It is what it is. Quarantine. 3 weeks already. Everyone copes with this special time differently. It is a situation that I would never expect to happen.

I wondered many times before all these crazy things happened, what needs to happen to make the whole world to stop working. To give nature time to breathe and recover. And here it (kind of) is! And the reason is clear to everyone I guess:  a submicroscopic infectious agent called a virus. Closely, the COVID-19 as scientists call this specific one.

The Czech Republic is apparently one of the first countries from which its citizens are obliged to #stayhome because of the coronavirus. The complete quarantine started for me on the 12^th of March. We decided to go to my parent’s house 1 hour far from Prague and wanted to stay only for a weekend. The weekend became a week, two and now we are here for more than 23 days and don’t really have any plans to leave.

 I have to admit that I pretty neglected this wonderful place in a village called Netušil. In the last 3 or 4 years, I was everywhere else but here. Anyway, this month pretty compensates all those years of my absence before and I have more time than ever to enjoy it here. And how my schedule looks like during these days?

So what makes me survive this period in (a kind of) good mood?

ROUTINE 

• Super important thing once you are at home the whole month. We don’t manage to wake up every day before 7 as I would wish but we try. It is a process and I believe that at the end of this crazy time I will be able to wake up with the first alarm that I set. 
• Exercising

EXERCISE

Exercising every day, no matter what (not anything new for me but in the “normal” mode I sometimes didn’t exercise every day because I did something social or had too much work or something – well, mostly the social life is mostly the reason why I sometimes do NOT exercise every day). 

One new thing for me is exercising with YouTube videos. I have never done any workout with Youtube before but this quarantine time gave me the chance to try it ( yes, I am probably the last person on this planet who tried online workouts) and I really love it! My favorite accounts that I do my workouts with are:

WORKOUTS

Pamela Reif and all her workouts, especially this intense full-body one

Bully Juice and his fast content in the changing room – no useless talking around 🙂

YOGA

Gayatri Yoga – I didn’t watch all of her videos but I love this flow by her. It has a pretty weird name but I like the combination of asanas during this practice. 

For Ashtanga Yoga – I don’t practice ashtanga on daily basis but one thing that I love on this type of yoga is its routine. Every time the same so I can focus better on my breath and the flow itself because I know which asana comes next. I love to practice with this video by Fightmaster Yoga.

Focus on specific asanas – Adell Bridges 

VINYASA FLOW with Cat Meffan 

I also do time to time abs workout with MadFit which is pretty good but I don’t like that she talks sooo much in her videos. Who doesn’t mind 5 minutes of talking instead of exercising and comments during each exercise, then she has nice workouts for all levels. 

 

SLACKLINE 

I wanted to buy this tool for ages but it wasn’t somehow on my priority list and this long time here in the village made us order it and to try it. It took me 1 day to be able to walk from one side to the other and 7 days to turn in the middle of the webbing (which is a super hard thing!). It is a great way to relax and to find the focus back if I am not able to find it while working or studying anymore. 

VISITS 

My and Daniel’s parents visited us a few times and these afternoons were great to break the routine. And my dog visited us as well which always improves my mood. 

NATURE (ALL AROUND US)

I think that spending our quarantine time in a small flat in the city would be much harder for our mental health and was less comfotable in general. Waking up and hearing birds around us, catching the first sunbeams on our face and feeling the fresh air throughout the whole day is something I am really grateful for. Nature heals. And during this time especially. I am really grateful to have the opportunity to spend this time here. 

BIKING 

We don’t have any car here with us so when we want to go shopping or buy something else in the city closeby, we have to rely on our bikes. The distance between our house and the nearest town is about 3 kilometers but we usually take some lounger route to make a small trip out of it. I love this ritual of biking. 

READING & EDUCATION 

Currently, I am reading 2 books and I have just finished one. 

Digital Minimalism from Cal Newport – a really great book for everyone who wants to use technology with more intention and purpose. 

The Daily Stoic – 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living by Ryan Holiday – the book is divided to 366 parts (=days), one can find one meditation or quote (explained and translated to the “modern language”) and be inspired. A wonderful book for this crazy time. 

The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells – it is a book or rather very long article which discuss the worst-case scenario that could happen to us and to out Mother Earth due to global warming. It is pretty interesting to read about this topic during this time when so many things on the planet just stopped. And it makes me think that it all is maybe happening for some reason. The planet just needs a break. I am reading this book in German so I consider it as training of my German knowledge as well. The language is so easy to forget and I am a little bit scared of this fact so I try to avoid it. 

Again – here it is a pleasure to work or study when one can sit outside and enjoy the sun at the same time.

EATING OUTSIDE 

Well, this is something that everyone looks forward to the whole winter. Eating, chilling and sunbathing outside. And just receiving the energy. I am not really the person taht would love to spend the whole day cooking so I usually cook things that are made in maximum 1 hour. We have sooo many potatoes from our neighbours so many dishes I have cooked during this month have been potato based. But potatoes are healthy and easy to prepare so why not?

PLAYING 

Whether it is just throwing with the ball, playing badminton or whatever else. This environment is perfect for short breaks of doing stuff that I did last time loooong time ago.

 

AND MASKS OF COURSE! 

We got some face masks from our parents and bought some from a local seamstress. We protect with them others and in return, others protect us. Everyone should wear one during this crazy time even if it is not compulsory in your country. Check this important video #Masks4All from the Czech Republic and feel free to spread the key message that can save lives and slow the pandemic. “I protect you, you protect me.”