How to De-Stress During the Quarantine

By Qamarina Aqilah

How to De-Stress During the Quarantine

One thing about the Movement Control Order for sure, is that it really puts a challenge onto us. Some finds the quarantine to be peaceful- not needing to go out for family gatherings and is able to stay at home, eat, sleep and repeat, but it is in the human nature to want to go out and have the slightest bit of interaction with other humans. It can be a good friend, a coworker, or even the aunt next door with her 20 orange tabby cats. How exactly do people cope with this current way of living? Well, I can share a few ways on how to de-stress yourself during this quarantine.

Reading A Book

During MCO, it is a good idea to be picking up a nice new habit- reading! Before the quarantine happened, there was an event in Pahang called Big Bad Wolf. It is a book fest where they sell books at a very cheap price. I spend RM100 for a stack of nice novels- 6 books at most and a colouring book as well.

Photo by chris liu on Unsplash
Photo by chris liu on Unsplash

I never had the time to read them as my time in college is very much filled with homework, assignments, group meetings, and in the weekends, I was too busy finding time to rest, hang out with friends and catch up with deadlines. So now that the quarantine happened, I have been finding more time to read the books and so far, my favourite would be ‘Evil’.

It is a book by Colin and Damon Wilson covering the true stories of murder. I am highly intrigued by books like these so maybe you guys should try it out as well.

Keeping Fit

Just because we are in quarantine, it should not be an excuse for us to stop being fit and healthy. There are many home exercises that you can try and fit your needs. There are also plenty of apps and videos available to assist you with it. I have taken up yoga during weekends and sometimes do vigorous exercises on the weekdays.

Photo by Avrielle Suleiman on Unsplash
Photo by Avrielle Suleiman on Unsplash

During the first time of doing them, my whole body was in pain. It was hard to keep up with the steps as I have already started breathing heavily and have a hard time trying to keep my balance up. But as time goes on, your body will get more used to it and these exercises will be more refreshing than it is tiring! It is good food to the health and the body. You should really try the healthy lifestyle apps and videos for your quarantine ideas.

Learn Something New

Since staying at home will really get you into an unescapable routine, it is always nice to try and learn something new to try and break the habit. Sometimes we have to step out of our comfort zone and into the vast choices of skills that you can manifest. An example of a new skill is a friend of mine who just recently tried her hand in knitting. She even bought the equipment and yarn. She made her cat a small beanie and her sister a nice sweater, even though it was not the most appropriate wear outside with all the visible holes in it. She had enjoyed it, even though she wasn’t making anything perfect, but she was slowly getting there.
I, in particular, started learning gamelan myself! I have been so intrigued by the different sets of instruments and the skills of gamelan players as I watched it live. One of the great examples was the Buka Langkah live performance at KLPAC. The atmosphere was lively and the aura it radiates was truly magical. There is a bunch of gamelan music you can listen to on our YouTube channel, Gangsapura. It features a lot of our original music at the highest quality.

I hope this blogpost has helped some out to destress during quarantine! I have been doing fine so far and I am hoping that you all will be well as well. Stay safe and stay clean!