Ask HN: How are you holding up?

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Many of us are struggling living in lockdown.

Nelson Mandela has inspired me in many ways. Going beyond subsisting in captivity, he emerged from 27 years imprisoned on Robben Island---South Africa's Alcatraz---to become President.

Today's episode shares part of what I believe helped him, which I believe can help us. First, he endured 27 years. We're only a few months in, and not in a small cement prison cell with a bucket for a toilet.

More, he practiced daily habits. We can too. I describe his in this episode, I hope in ways we can learn from.

Here are a couple quotes I read in the recording, both from his autobiography:

“I attempted to follow my old boxing routine of doing roadwork and muscle-building from Monday through Thursday and then resting for the next three days. On Monday through Thursday, I would do stationary running in my cell in the morning for up to forty-five minutes. I would also perform one hundred fingertip push-ups, two hundred sit-ups, fifty deep knee-bends, and various other calisthenics.”

“I awoke on the day of my release after only a few hours’ sleep at 4:30am. February 11 was a cloudless, end-of-summer Cape Town day. I did a shortened version of my usual exercise regimen, washed, and ate breakfast. … As so often happens in life, the momentousness of an occasion is lost in the welter of a thousand details.”

For more on Mandela and daily habits, see my post, Nelson Mandela on sidchas https://joshuaspodek.com/nelson-mandela-on-sidchas.

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Beside that post, I've found acting in service of others gives more meaning, purpose, and inspiration beyond any self-care.

Whatever your situation, others can use your help. For me, my podcast costs almost nothing, but drives me to help on the environment. There is no shortage of people who could use help, in person or virtually.

"To serve is to live." -- Frances Hesselbein

What I miss the most is being able to sit down at a Korean restaurant with friends and just EAT for two hours.

Overall, though, things are going really well. The transition to working from home was easy (half the team was already remote), I've had more time to exercise, and our company has been advocating good work-life balance throughout this whole ordeal. I have the efforts of my champion wife to thank for keeping a 3yo distracted all day while I'm at work, and that is not lost on me, either -- I'm in a good place now because I am with good people, surrounded by love.

Wishing you all the best, HN :)

Until I was forced to stay indoors for months.

I used to exercise regulary, gym/yoga/skipping/running before the lockdown.

But during the lockdown, it has all gone to hell. I eat, work and sleep. I used to watch a lot of tv shows but I cancelled all subscriptions.

But, on the other hand, I have begun writing stories. I had abandoned writing them for over a year now. In fact, I published my short story on Kindle last week. I am editing the 4 unpublished novels which I wrote and am trying to finish the 5th one right now. But it is difficult. Getting motivation is difficult.

At times, I feel anxious. And I totally understand the irony. It had never happened that I had 'gone out' in the last five years during a weekend. But now, I want to go out every other day.

Our government has started to ignore corona and they've begun opening up the country. The puppet TV news of the regime doesn't freak out people on Corona, which they did when the govt took corona seriously.

I miss cycling and going to the gym though. Yoga is a good alternative to the gym as it builds all possible muscles.

To me, this reads very much as something written by Kurt Vonnegut. Not exactly reassuring and not exactly depressing.