The Circuit Breaker Life: 10 Things You Never Knew You Were Thankful For
Staying home during this time has made us crave face-to-face human interaction or yearn to go back to our usual routines.
In a state of boredom, people are forced to get creative. We have quickly changed up our routines such as converting our gym sessions to home workouts, or even achieving new goals such as learning a new skill online or finishing a book that we read halfway.
But there are also some who have thought of really bizarre things. For instance, a Redditor built a life-sized Jewel Changi Airport in Minecraft to curb his boredom.
Another Redditor even came up with a ‘Stay Home MRT Line’ to sum up a day of his life.
We may be stuck at home but that doesn’t stop people from thinking of creative ways to spend their Circuit Breaker life differently. One thing’s for sure though, here are 10 things that we’ll definitely miss once the Circuit Breaker is over.
1. Wake Up Later, Wear PJs All Day
Working from home brings about many perks for the lazybones.
Firstly, you get to snooze a little longer because we no longer have to be out the door by 8am to catch the train. If work starts at 9am, we can afford to wake up five minutes before and skip the shower.
Who cares if you’ve not brushed your teeth or if you’re wearing pyjamas to work?
Ultimately, this saves us a lot of time. You also do not have to style your hair or think about what to wear every day. Doing work in comfortable PJs and messy hair all day is a true luxury that comes with working from home.
2. Home-cooked Meals
As we shift to working from home amid this Circuit Breaker, we have more autonomy over managing our schedules and taking short breaks to recharge ourselves. Our mornings and evenings are now longer as we don’t have to spend time commuting to and from work.
With these extended pockets of time, many have turned to indulging in a hearty breakfast in the mornings or going for a quick run (while observing safe distancing measures, of course!). Throughout the work day, we may even steal some time to take a power nap, have a quick work-out session or even enjoy a tea break.
These simple activities definitely aid in relaxation and revitalisation. After all, when you are well-rested, your productivity will also increase.
4. Ability To Multi-Task During Work Meetings
Now that we are working from home, we have embraced video-conferencing platforms like Zoom and Skype to host online meetings instead.
The good thing about online meetings is that we can ‘multi-task’ and get other tasks done while paying attention to the meeting. Multi-tasking is not necessarily a bad thing as we can get more things done with pockets of free time.
5. Free Workout Sessions
Even though physical gyms, studios and sports facilities have been closed during this period of time, you can still get your work-out sessions.
SportSG’s Get Active TV has teamed up with some of the fitness instructors in Singapore to stream live workouts on Facebook and YouTube.
On Instagram, many influencers have also been churning out live-streaming sessions, hosting workshops and activities for their followers to join in the fun.
Local songbirds Narelle Kheng and Sandra Riley Tang of Sam Willows, for one, will be conducting a workout session via Instagram (IG) Live (do keep a lookout on their IG on April 30) as part of the #stayhomeforSG challenge, so stay tuned for it! If you would like to find inspiration on things to do at home, check out the hashtag #stayhomeforSG on social media channels to see what everyone else is doing!
You can also try to complete this month-long workout plan as part of the Box Office Fitness Circuit Breaker challenge, which includes a mix of HIIT, strength, cardio and recovery exercises, to help stay in shape.
6. Access To More Free Online Resources
As Singaporeans, it’s in our nature to love free things.
Since lockdowns have begun in various countries, virtual classes have erased geographical boundaries, with major businesses rolling out free online classes.
A few paid TV operators such as StarHub and Singtel have extended a free preview of their TV channels to curb your boredom during this time.Meanwhile, Audible has made their library of books and audio stories free to stream following this COVID-19 outbreak.
People’s Association (PA) is also conducting free ‘live’ 30-minute classes on their social media platforms for affected PA courses and activities. It conducts various classes from cooking to calligraphy, so here’s your chance to learn a new skill!
Local actress Jeanette Aw and Miele Singapore’s Chef Lennard Yeong also filmed an Instagram Live video together last week while they cooked and baked from their home kitchens. Missed it? Fret not! You can watch their completed 20-minute cooking session on both Jeanette’s and Lennard’s IG accounts.
The list of free resources is not exhaustive, so do take advantage of them while you can.
7. More Family Bonding Time
As most of your family members are now working from home, this means that you will be seeing more of them, giving you the opportunity for more family time. Who knows, you might even learn something new about them!
Beyond that, working from home together means that you can afford to have meals together, for breakfast, lunch and dinner! Since everyone shares the same working schedule (sort of), there’s no reason to miss out on family meals anymore.
Having meals together means you can get to stay updated on each other’s lives over conversations, which helps to strengthen ties and build better relationships.
8. Hanging Out With Friends (Virtually) Anytime
Packed and conflicting schedules have sometimes made it difficult for you and your friends to find a meeting time that works for everyone.
Since we are now in Circuit Breaker mode, everyone is practically confined to their houses. Besides working from home, we don’t have much else on our schedule so there is technically no excuse to not hang out with friends anymore, albeit virtually.
Take this chance to catch up with your friends and make up for lost time. Have a lunch date over video calls, host game nights on apps like Houseparty, or even sing karaoke in a virtual KTV room on apps like Quan Min Party.
If both you and your friends like playing online games together, consider checking out the DOTA and FIFA livestreams where gamers battle it out.
Happening across two channels on May 2, from 12pm to 4pm, watch Sylvia from Night Owl Cinematics compete against local pro-gamer iceiceice in a DOTA game! You can catch Sylvia on NOCplays YouTube channel or iceiceice over on Twitch in the livestream as they battle it out.
If you are a FIFA fan, be sure to catch local actors Charlie Goh and Noah Yap attempt to score against Hibidi, a local FIFA pro-gamer. The livestreams will be held on May 3, 8pm, on Charlie and Noah’s IG and Hibidi’s Facebook page.
9. Supporting Local F&B Businesses
While F&B businesses see their sales take a hit as the dining-in ban has kicked in, they can only count on takeaway and delivery orders.
There is no better time than now to do our part to help local F&B establishments tide over this difficult period of time and #supportLocal by buying from them.Through the ‘Hawkers United – Dabao 2020’ Facebook group initiative, we have seen how Singaporeans come together to preserve the hawker culture and help our favourite stalls to continue their business.
10. Being At Home To Receive Your Parcels
One of the things we would appreciate about staying at home is being there to receive our online deliveries in person. It is also something to look forward to while we are at home.
Nothing beats the happiness and excitement we get when the delivery man appears on our doorstep with a box. For now, we no longer have to wait in anticipation to arrive home to unwrap our online purchases – we can do it instantly.
This is one of the little things that we would be thankful for when the Circuit Breaker life is over.
Stay Home For Singapore
COVID-19 has made us realise the importance of keeping ourselves active, having a work-life balance and staying connected with our family and friends.
Even after the Circuit Breaker has ended, we should not cease practising these important and positive habits.
Everyone, including you and I, has a critical part to play in fighting the battle against COVID-19, so we need to be socially responsible and take precautions to help safeguard one another and save lives.
While it’s indeed a tough time for the nation, it’s imperative to stay positive. Just because we are encouraged to stay at home, it does not mean that we cannot continue to stay active and engaged, or care for one another.
Join the SG United Telegram channel to receive the latest updates on COVID-19 content and ongoing community initiatives. Also, share what you are doing at home during this Circuit Breaker period on social media by tagging #stayhomeforSG and #SGUnited. You never know – you may inspire others with ideas on what they can do at home!
Remember, Singapore can pull through this only if we do it together! #stayhomeforSG #SingaporeTogether #SGUnited
This article is written in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Community & Youth.
Header Image Credit: Inc42 / Shutterstock
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