Feeling Stuck: Productivity During Quarantine

Article and photo by Joana Kim

Things I Have (and Haven’t) Done in Quarantine:

• DID officially finish the 2019-2020 school year.  

• DIDN’T make Dalgona coffee. 

• DID (very slowly) try learning the guitar.  

• DIDN’T wake up as early as I had planned to.

• DID read more books, but haven’t finished any. 

• DIDN’T try cooking any new dishes. 

• DID clean out my room and closet, but still kept things that I probably should have let go of. 

• DID cut my hair out of impulse.  

• DIDN’T learn a new language, but spoke more in my native tongue.

• DIDN’T make homemade bread. (Although I’m seeing some seriously delicious-looking ones online!) 

• DID watch some free musicals! (Check it out: #stayhomewithme on Youtube) 

• DIDN’T complete a single puzzle. (Never really was a puzzle person.)  

• DID notice an increase in my screen time (yikes!), but did have a lot of great conversations on the phone. 

• DIDN’T work out, but did take many walks.

Initially, this article was supposed to be about the different things I’ve learned during quarantine. However, as time passed, I started to realize that quite a few of the things I had planned to do were largely influenced by what I saw other people do around me, often based off of ideas from social media. I felt like it wasn’t so much of a bad thing but interesting; as time went on that list wasn’t getting any shorter. But it made me wonder how intentional I was being with what I was doing (or wanting to do), rather than just doing it for the sake of matching up to the productivity levels of others. With that came a new list of things I did and didn’t do (as of yet); it's mostly a fairly light and random list, but it could reflect an important matter.   

For those with the privilege of choosing to stay at home, quarantine probably looks different for each and every one of us, but similar at the same time. We’ve all seen those quarantine-related social media posts, have been constantly updated with the newest information involving COVID-19, are now familiarizing ourselves with digital content being accessible at a much more rapid pace, and are also adjusting to the WFH (work-from-home) routine for the first time. 

With quarantine comes the topic of time, and how many of us now seem to have a lot more of it, opening the door to try everything we’ve ever wanted to do but never seemed to have the time for. Perhaps we’ve finally caught the culprit for all those late assignments, long nights studying for exams, missed appointments, friendships that have suffered severely incompatible schedules, and a possible concerning lack of personal hobbies.

I, like I’m sure many, have been seeing a lot of posts and articles circling the Internet with titles like, “Ways to be Productive during Quarantine,” along with terms such as “Quarantine Goals” being used to promote accomplishment amidst being home 24/7. Whether the purpose of these titles is for motivation or irony, the topics of accomplishment and productivity are prominent. It’s easy to believe that a lack of productivity should result in a lack of self-worth, or it is indicative of some sort of shortcoming. In lieu of quarantine resulting in much more of our lives being spent online, people have also become more vulnerable to comparing themselves with those around them. We may become prone to believe that there’s something wrong when our lives don’t seem to match other people’s “normal,” even during a pandemic. 

It’s important to remember that in a devastating escalation of events, our daily lives have been turned upside down. This degree of change and uncertainty, along with isolation at home can lead to difficult circumstances. Daily life in quarantine means more time at home, but it could also mean relationship strains, added responsibilities and stress, the vulnerability of emotional and mental health, loneliness — the list can go on, not to mention the effects of a worldwide pandemic right outside our front doors. 

During these times, we might end up feeling stuck when we feel like we should be moving forward. For this, it’s necessary to know that a lack of productivity isn’t quite the issue, and increased activity certainly doesn’t serve as the cure. Learning new skills or mastering a new language isn’t nearly as important as realizing that even if we aren’t able to achieve any of these goals, we are more than the mere activities that we do or failed to do. Rather than feeling pressured or compared to, I encourage you to redefine what “productivity” can realistically look like for you — maybe even by starting a list or two of your own.