1. Critical Thinking 2. STEM-fields 3. Stimulate creativity ...
At any age / stage in life, I feel these would be most helpful. Rather than elaborating with lots of (incomplete) arguments, I would invite anyone to just think about those (or your own suggestions) for a while and think where they would be purposeful in todays world, with pandemics, fake news, social media, the modern days obession with achieving happiness ...
- Keep the news-crawling to an absolute minimum and be critical of which channels you choose : fake news, headlines with "numbers" without proper context ... leave all those things behind and try to stick to less "clickbait" news.
- If you can manage it, try to stick to 'business as usual' as much as possible : a lot of Tech-workers càn work remote and with limited face-to-face contact. That doesn't mean you deliberately have to avoid contact, yet I like to limit even online conversations as any discussion these days will divert into a talk about the current Crisis.
- Don't expect to be 'hugely' productive, but it might be a good time to engage in the work you left hanging in recent times. (For me, that's Documentation and such, Ugh!) It will be gratifying to see some of those actions being handled ...
- Keep up with past or new Hobbies / Opportunities : I am not in complete Lockdown here (yet), so I go for a run (alone) in the woods and plains at noon. And I've made a list of stuff that I want to do in the evening : Read some Books, Learn new Programming languages, etc.
- Don't forget about other people : I can get a bit self-centered once I have found a good personal rythm in handling this situation. But I need to remind myself to check in with relatives and friends (through Social Media and other Technology options ofcourse).
- Keep some inspiring Quotes or some calming "mantras" nearby (like on Post-It notes, Screensaver on your Phone, whatever, ...). I tend to find some solace and inspiration in those. My selection of Quotes revolve around ways to keep calm in times of adversity but they might be too pessimistic in these trying times, so I refrain from giving examples and will let you decide the Search Terms for yourself ...
- As I have a family here at home (2 Adults, 2 Kids), it's actually quite easy to get into a "Family-time, long unexpected Vacation" vibe where we : use online platforms to educate the kids (somewhat), do chores in and around the house, spring-cleaning, go on walks for as long as it is allowed, have a nice drink at home once and again, ... We have things like movie-nights with the Kids and they love it.
- Keep a diary on your Experience and write in the Evening as you retrospect your day. Any moments you can recall where you were extremely Anxious? Write it down, and write on how you will cope with it better the next day. Tommorrow is a new day to try to do a better job of it.
Good luck, try to focus on the good, ignore as much of the bad or leave them to be properly examined in your journal.
Why not join the https://coderdojo.com/ community and help out in getting young kids interested in coding?
It's a great way to 'give back' and introduce the future generations in the opportunities that software can give them. CoderDojo is an international organization and they might already be active in your neighbourhood.
I do some coaching in a local CoderDojo (https://coderdojo.com/) ...
Great to see how kids engage and appreciate the help that you can provide.
In doing this, I got some valid lifelessons on how to interact with people (regardless of age or skillset). It's really fun to 'teach' logical thinking to kids and - frankly - I sometimes gather a new perspective on things when problemsolving with these kids.
In fact, we're all ready to go for another season of coding and mentoring as of tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing familiar and new faces ...
