One month ago, in an interview, I was asked, “What’s making headlines today?” Had I been asked, “What do you think will make headlines one month from now?”, there is no way I would have been able to predict the bleak reality we are in right now. In the span of a couple of weeks, the world has gone into hibernate mode, uncertain of when it’ll wake up to the day when this is all over.

India – its entire population of over 1.3 billion people – entered a 21-day lockdown phase (very likely to be extended further). Not even one week is complete, but the definition of a “normal” livelihood has drastically changed and for most people, that’s bad news. School children have the extended break they always wanted, while college and university folks are worried about their summer interns getting cancelled. Migrant workers and students studying abroad are miles away from home, while thousands of other families are spending time together like never before.

So what are people doing at home? Those who have corporate jobs are mostly working from home (WFH could now very well be the most commonly used three-letter abbreviation starting with W, overtaking “WTF”), college students are engaging in online classes – which isn’t a new thing for most people anyway – everyone is finally finding time to revive long-dead hobbies and pastimes, everyone is catching up with friends after years of no communication…

It seems like paradise when you put it like this, but reality is quite the opposite. Thanks to social media, news channels and pretty much anything and anyone you interact with, all you hear and see are facts, updates, articles and of course, rumours about COVID-19. Every phone call, every dinner table conversation and even memes are all built around the virus attack.

While I agree that it is important to be aware of what’s going on outside your house, in your state and country, the pandemic shouldn’t rule you inside your house. Checking the daily death toll should not be your morning cup of coffee and posting a pessimistic, apocalyptic message shouldn’t be your bedtime prayer. Among all the other “#stayathome” challenges and the like that you decide to take part in, why don’t you take up the challenge of having an entire conversation and not talk about the crisis?

Again, it is understandable that practically everything we do in a day depends on the situation outside – from getting the newspaper in the morning to getting groceries for the upcoming week to thinking about the security of your future job or MS admit. But you must also understand that there are only so many things in your control. Yes, it is difficult to sit through online lectures when your future admit or job is so uncertain. It is difficult to read a novel when all you can think of at the back of your head is whether you will get groceries tomorrow. You are very likely in that state where you can’t even cough without feeling guilty or touch a bread packet without instinctively wondering how many others have laid their hands on the same thing.

How you act today depends on what your priorities and worries are. Some people are okay with sacrificing lives to make the economy boom, some shopkeepers don’t give a damn about social distancing because they want to make as much money as they can to put food in their stomach, some are selfless enough to put their life on the line to save a dozen others. Whether you choose to get aggravated by the “irresponsible” acts of others or choose to do your duties responsibly is your call (remember that an innocent jog around the neighbourhood or the act of walking your dog could be panned by several others as “irresponsible”). The same goes with whether you want to enter a state of paranoia by seeing the numbers every day or whether you want to enter a state of blissful ignorance or find the sweet zone where you are cognizant of what’s happening but are calm enough to carry on with your household activities and hobbies.

I am not saying that you must completely stay away from COVID-19 news or articles or updates of all sorts. Admittedly, some of the memes and awareness messages are incredibly creative and funny, and this is much-needed relief from the grim news sessions (case in point, watch this 6-minute clip of the iconic “Do Re Mi” song from The Sound of Music modified to suit the COVID-19 crisis). At the same time, you can choose to stay away from pessimistic and racist posts and rumours.

You can also distract yourself in so many ways at home without feeling guilty for consciously dragging yourself away from the crisis for a while. Sing a song, exercise inside the house, play with your dog, learn to cook a new dish… there are enough things to keep yourself busy while still following hygiene measures and maintaining social distance. Next time you see the sports page of the newspaper covering events which aren’t most people’s priority (“Who cares if so-and-so is too old to compete in the postponed Olympics?! There’s no milk today!”) or a seemingly irrelevant article about blockchain technology, think of it as a welcome break. Use this time to do what you’ve always wanted to do but didn’t find time for. The lockdown could go on for 14 more days or a month, but take it one day at a time.