This post is a gift to my dear friend Madeeha Mian. She has been surfing my website over the past few days and this is encouraging me to post more. She also played a pivotal role in forming the philosophy of post.

So I was thinking this morning how the solitary nature of Quarantine, viewed with a healthy mindset, can be one of the best opportunities our generation (millennials) ever had. Solitude will unlock creativity, ideas and will accelerate your progress towards your vision. All you gotta do is to choose goals that are in line with the fact that you are mostly by yourself.

Great philosophers (and artists it seems) used solitude to reach their esoteric heights and inform the world on the human condition. Nietzche and Kant are two good examples. Just reading about their lifestyle elevated my spirit and made me want to get more disciplined.

The Daily Habits of Highly Productive Philosophers: Nietzsche, Marx & Immanuel Kant

Younger (than now) Asem has experimented with solitude and shelter-in-place. At the age of 19, I pondered upon the possible outcomes of a self-sanctuary experiment. I quit social media and stopped hanging out with people unless necessary for an entire summer. I read numerous books on the history of Islam and the Arabs. I learned a lot about Western philosophy. I studied (as in self-studied) engineering material to satiate my curiousity. I started working out consistently. During that period, I established a life-long tradition of knowledge-seeking and learning. I unlocked a deeper sense of discipline in myself.

During the democratic uprisings of 2011 (aka the Arab Spring), our Egyptian government freaked out and cut the internet off for 18 days. Everyone had to stay home. We weren’t sure of how safe the country was. And there wasn’t much going on. The country was under a revolutionary lockdown. The only reason you would go out was to protest. During the revolutionary lockdown, I met my neighbours for the first time. I created long-lasting memories with my family. It felt hard at times. I was feeling antsy and dreadful that I can’t check my Facebook notification. But in hindsight, I can’t be more grateful for having lived a complete lockdown situation.

COVID19 to me seems like a good-ass blend of lockdown, solitude and safety. The experts are telling us to stay home to slow down the pandemic. It is now a moral responsibility to stay home. We don’t need to feel frustrated when we stay home. We can, instead, view it as an opportunity to look inside and take care of ourselves. There is no burden or whatsoever to be anywhere except in your house. We are living a record low FOMO. The social pressure to party, got ot events and hang out with others is all gone. I can be in my room staring at my screen from dawn to dusk and not feel the slightest sense of guilt! What an amazing opportunity.

My self-care practices involve Reading non-fiction books, self-reflection and journaling, calling my family and friends as my time allows, dance practice, pole dance, riding my bike, running, working for as much as needed without feeling guilty, writing, and maintaining my website. All are feeding various aspects of myself. All are done with a simple goal in mind “I deserve care, and I can provide it for myself.”

This is the part where Madeeha steps in. At the beginning of this quarantine, I found myself sometimes overwhelmed by trying to achieve non-quarantine goals. It was quite a bit frustrating to try to arrange a hangout with friends. Or daydream about going to a party. Or even try to stay engaged in social interactions. One night, Madeeha mentioned the concept of “dating yourself”. And, man, that’s all I needed to hear at that moment. I have been seeking external validation and social interactions at a time when I couldn’t get that. Over the past couple of weeks, I have re-adjusted my goals. Instead of getting frustrated with not being able to do non-quarantine activities, I only seek internal validation which is highly attainable at this time. I am only busy with myself. And this enables me to care for others at a time when care is scarce, I am only able to provide it for others after providing it for myself.