioned to fully online and I started working from home was the toughest. I had to make a new routine and then I had to adjust my brain to function to my new normal.

Now, I feel like my new routine is almost as good as my prior one.

Since all of my classes are now online, I now have more time to do other things. Whereas before, I’d have to go to class and stay there for the entire duration, now, I can finish all of my work and assignments for the week by the end of Monday morning (YI attend all of my Zoom lectures but sometimes, especially my morning classes, I’ll mute myself and do my workout, do yoga, or make breakfast).

Since I’m working from home, I can finish all of my work on my time and have more flexibility.

Here are some of the things you can do to help flatten the curve by staying inside, being productive, and come out of this pandemic more educated, stronger in every sense of the word, and overall a much better human being.

You can:

Educate Yourself

About investing:

be “fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful” — Warren Buffet
The market might be down but certain stocks are not!
Get a free stock with this link!

About something you’re interested in

About your future goals and how you can achieve them

Think, do research, and come up with a plan!

Connect

With people that you usually talk to

ask them how they’re doing

With people you haven’t spoken to in a while

check in on them and maybe rekindle a friendship

With people you’ve never talked to

no better time than now to establish new connections)

Zoom conference calls are the new way to socialize!

Explore

Music

that you may have missed (For even more fun, do your research on the artists and the story behind their works! You might even discover other artists that are within your taste palette. It can take you into a rabbit hole that you’ll be glad you fell in).

Classical Music Recommendations:

La Campanella by Franz Liszt Fur Elise by Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony №5 in C Minor by Ludwig van Beethoven
Liebestraum №3 by Franz Liszt
Mariage D’amour
Four Seasons by Vivaldi (Winter and Summer are my favorites)
Soirées de Vienne by Franz Liszt
On the Beautiful Blue Danube
Flight of the Bumblebee
Guillaume Tell: Overture
Hungarian Dance №5 in G Minor
12 Études, Op. 25: №11 in A Minor by Chopin
Fantaisie-Impromptu in C sharp minor by Chopin
Arabesque №1 by Debussy
Cello Suite №1 by Johannes Sebastian Bach

70s Music Recommendations:

Elton John
Al Green
Queen
Stevie Wonder
Marvin Gaye
The Jackson 5
Earth, Wind & Fire

80s Music Recommendations:

Michael Jackson
The Police
Lionel Richie
Prince
Rick James
George Michael
Rick Astley
Billy Joel
A-Ha

90s Music Recommendations:

Lauryn Hill
A Tribe Called Quest
Jay-Z
Daft Punk
Notorious B.I.G
Dr. Dre
Tupac

2000s Music Recommendations:

Eminem
Outkast
50 Cent
Kanye West
Beyoncé
Coldplay

Movies/Shows

that you haven’t seen before

I’m not an avid movie goer/binge watcher so I’ll keep this one short:

The Rocky Series (From Rocky I to Creed 2)
Psych (on Amazon Video)
Suits (on Amazon Video)
House, M.D. (on Amazon Video)

Places

that you haven’t been to

Museums with virtual tours! (Please, don’t go on Google Maps and look up your place of residence)
Landmarks you want to visit
Countries you’ve never heard about

Learn

How to play an instrument

You can learn any and everything online now

A new language

Duolingo is a really good app (and it’s free!)

How to become better at something you think you’re not really good at

Keep your mind active

If you’re in school: reread lectures, (re)read the book (or read ahead), take notes, and connect with classmates/professors
If you’re not in school: evaluate your job, analyze where there’s room for improvement, and discuss with your coworkers

READ

Read Books!

Perfect time to “experience” and “learn” new things without risking the safety of yourself and others’

Some Book Recommendations that ought to keep you busy for some time:

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin S. Sharma
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Aesop’s Fables by Aesop (DUH)
Essentialism by Greg McKeown
The Ride of a Lifetime by Bob Iger

Read Articles!

Some Article Recommendations that will enlighten you about the world we’re living in now:
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/03/how-will-coronavirus-end/608719/
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/udonis-haslem-nba-covid-the-real-miami
https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/coronavirus

Read up on something you want to learn more about!

START A PERSONAL PROJECT

Something, anything, that you can dedicate your time to and be proud to call your own

Stay active

Buy a yoga mat
Do yoga!
Strengthen your core!
Do some home exercises!
Jump in place for x minute(s) as if you have a jump rope
If you live in a building, run up and down the stairs

Stay sane

Reflect (Get in touch with your mind and become more familiar with yourself, which will help you achieve inner-peace)
Write (What you reflected about, Reflect about your reflection, & Be more metacognitive)

Work on yourself

However you see fit. Just don’t be the same person you were before everything happened and even worse, don’t regress.

Those who say that they have nothing to do are simply being lazy. I listed plenty. And there’s more that I could add, but I don’t want to make it lengthy as my intended audience are people who can’t stand the thought of sustainably doing something productive.

I want to thank those who are doing nothing but sleep all day, stay up all night, binge watch shows, play video games, participate in dumb challenges on social media, and any and everything else that falls under being unproductive as this article wouldn’t be written without you all.

I have nothing against any of the things I listed. Once in a while, you can do those. I, however, have something against consistently doing something that amounts to nothing, which renders that something nothing.

Just think… If imprisoned people can reform themselves and come out of prison better than when they came in, why can’t everyone else, who has access to everything and has it much easier, do the same?

The coronavirus might not affect you physically but you’re letting your mind deteriorate because of it.

Quarantine mode should be like prison mode: doing nothing but staying safe, staying out of trouble, working out, and bettering yourself.

I am here to help. We’ll all get through this together.

We all have the same 24 hours in a day and 168 hours in a week. If I can do it, why can’t you?