A Survival Guide to the Pandemic

A Survival Guide to the Pandemic

We, humans, are going through a pretty rough patch now. We are being tested mentally, physically and emotionally through a quarantine challenge that will determine our next course of action. And this could be that one break you have been dreaming of to start your quarantine journey.

There’s a lot that can go into anyone’s daily routine to make the most out of his/her pastime. Some try to be the best user of such free time by reading a book, asking a senior for help or just by watching YouTube tutorials. As with anything, it takes practice, time and discipline to develop your skills. Let’s have a peek at a few ways through which we can spend our times wisely:

Guide for Family Members

Have “The Conversation” of your lives

Our busy lives and social distancing has deprived us of the opportunity to communicate with our family members from time to time. Now is the best time to get to know each other better. Switch off your electronic devices, and gather together to have the best time of your lives. Get to know their likings, dislikings, day to day schedules, and their hobbies and interests.

Establish a flexible routine

It doesn’t need to be color coded in 15-minute intervals with flash cards and French lessons and mind-numbing crafts. But structure makes the family members  feel safe, especially during times of upheaval. Try to set up a daily routine that you and the other members of the family would follow (or at least try to) in order to make the most out of your free time.

Guide for Students and Young Professionals

Make your portfolio/resume:

It is a good time to invest to yourself, analyze your strengths and weaknesses, and start off by putting together a portfolio for future job opportunities.

A question one can often get is, “I don’t have anything notable to put on my portfolio. What should I do now?” Understand that every great designer started their journey with nothing on their portfolio, just like you. With the course of time, they have gathered big clientele and work opportunities. Putting together a kick-ass graphic design portfolio isn’t just something you need to worry about when you’re a student. You need to think about maintaining, improving and evolving your portfolio throughout your graphic design career.

For now, you may just create any conceptual design for an imaginary company, maybe get your hands on re-designing a website or simply put together the voluntary designs you have been creating for your institutions and share them on your portfolio.

Do online courses on credible websites and platforms

Shoutout to all the ECA lovers out there-now is a good time to spend some time on your passion. You can pursue courses related to IT, Business, Management, Biology, Physical Sciences and loads of new topics absolutely free of cost. Furthermore, it would be a great addition to your CV to help you ace the job interviews in future.

Illustrator for the designers out there

Illustration is the art form of storytelling. You can portray a moment in time and invite the viewer to imagine themselves in the situation. Or, maybe you can just draw a house. Either way, you are telling stories about little moments in all our lives, little things that did or might happen.

In my opinion, Adobe Illustrator is the perfect fit to start your illustration journey. Try out different tools and effects to get your desired outcome. Look for inspiration in the works of great designers. Visit showcase websites like awwwards.com, pinterest, dribbble and behance on a daily basis. As you look at new pieces, challenge yourself to think critically about the color choice, typography, the layout etc.

Guide for the office workers on a vacation

Chillax

You heard it right. Allocate some time on your daily routine to “chill” and “relax” yourselves while you can. Put an end to the stress you’ve accumulated on your tireless office work through streaming services like Netflix and Spotify, Television shows, Newspapers and so forth. Most importantly, take a “nap” while you can!

Take some time to improve your “office” skills

You can learn particular online courses that can boost your performance levels on office work and earn an extra raise through websites like coursera, udemy, edx and so forth. You can even pursue a course of your own choice if you want, even if it is irrelevant to your job.

To conclude, there are tons of other things that you can do other than the aforementioned ones to make the most out of your free time during the pandemic. Make the best of your free time now and onwards so that you would not have to regret later on. So, rather than continuing the usual “Eat-Sleep-Repeat” phenomenon, make the most out of your invaluable time during the pandemic; and most importantly, stay healthy and stay safe.