April 2020 – Joel P Joseph

April 26, 2020April 26, 2020 Joel P Joseph Lockdown diaries

Staying home and staying productive

Staying productive while staying home has been a great challenge for me. Perhaps you can relate to this. In my opinion, productivity need not be measured directly in terms of the work we put into our jobs or degree curriculum. It could be anything that helps us realize our purpose and fulfil it – something that helps us develop our existing skills or build a new one, something that helps us become better human beings.

Stay productive — Staying productive. Picture Courtesy: viralsolutions.net

As we step into the last week of the national lockdown, I thought it might be useful to discuss some measures that I am trying to take help me be more productive. Since I was struggling with this myself, I looked up places to find help – spoke to a couple of friends, thought about it myself and read up. Here are some practical tips that I found and am trying to follow.

Know what you want to do

To do list — To-do lists are handy in accomplishing tasks

Like Benjamin Franklin said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” I understood that planning my quarantine days is crucial for my productivity. I also realized that it is important to break this down to smaller tasks. To-do lists come in handy to accomplish small tasks. I have noticed that I have gotten more work done when I have listed down the things I should be doing. But it is one thing to make a to-do list and another thing to fill pages. I have noticed that it is important to have realistic, daily to-do lists. Over-ambitious to-do lists have made some of my days more unproductive than those without a to-do list at all.

Set up a workspace

The other day I saw a meme about waking up just minutes before a zoom call. I could totally relate to it. But then I realized that it might just make my day worse. Since a couple of days now, I have tried and worked around a make-shift workspace for me. That helps me get a little serious about the things that I do, at least when I am around there.

Rethink the smartphone

This is where the struggle is real for me. I am so hooked to my phone that I find myself helplessly landing in social media every few minutes or hours – WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube.

As I was pondering over this, I was reminded of Randy Pausch’s advice on Time Management in The Last Lecture. He said, “Time must be explicitly managed, like money. You can always change your plan, but only if you have one. Ask yourself: Are you spending your time on the right things? Develop a good filing system. Rethink the telephone. Delegate. Take time out. Time is all you have. And you may find one day that you have less than you think.” One part of this advice that has always stood out for me, yet been the most difficult to work upon, is “rethink the telephone.” Perhaps in today’s world, it would be more appropriate to say “rethink the smartphone.”

I have now started listening to songs and podcasts as playback while I work on other things. That doesn’t mean that I don’t watch movies, shows or videos. I often find myself starting with an educational video and ending up in a standup special just minutes from when I started. But I am trying to balance the two, which has been a struggle.

One thing at a time

multitasking-dont-do-it — Multi-tasking doesn’t work for me. Picture Courtesy: upsidelearning.com

I find it difficult to understand people embracing multitasking. It’s not that I haven’t tried it, but every time I tried I either made a mess of the situation or did a half-hearted job in all the tasks. This is one reason I came to terms with the fact – multitasking is not for me. I now try to prioritize things and do one thing at a time.

April 18, 2020April 28, 2020 Joel P Joseph Lockdown diaries

Into the lockdown

FB_IMG_15871970482436805 — Me during Quarantine. Picture Source: 9GAG (Facebook)

I remember the first day of this year – a year of new beginnings. I was starting as a graduate student, anxious but excited.

Days rolled on. I was attending lectures, learning from labmates and exploring the campus when news about a viral outbreak in a neighbouring country was doing the rounds. It was one province in China thousands of miles away. “That shouldn’t affect me,” I thought – but boy was I wrong!

Japan, South Korea, Iran, Italy – new COVID-19 cases emerged from more countries at an alarming rate. The epidemic was taking the shape of a pandemic. India had limited local transmission then, was a comforting thought.

Things came to a halt when I received an e-mail that directed us to evacuate the hostel in two days. The institute would be shut for two weeks. After cribbing about the overreactive measure, I came to terms with the fact that I had to pack my bags and leave.

The first week was quite productive. I kept myself busy spreading awareness about COVID-19, writing articles and blog posts. Midway through the second week, the energy dwindled.

Staying indoors was never a problem for me. I remember the time when I was at home applying for jobs after my master’s – I stayed home for 20 days straight. So when the nationwide lockdown was announced, it didn’t seem like a big deal.

With the lockdown extended, it is clear that we are in this for the long haul, but staying productive has been the greatest challenge for me. Some days are better than the rest, thanks to my advisor and labmates. The virtual lab meetings and skill development sessions are real refreshers – it’s always great to learn new things. I also have my courses online, which keep me busy for a few hours in the week. At other times, I am writing something (like this blog post), surfing the internet, reading, chatting, or binging on Netflix.

April 16, 2020 Upasana Gupta Guest Post, Mental Health

The psychological price in pandemics

As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads across the world, social distancing, lockdown, quarantine and isolation have become the norms of the day. The social animals that human beings are, this new lifestyle seems to be taking a toll on their mental health. In this article, Upasana discusses the importance of studying mental health during a pandemic, the psychological stressors involved, and the need for an appropriate support system.

The lockdown — Staying home Staying safe! Picture Courtesy- https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/this-is-the-psychological-side-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-that-were-ignoring/

With the COVID-19 pandemic, the latest word on our fingertips besides all the swear words is “quarantine”. A huge chunk of ongoing research is mainly focussed on the transmission and cure of the disease. But the disease currently being untreatable, people have been advised to practice social distancing. A tangential but costly effect of social distancing, either through quarantine or isolation, is seen on the mental well-being of people.

“Quarantine” was first used in Venice, Italy in 1127 in the leprosy outbreak followed by official implementation of the same in the UK in response to the plague. In the context of the recent outbreak of coronavirus, the nationwide lockdown has been implemented in many countries across the world due to its rapid transmission and fatal nature. While it is the most appropriate measure taken by any nation, we often forget to address its psychological impacts. There are very few reports discussing the repercussions of pandemics on mental health after quarantine and isolation were imposed in many countries during SARS, MERS and Ebola and H1N1 outbreaks.

Global evidence on mental health outcomes associated with such measures to prevent the spread of infection suggests that prolonged exposure to psychological stressors exerts disturbance in the mental health of not only common public but also in patients, healthcare workers and informal caregivers, the latter being the most affected. Psychological stressors are elements in our everyday life, physical or social, that challenge our mental balance – being separated from loved ones, financial loss, overthinking, etc. These could be as small as worrying about an exam, but we do have other options like being with a friend or family, taking a walk, etc. which help us in such instances.

The Everyday Stress — Challenges in our daily lives. Picture courtesy- https://www.cairo360.com/article/health-fitness/quick-tips-to-overcome-stress-and-anxiety-triggered-by-coronavirus-%E2%80%8E/

Depending on the mental state of an individual and the length of quarantine or isolation, there are impacts during the quarantine: short-term impacts (a few months post-quarantine) and long-term impacts (2-3 years post-quarantine). Common stressors during quarantine are fear of infection, frustration and boredom, shortage of supplies and inadequate information. No matter how prepared an individual is, with each passing day these anxieties grow. In the longer run, studies have shown that these fears become so overpowering that they could still be evident years later particularly in the healthcare officials directly involved in treatment or care of the infected patients. The constant fear of contagious diseases and the associated risks have led people to avoid public places and transport and ignore other people as such. This does not fare them well and ultimately leads to loss of employment and finances.

It might seem that leading the life of an introvert would be a fair shot here, given the impression of lying alone in a room with coffee and books, but it is not true. A remarkable thing about psychological disturbance is that we fail to realise when it seeps in and gets rooted in us till we finally show any symptoms.

A peaceful mind — Trying to keep the stressors down. Picture Courtesy- https://thriveglobal.com/stories/calmnivores-dilemma-tips-calm-reduce-stress/

Social distancing is currently the most effective way, albeit a little harsh on mental well being, in controlling any pandemic. Nevertheless, there are ways to alleviate the psychological stressors like keeping the quarantine duration as less as possible, although under unavoidable circumstances it has to be extended. Keeping the public informed and providing necessary supplies are required to maintain peace. Special attention and encouragement have to be given to people working in healthcare for their current efforts and also further to reduce the long term impacts post-quarantine. Providing emotional support and compassion towards everyone would help in the struggles associated with the crisis. Digital intervention has paved a better way not only for patients with a history of psychiatric illness but also for the general public. It is currently the best method to reduce boredom and anxiety – thanks to meme-makers and YouTubers!

Overall, there is a compromise on the psychological aspect made by everyone up to some extent during the quarantine. For the best we can do now is to try to keep our minds happy despite the limitations.