Productive Zone
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Yesterday I spoke with my sister and she said, “This week I’m going to be productive. I need to stop looking at this like some pandemic vacation”.
Many of us feel like we must be the most productive versions of ourselves because we have time staring us in the face during Covid-19. But what does productivity look like and how is it defined?
To me, productivity during self-isolation is slowly peeling the layers of my life. I do this through writing, exercise, reading, and anything that encourages me to critically think. Like an onion, I keep the parts I think are suited for my goals and aspirations and discard the remaining parts. When I think of those discarded layers, I don’t think “Oh this was such a waste of my life”. Instead, I see it as a thankful moment I obtained for my life. The chance to trial and error allows me to dream. If I am able to understand myself in a profound way that challenges my mind then I feel accomplished and productive towards my dreams. And what is life without a dream? Not the fairy tale kind, but one you can grasp.
I am currently listening to, The Courage to be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga and find their explanation of the present through Alder psychology to resonate with my definition of productivity. The authors say, “We can live only in the here and now. Our lives exist only in moments. Adults who do not know this attempt to impose ‘linear’ lives onto young people. Their thinking is that staying on the conventional tracks — good university, big company, stable household — is a happy life. But life is not made up of lines or anything like that.” I love this quote because it shows how our frame of mind can alter an entire future. We can either believe that the dream will never happen because of linear thinking OR we can ask, “What do I need to do to achieve my dream?” Covid-19 has derailed many of our lives and people are finding non-conventional ways to continue living.
The bigger picture in baby steps through creativity and community.
It takes time to adjust to a new environment. The world is finding its rhythm during Covid-19 so allow time to find your own. Let go of the pressure to write a novel, become a bodybuilder or find your passion in life because you unexpectedly collected a few days off. Let’s use the resources we have to build our steps to the bigger picture. It all comes down to awareness and listening to yourself. For my sister last week wasn’t a pandemic vacation, it was a time to process and understand. Now she is in a frame of mind, where she wants to move past last week and live in the present that will ultimately guide her into her future goals.
Most of our time is spent working where we become experts in our job so that we can provide for our families. Without a sense of purpose like our livelihood, confusion naturally clouds our mind, but we still have the motivation to provide for our families. How can we provide for our families in a global standstill? What CAN we do? In times of despair, communities thrive for survival. World War II is a great example of community change, women were not only housewives but the backbone of the American economy because they filled the workforce that men originally occupied.
Variables like motivation, survival, and dedication are not only for work. They can also be applied to self-improvement. Freeing our minds leads to hope and possibility. Feelings we all need at this moment. It may take years to understand who we are and that’s okay, but let’s start by viewing quarantine as a tool to assist in our search for self-guidance, self-care, and self-love.
Quarantine is not a competition of who achieved the most in self-isolation, but a chance to give back to yourself and community.
