Dispatch From Home No. 2: Grappling with Stress while Dealing with Adjustment

Increasing number of cases. The folly of a government official. The first positive case from a head-of-state. The postponement of the Summer Olympics. These are few of the headlines that shook our world as the battle to curb the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues. 

Likewise, this pandemic has affected every individual in many ways. With most of us experiencing some sort of 'house arrest', I got more observations in a quarantined life that suddenly altered my schedule, activities, and even attitude toward things. 

Time for TV

It was more evident a week after the quarantine kicked off that I'm getting a 'reunion' with a medium I've grown up with (along with radio) before I got to enter the World Wide Web in the middle of Grade 5—television. 

Years before the flat screen, I remember how my day went on going from one channel to another out of around 10 channels in free-to-air. My days would start with the TV on the mornings show by either ABS-CBN or GMA before I headed to school. Coming from school, I would view cartoon shows or anything I find sensible to watch while I do my assignments. I even remember watching the NBC Nightly News in the afternoons when channel 9 was still C/S9. I even found it fun to scan the TV for minor channels, like Zoe TV (Light Network at present), 3ABN, and UNTV. 

Years later, after the Internet has taken over almost every medium in terms of daily consumption for information and entertainment, I finally have the chance to watch more TV. But it seems so different now. 

It remains a delight to watch news on television, especially from channels I don't get to see very often—BBC World News, Al Jazeera, and even NHK World.  I even look forward to the newscast on ANC at 1:00 p.m. every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday, because it has more news in the business context (I might need it for future assignments for the paper). 

However, with many channels and many shows to watch, it is almost overwhelming to consume TV. While watching more news gets me to listen more and let myself be further educated, I have to admit that the house (and I personally) has to take a break from news from time to time. 

It's actually a chore now to find something good to watch or at least set the background of the house with. I have been feeling that I have to do this or else the house will resort to silence or music.

With live sports off for a long while, there's a task to find something worth watching, even if it is a replay of a match or a game of some bizarre or niche sport. 

This quarantine is prime time for television to be a good vehicle of information, entertainment, and even education for thousands of homes, as it has done so several decades ago. May it serve its purpose well here in the house, as I mostly initiate where the TV is on. 

Anxiety drives digestive stress

If the pandemic was not content with troubling the feelings of people due to anxiety, it must have troubled my gut too for a short while, also due to anxiety. 

Wednesday of the 2nd week, it was my first time to be out for groceries. I was not ready for it, actually, so I wrote my list in a hurry. My pace in taking groceries was also in a hurry, even if there was a queue before the entrance. I don't know if I would call it panic, but I guess I almost reached that point. 

Add to that the unfulfilling purchase of medicines for my mother. After going to two drugstores, I only got 1 out of 4 medicines. 

As a result of all these, plus some other tasks to do and things I have pondered beforehand, I sense I have felt some anxiety throughout a long day outside the house. 

After dinner, I sensed my gut gurgling. And I thought I'm getting into some trouble. And I did, at least for a few hours.

I wondered what I ate, even if I have been careful what goes into my mouth. My mother assumed it might have been an ice cream sandwich that caused this, even if I consumed it perhaps 24 hours ago. I wonder if it's because of an 'oats caldo' that I ate after going back home in the afternoon. 

But it seemed to me that it was a result of anxiety. Anxiety diarrhea, as the website Greatist puts it. I mean, my heart might have been pounding, so eventually the stomach went rumbling. 

Thankfully, even before I slept that night, I have felt better. 

There are two more weeks to be extra careful, and a lifetime to be generally careful of my overall health. 

Make with what you have

While this quarantine is going on, I have thought that many are doing very well in their big and wide homes. Artists, for instance, likely have no problem confined in their fabulous homes. Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar, meanwhile, is surely doing fine working from his "mancave", complete with his own broadcasting equipment, as I have seen on PTV's Public Briefing and the secretary's in-house Mediaman's Mancave. 

I also remember Kpop girlgroup Blackpink in a reality show titled Blackpink House, which I viewed back in 2018. For 100 days, the group stayed in that vacation house (with some getaways in Thailand and destinations in South Korea). Yet, even in that Blackpink House, the 4 members got to enjoy doing things and chilling out there. Jisoo even has a complete gaming consisting of a PC with a very long screen! There are even places to just relax.

One time I tweeted: As long as you have bought all the groceries you need, I guess you'll do well staying in Blackpink House. 

I honestly envy people with their own spaces in the house, their personal makeshift offices. Nothing wrong with our PC and a lot of books and other items surrounding my chair. This, in fact, has been my setup since my final months in high school. I realized, however, that as my preferences constantly change, I found myself wanting—and maybe needing—a personal space.

But for now, I can simply do with an open area. And I can only dream of my own office, my own mancave, with all the books in there, a couch to read them all day long, an equipment for podcasting, and—of course—my own laptop.

Missing papers and radio

The best thing I could do with newspapers now is seeing the pages (but not accessing most of them) on PressReader and looking at frontpages at the BBC and Newseum websites. I'm happy, though, that I get to access Atlanta Journal-Constitution and scan its pages online!

It also amazes me that papers in the United Kingdom vowed to deliver papers to subscribers for a number of weeks free of charge. Media indeed goes on, and it's great to see the commitments of newspapers to deliver copies right to the homes of their readers. 

This simply highlights the worth of subscribing to papers. I believe it's worth investing, especially at these times. Moreover, local papers are worth subscribing to at a time like this—not only because of the pandemic, but also because social media has been spreading fake news even within communities. It's just that there's none covering our end. The makes me envy the bounty of local journalism in the US.

This quarantine also makes me miss radio. Whereas before I get to scan station on AM and even shortwave for fun, now I haven't even invested on a component to keep a radio culture alive where I inherited it. No FM2 or Neo Retro 105. 9 or DZFE to put on background. No crisp radio sound to delight myself and hopefully the house with.

Adjust, adjust, adjust

The quarantine has surely been teaching us about a lot of things. One thing that has been impressed upon me so far is adjustment. 

Learning to adjust is one of the many findings observed by those who are working-from-home as a result of COVID-19 crisis. A podcast about rebalancing work-life experience during the COVID-19 crisis I've listened to for an assignment has pointed this out.

"At the moment, we are no longer working at home on our own, so one of the big aspects [of remote work at present] is going to be how we actually coach people to avoid distractions because at the moment we are sharing space with a number of family members, pets, different time schedules," Despina Katsikakis, Head of Occupier Business Performance of global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield said on that podcast.

I can easily relate to that insight, given the present condition I have. This kind of setup might have been fine with me back in college. But now, it seems that the most efficient WFH mode is when the factors of separation and isolation are sufficiently met. Yet, that is not the same for everyone. 

The quarantine may have it's own conveniences (who would not be glad with not having to commute for a long time?), but there are other factors which will make us realize that we must brace to adjust and give way for those we live with under the same roof. There's some sacrifice for this kind of 'co-living' we have at the present. 

I take comfort on the words of Rachel Chang, a Hong Kong-based healthcare and consumer news editor, in a report by Bloomberg: “The irritations of WFH are a small sacrifice in the grand scheme of things.”

I honestly hope the quarantine will not have to be extended, although experts say the peak of cases has not been reached yet. Let's keep praying and keep safe!