Lockdown Life Hacks to keep you sane

I still remember NYE 1999. I was with a friend and his family at Ulverstone Park in sunny Tasmania. I remember the anticipation of a new year mixed with the potential doom that the whole world would shut down because when they made computers they never thought to include 4 digits for the year. Well, it didn't happen..... or did it? Because 20 years later the whole world did actually shut down.

The magnitude of Covid 19 is mind-boggling and we still don't know how our lives will be changed in the future because of it. The one thing that is evident, is that we were not created to isolate. We are social beings created for community, friendship, partnership and love. So if you find yourself in a season of lockdown and isolation, like a large number of people I love in Australia, here are some lockdown hacks to keep you sane.

1. Keep a zoom room open

I know you are sick of zoom. The 'bing-bong' of people entering a zoom meeting is etched into our brains so much it haunts our sleep. But what a lot of people don't know is zoom is fully customisable. So you can turn off the bell if you like but there are so many other things you can do to be connected to others at this time. This is what I have done:

• Share the link to my personal zoom room with friends, families and colleagues. My room is always open so that at any time they can jump into my room and say hi. This gives me those hallway conversations that I missed out on, as someone could pop into my room to ask me a question and then jump off when done. Don't worry you can still create other zoom rooms with different addresses for meeting with clients etc.
• Turn off the waiting room  - no one likes it.
• Select 'Participants can enter meeting without host'. This means if you are running late people can still connect with each other. This is what would happen if you were meeting up with friends for lunch or for a meeting in a board room. They can chat with each other while you wait.
• Build your contacts. The most underused part of zoom is the contacts. Because I use the contacts feature I can load up zoom and with a few clicks, I can call someone into the room. I also use it all the time when chatting and we realise we also need to talk to someone else and I just patch them in.

You don't have to use zoom, but I am sure whatever you use you can customise it so it is easy to be able to connect with others whilst you are stuck in your house.

2. Do the one thing

When someone suffers from a panic attack the number one priority is for them to get control of their breathing. It sounds way too simple, the whole world is coming crashing down on them and we tell them to do the one thing they have been doing consistently without thinking since birth. But choosing to do this one thing, and ignoring everything else will make all the difference.

Being in lockdown is not like a panic attack but it's a form of crisis and it will affect some people more than others. So the principle of doing the one thing and ignoring everything else also applies. So what is the one thing? It is different for everyone - for our family during our 7-month lockdown journey, it was going outside. We decided no matter what else happened we would go outside, even for just a minute. I know in some extreme cases that's not even possible but your one thing could be different. It could be calling a friend, doing push ups, baking or reading a book. It doesn't matter what, just decide and do it.

Looking back some days were really hard and we felt like we were getting nowhere, but we could remind ourselves 'but we did our one thing, so we will be ok'.

3. Get creative/Get crazy

You must realise that what you are going through is not normal, so your response to it needs to also not be normal. You have the creative license to do whatever you want. If you want to dress up in formal wear to go to the supermarket so it doubles as a date night, do it. If you want to see how long you can last by exclusively talking only using quotes from 'The Crown' then I say "History Was Not Made By Those Who Did Nothing.". Or you can do what my friend Sharon is planning to do, which is put on war paint and a kilt and stand in her drive and yell ‘They may take our ability to leave our house….. but they will never take…..OUR ABILTY TO EMBARRASS OUR KIDS!!!!’

Whatever it is, no matter how crazy, just do it. You will create an amazing memory in the middle of a tough time.

4. Subscribe to this blog and share every post you read. In fact, that is just great advice in general.

These are just 3 little life hacks (and one shameless plug) designed to make your lockdown life just a little bit easier.