COVID-19 positive cases continue to increase in the Philippines. The unseen enemy is dangerous as ever.    

President Duterte put the whole island of Luzon in “community quarantine” last 16 March 2020 and things have never been the same. We get it, it’s for the sake of our safety and health. Physical and mental health are equally important. Below are the things we need to do to stay healthy, safe and sane in order to survive this ordeal:

1. Survive: Prepare your emergency packs containing food, water, medicine and survival tools. Practice restraint when shopping for your essentials; do not hoard and use your resources wisely. The safer option now is to have your grocery and food items delivered to your doorstep. You can, for example, go online to epalengke.com. The website offers online shopping for fruits, while zagana.com offers veggies. Other online shopping websites that offer essentials are metromart.com and lazmart through Lazada. Once you have everything ready and available, try to develop a healthy and doable routine. 

2. Learn: The best time to learn new skills and develop a new hobby is now. The Internet has a wealth of resources to learn new things.  YouTube alone has thousands of tutorials ranging from music, cooking, art, and other interesting hobbies. You can also learn a new language through a mobile app called Duolingo. Meanwhile, social media can be maximized as a tool of accurate and timely information. Get your sources from reliable and verified sources only and be vigilant against fake news. 

3. Connect: Technology has made it easier to connect. If you are working from home, there are several online meeting tools that you can use such as Zoom, Jijitsi, and Skype. Facebook messenger and Whatsapp allow group calls too if you want to easily connect with your friends. The quarantine period also means having to spend more time with your family. This is the best time to revive your family connection. Don’t hesitate to reach out to others that you love and trust if you need more support. If you can, lend a hand through online Bayanihan efforts to extend help to the unfortunate sectors of our society. 

4. Declutter: Being stuck at home gives you an opportunity to clean the house and organize your thoughts. With a mountain of anxiety brought by the self-isolation, decluttering can help take your mind off things and relax. Apart from that, this is also a time to declutter your mind with unnecessary thoughts. It’s an opportunity to reconnect with yourself; take care of your mental health through meditation and self-awareness

5. Focus: Focus is hard to come by these days; there are so many uncertainties in the future: the bills that we pay, our employment stability, our connection with people. It brings a lot of anxiety and maybe even depression. The American Foundation for the Prevention of Suicide has suggested to “Do what helps you feel a sense of safety” and to “Challenge yourself to stay in the present” to take care of your mental health in a time of the pandemic. Focusing is a big challenge but we should change our mindset and focus on the things that we can control; do away with what we can’t. 

Now that we are in the middle of it, we might as well make the most out of it. Face the situation that we are in; grab the bull by its horn as the community quarantine may last longer than we think.

In the end, nothing is permanent and this too shall pass.