3 Exciting Life Skills You Can Pick Up While Staying Home
“Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, he turned into a butterfly.”
— Proverb
Recently, I’ve been writing about how you can be healthily productive even in the midst of a nigh-global lockdown.
A lot of people are freaking out now because their lives are turned topsy-turvy.
And I get that. I’m a little freaked out, too.
No matter how bad things get though, there’s always a silver lining. Yes, even a virulent worldwide pandemic has a bright side if you look hard enough.
And your job is to look hard and find it.
The silver lining about this pandemic situation, in my opinion, is that we have traded our freedom for time.
This is an odd moment in history. Usually, it’s the very opposite. By working at our jobs, we trade time for money.
Then we use our hard-earned money to buy convenience — the freedom of buying what you fancy, travelling to the countries you’re curious about, etcetera.
Now that we have more time, we might as well use this newfound resource to better ourselves.
Being able to transform a bad situation into a positive one is an ingenious, valuable skill. I’ve written about it before here.
I took the first week of this month-long quarantine to rest.
Taking my foot off the pedal felt weird for the first couple of days, but I woke up one day feeling, well, rested.
Ready to turn a bad situation into growth.
Here are three life skills I’ve been practising since then.
You can pick them up from the safety of your own home — just like I did.
These skills can help you transform what might’ve been a tiresome, nerve-wracking quarantine to a productive, learning-filled sabbatical.
Any Form of Content Creation
“In a time of destruction, create something.” ― Maxine Hong Kingston
Creators, rejoice.
This is the perfect time for you to make magic.
In 2020, content creation is a real, powerful skill.
Just a generation ago, the idea of there being kids making hundreds of thousands of dollars playing video games was laughable.
Yet here we are.
YouTube, Twitch, Instagram, TikTok. The advent of the internet, and subsequently social media, changed the game.
And this enforced stay-home is going to take things to the next level.
There have never been more eyeballs on screens looking for entertainment and education.
There’s no better time to put things out, to hone your craft and build an audience.
Double down on your online presence — especially TikTok. It’s growing to be a real social media giant, and it’s only beginning.
I am so bullish on TikTok that I created an account for my grandma. My sister and I manage it. It contains hilarious workout videos featuring an adorable Asian granny. Who doesn’t love that?
I’ve been writing a lot more, too. I‘m going to publish as often as I can on Medium for the duration of this pandemic.
Often, when the world is in the throes of a serious crisis, people turn to artists.
They want to be entertained, to briefly forget about the horrors of reality. To experience a little laughter and magic again. It’ll help them fight on.
Whether you’re a writer, painter, musician, videographer or wannabe YouTube star — know this.
There’s a demand for what you do — and this demand is only going to rise the longer people are staying home.
Use this time to practice publicly, generate content, and get better.
Let’s get cracking.
Getting Fit
“Our minds are rendered buoyant by exercise.”
— Marcus Tullius Cicero
Now, you can argue getting fit is not a skill.
I beg to differ.
Physical health is closely tied to mental health. Being physically fit has a ripple effect on all areas of your life.
Personally, being fit has helped me tremendously. Fitness allowed me to have a positive outlet for my excess energy.
It also allowed me to build discipline, the will to do what needs to be done.
I published an article a couple of days ago on this topic.
In it, I wrote:
Callisthenics use gravity and your own body weight as a stimulus to burn fat and grow muscle. They don’t require any equipment, and thus are perfect for the enforced stay-home situation we are in.
As long as you have some space around the house to move, you’re good to go.
For people who have always wanted to be in great shape but lacked the time to get started, I have some great news for you.
The perfect time is now.
You don’t need fancy-schmancy equipment. Those can come later when you’ve established a rock-solid fitness habit.
For now, your own body weight will do the trick nicely.
If you don’t know where to begin, I suggest you do 100 push-ups a day. That’s how I got started.
Doing them daily has instilled in me not only physical health benefits but mental confidence.
For an in-depth analysis on how you can get in unbelievable shape just using your body weight, check out this Better Humans article.
Business Skills
“The skills pay the bills.”
— Old saying
Just like being fit, business skills are relevant to everyone.
Especially so to content creators and artists.
Nicolas Cole, one of my favourite Medium writers, made a good point when he wrote in a recent article saying:
You cannot become a successful writer (or artist period) in the digital age without some sense of awareness of how the business world works.
You can’t just create something and expect people to throw cash at you.
Skills like marketing, personal branding, the art of negotiation, investment, managing cash-flow, managing people are essential if you want to make a good living doing what you love.
The good news is that all these skills can be learned, all for free, on the internet.
Videos, books, podcasts, e-books, articles. We’re spoilt for choice in the age of information.
During this lockdown, spend some time upgrading the business aspect of your craft.
Even if you’re not an artist, learning broad business skills like how to invest and manage your money can only your life richer and more fulfiling.
Your Takeaway
“In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future.”
— Eric Hoffer
If you’re like me, you’ve been stuck at home for over a week, with no concrete end in sight to this quarantine.
It can go on for weeks. Or even months.
So why not make the best of it?
Transform what might have been a dull and harrowing quarantine to one of learning.
When the virus passes, as all bad things do, you’ll come out of it stronger.
And ready to take on the world again.
Thanks for reading my story :)
