I just got my new haircut yesterday and I am all ready to move into the new phase – the end of Circuit Breaker. Yet somehow this does not really feel like the end. At least for me, the difference in my daily living will be minimal as my household will continue to work from home. Probably the only difference for me is now I can go visit my mother-in-law. But for many of my friends who are now parents, they will probably be much happier as schools will start to open up and take away the stress of managing both children and work at home.
What got me thinking though was how the lockdown situation in Singapore compared to the rest of the world?
Singapore Only at 28th?!
So taking the easy way out, I took to Wikipedia and fortunately enough there is a list compiling the start and end dates of lockdown periods per country (updated as of 31st May 2020). And with some quick data manipulation, I managed to come up with a chart of the top 50 countries based on lockdown period lengths.
I am pretty surprised that Singapore is coming in at only 28th and far behind some of our neighbours such as Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand. Not sure why, but it certainly does make me appreciate the situation better and just be glad we are not like Peru which has been on lockdown since 16th March with an end date of 30th June – 106 days!
But maybe looking at the number of days in lockdown is not exactly the right way about thinking about this Covid19 pandemic. The question really should be…
What is considered a victory over the Covid19 virus?
In the simplest and most logical sense, that would refer to an eradication of the virus. Considering that smallpox is the only disease to be eradicated in our history, I believe we need a more generous way of defining a win over the Covid19 virus.
In my opinion, a victory should not only be defined by the medical perspective but more from a social perspective. Are we able to live our lives the way we want without being affected by the virus?
Using this as the benchmark, I must say we are quite far away from winning the virus. Our lives have obviously been affected and to be honest, we do not have a clear idea to when everything can return to normal. As long as we have the fear of getting the virus on the back of our heads, there is no doubt that the virus is winning.
Does this mean we should now live in despair and misery?
Our Mission is to Come Back Stronger
As rightly stated in this video by Grey’s Director Commentary, being in lockdown is akin to us boarding a spaceship and leaving planet Earth. While the frontline people in healthcare and essential services continue to battle the Covid19 virus, we are left alone in our homes or ‘spaceships’.
However, this does not mean we sit idly by as we wait for our lives to return to normalcy. When we can return to society, we will most likely face one which is broken and will require us to heal it. To do so, we need to ensure that we do not need fixing and can come back stronger than before.
As such, our mission is to come out of this lockdown better than before.
Suggested in the video, we need to maintain both our physical and our mental healths. To achieve this, I believe there are three things we should pay attention to.
- First is the physical since it is the easier or the more straight forward out of the two. Being confined to our homes will limit our usual physical activity. As such, make sure we put in the time and effort to exercise and keep our bodies fit.
- Divide your physical space in your homes so that you have a clear area for each major activity – Exercise, Sleep, Entertainment and Work. Previously, you’d always had clear designated places such as the gym, your office, the coffee shops/bars and your house. Maintaining the same segregation will provide the mental support you will need.
- Last but not least, its to find the right balance between these four areas. The key thing here is not the number of hours spent in each area but the quality. Make sure that when you are in each area, only do what is designated and soon you would be able to find out the right balance for yourself.
With at least more than a month away, now is the time to fulfil our destiny.