We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a way for websites to earn advertising revenues by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Please read all about our affiliate links/Amazon Program and all Privacy and Cookie policies here, before browsing our site. Thank you.
Define Quarantine!
Define quarantine! What is the real definition of quarantine anyway? Can somebody define a quarantine that lasts for 14-days? Yes I can, since I was quarantined for 14 days. Lots of things happened that I did not expect. And some made me step out of my comfort zone. All in all it was not at all like what I heard other people say.
Thankfully we were defined quarantine, due to traveling. Even so we still had to follow all the governmental requested precautions. Which means after arriving to our family’s home, we had to go take the Covid-19 test the next morning. Although we thought we were not infected there was a hesitancy waiting for the test results to come in. Kind of like, mentally holding your breath and waiting to see what happens next. Thankfully within 2 days we received the message that myself and other family members did not contract any virus during our flight. Which was a tremendous relief.
How To Stay Motivated To Do Anything-Define Quarantine
Despite the fact, we still had to self quarantine in our home for the remaining 12 days. Since, it was during the Christmas holiday season we really didn’t mind so much. Or so we first thought. We were able to enjoy the quality time with other family members. Resting from our flight and the traveling. But soon the question hit me!
What are we going to do in the house for 12 straight days? The next question was how to stay motivated to do anything?!!! Those two thoughts started spinning in my head like a tornado. And soon I had a feeling of urgently that came over me. Like when you have to prepare your luggage to take to the hospital for the birth of your child. Oh and what about the other family members in the house? What would we do to not get into their hair so to speak?
These questions represented a bit of a challenge that needed consideration! We were all into this idea of how to stay motivated during quarantine and not get on anyone else’s nerves. Well that could be a lot of fun! Maybe? So how did it all turn out? Thankfully mother nature sent a beautiful snow storm, shortly after we arrived. Considering I have not seen real snow in years, this snow storm was undoubtedly welcome.
We were happy to go to the doorsteps of our private backyard and make a snowman. The fresh air was very fortifying and certainly appreciated. Now for the rest of the days I must confess that I cooked to my hearts content. Which made the other family members quite happy. Considering they were my taste testers.😂 Hahaha. I literally cooked three meals a day for about 14 days. I baked fresh bread every single day. And made three different varieties of bread by hand.
On Christmas Or At Christmas And Define Quarantine
Did you receive my Christmas card? Since I was in quarantine I decided to do something I love. That I have not be able to do for the past few years. Life just got to busy. What was that you ask? Well, I was able to send hand written Christmas cards to my dear friends. Which is something I totally love to do-sending and receiving handwritten cards by post. I really don’t think I would have been able to squeeze in the time to do that, if I was not in quarantine.
Ways To Serve Others and Still Define Quarantine
I enjoyed trying recipes. As a matter of fact, to put “Cooking In Times Like These Covid-19” cookbook to the test! I had written the cookbook for anyone who had to go through quarantine. And I purposely designed the recipes so that they could be easily prepared and without the need of many ingredients. Surprisingly to my shock, I am now in quarantine myself, cooking the exact recipes dedicated to others. Well isn’t life something! I was able to literally cook just about every recipe in the cookbook. Certain recipes were so well-received that they were requested again. I thoroughly enjoyed cooking in batches, filling up the freezer with all kinds of goodies. I can reflect that cooking had a tremendous part in saving me during this quarantine time. If you feel you would like to anonymously talk with a qualified therapist, click ad here for more information.
It helped me pass the days which such joy. Wondering how was I going to pass the time as some have said… I didn’t feel like I was wasting my time. I cooked for others and it gave me a tremendous amount of satisfaction and happiness. On one night in particular, I was so delighted we had homemade pizza with three different toppings. Our dining room table was full of homemade pizza! I thought to myself, I’m not sure if I wasn’t in quarantine if I would have had the time to make 3 homemade pizzas for dinner during Christmas time. The bonus was, everyone seemed to really enjoy the pizzas.
To add to my delight I also got to work from home which was another unexpected blessing. If you love to cook like I do you will understand how happy I was. I had an entire kitchen to myself for two weeks and since I couldn’t go anywhere else I decided to use the kitchen as a test kitchen and try out my new written recipes notes and ideas. It was so much fun. Like fireworks on the 4th of July. To a cook, you know it’s going to be great and fun, but you don’t really know what’s going to come out; which is part of the thrill.
Aggressive Cat Behavior in Quarantine
During all of this, I must mention by the 10th day I did start to have umm… what I would describe as a kind feeling, like a cat waiting at the door. You know, you open the door to put out the trash at night and the cat just runs out the door between your legs! In a flash! Well, I must admit I did kind of, start to have that feeling around the 10th and 11th day. If you feel you would like to anonymously talk with a qualified therapist during your quarantine, click ad here for more information.
Maybe around the 11th day I started to get a bit tired of electronics, and electronic gadgets and I really looked forward to leaving the house on the 14th day. Ironically, the 15th day would be the first day we could leave the house, and it was also Christmas Day. How amazing is that. Christmas meaning for us this year, was being able leave the house on Christmas Day. What a Christmas gift!
Looking back now on my 14-day quarantine in my family’s home, I have to say I actually enjoyed the time to do things that I normally wouldn’t have the free time for. On the other hand, I must admit I did have to have a talk with myself on a few occasions. Finding myself knowing that structure is good, but instead lurking to a tendency of just watching another video podcast. Guessing that sofa temptation could be a challenge for anyone going through quarantine. In hindsight, I would recommend writing a daily list of fun things you would like to do while in quarantine. Whether it be cooking all day and trying new recipes, or hanging up Christmas decorations, knitting some socks, writing that book, trying a new exercise program, studying a new course, calling distant family members, studying a new language, etc.
Quarantine Flu
It’s much more effective and enjoyable if you write some kind of goal list each day. Because it will hold you accountable to doing the things you actually want to do instead of falling in the trap of, since I’m stuck here anyway I can just do it tomorrow. That is a BIG trap going through quarantine! While I was very fortunate not to have the virus and not needing any particular medical rest, for those who have the virus certainly do take daily rest. And follow all of your doctor’s recommendations.
But I don’t know about you, but when I’m sick, I want to get out of bed and get better ASAP. Everyone handles sickness differently. Some people find comfort staying in bed with a good book, and some people have to fight it off like a lion. Either way, the method you use to heal is an important step in having awareness of your health.
Ideally, if you are not sick with the virus in quarantine, then you really can enjoy yourself. Also, the fact that you can quarantine in your own home makes a big difference. Unlike my return travel when we had to quarantine again. But that time was for 21 days and it was not in our home. That experience was completely and unilaterally different.
If you’d like to read about that experience, Define Quarantine Again! 21 Days Now😲 click here.
Quarantine Support
How about a daily count-down keeper. We decided as a family to have a quarantine countdown. This really, really helped. When we saw the other person sad or bored, we would chant out, only 9 days to go, only 7 days to go and so on. It mentally supported us in reminding us that we would be going out very soon and that we were not stuck in the house forever. Keeping ourselves focused with effort on our daily goal list also helped make the quarantine manageable.
We have to give a special thanks our family member who was so dear and so kind go to the supermarket every single day and buy fresh produce. So that I could cook. In conclusion, this is my cheerful meaning of my 14-day real quarantine experience.
If you feel like this quarantine stuff is too much to handle…then you can reach out and anonymously talk with a qualified therapist, by clicking ad here for more information.
What was your quarantine like?
Were you in quarantine for 14 days or longer?
Let’s share positive, helpful tips with others.
Please let us know in the comments below…
All photos are courtesy of Pixabay unless otherwise specified.
In bookstores and booksellers online in December 2020.
Or you may reach out to us at contact@liveoutyourlight.com
“Cooking In Times Like These: Covid-19”
By Susan Berlincioni
Softcover | 8.5 x 8.5 in | 80 pages | ISBN 9781982248093
E-Book | 60 pages | ISBN 9781922481089
Thank you for visiting our website
and for reading our blog today.
www.liveoutyourlight.com