Week 3: The last ten days
Most of us are roughly taking every day as it comes in these trying times. A disrupted daily routine, coupled with being cooped up with little to no leisurely activities, the burnout has probably hit many. With the looming possibility of a rather restricted Eid-ul-Fitr ahead, this week's checklist focuses on some practical things around the house.
PRODUCTIVITY
Closet Cleanout
Think of it as a delayed spring cleaning for your clothes. We all have things in our wardrobes that do not fit, or the colour is worn out, or we simply do not like it anymore. Having these pieces linger in our closets simply take up space create clutter.
Now that we finally have some time on our hands, it is time to sort it all out. Bring out all your clothes and make different piles. There should be a keep, discard, donate, and DIY sorting arrangement. Clothes you love and will wear again go to the keep pile of course. Ones beyond repair, worn out colour or torn should be thrown out. Channel your inner Marie Kondo if you have to. Think for yourself; did you really enjoy wearing that certain dress or is it just something there because you paid a bit too much for it?
Squeaky Clean Gadgets
While cleaning the home, a lot of us miss out on one category — the electronics. Everything is getting quite a bit of clean-up these days. But just cleaning the dust off the surfaces of televisions and speakers is never enough. Most of us are quite guilty of binging a show in front of the computer monitor and dropping crumbs and whatnot on the keyboards. Tablets and phones, the tools of the trade for work and study get oily spots within hours of usage. Take some time to clean all your devices using the correct methods — from your laptop and desktop, to your TV, refrigerator, microwave oven, don't overlook anything. It is only when you clean these that you realise how dirty they can get.
THOUGHTFULNESS
While we are praising essential workers like doctors and policemen, certain groups often get overlooked. These are the people serving us day and night and keeping us safe. We are talking about our guards, apartment caretakers, and night guards working in the neighbourhoods during this pandemic.
You can arrange iftar for these people. While physically gathering and sharing is not the safest option now, you can arrange for individual boxes for each person and hand them out.
REST AND RELAXATION
Recharge
As the third week of Ramadan rolls by, exhaustion is bound to creep up with all the cleaning and home organising. And with Eid approaching, you know there is more to come. Take some time off, relax and rewind. Read a book or watch something. If you cannot let your body relax, your productivity will plummet. So, recharge yourself before heading back to work, even if it is at home.
Change
A Different Eid
The essence of Eid lies in celebrating with your friends and family, indulging in good food and getting dressed up. But somewhere along the line, the true essence got lost underneath a heap of shopping.
As we prepare to celebrate a different Eid this year, we should also take notice of how we are enjoying this time surrounded by the people we love, and how buying new clothes or accessories rarely play a part in the joy of Eid.
At these times, Ramadan is a solace as it reinforces ideals like patience, self-restraint, empathy and generosity. These are valuable lessons that can teach us how to adapt to these uncertain times as well as for future difficulties, should they arise.
By Anisha Hassan and Iris Farina
Photo: LS Archive/ Sazzad Ibne Sayed
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