“I am from Wuhan. It’s a central city on the map of China.” I gave this vague intro about my hometown to people when I studied abroad a few years ago. If they didn’t get it, I would further explain it as a second-tier megacity that’s only a “2-hour flight from Shanghai or Beijing”.
Since the coronavirus outbreak officially announced by the WHO back in January 2020, the entire world immediately recognizes my hometown, Wuhan. The unknown city got “famous” overnight.
Today is my 70th day in quarantine since January 23rd. It is also my first official day to be freely walking in the streets as long as I present my “Green Health QR code” in Shenzhen, Guangdong.
I have an urge to share my story.
The fact that my Medium membership will expire in a few days and I haven’t written any posts made me more eager to create something. Something special. Thus, I’d love to share my quarantine journey with everyone on Medium. I was hoping to offer a distinctive side of reality to people that are still under quarantine.
P.S. I spent three days writing and editing this post. It turned out to be 3000+ words long. If you are not interested in my narrative, you may jump to the last section of this post that labels as “Tips.” I sincerely hope that I could offer some help to get you through this tough time. Cheers!
A Timeline of My Quarantines
My 70-day quarantine experiences split into three different timelines and locations.
1st Quarantine: January 23rd — March 10th | 46 days in Hubei
I stayed with my 11 extended family members from January 23rd to March 10th. We were living in a small village in a historical town called Jingzhou inside of Hubei providence.
2nd Quarantine: March 10th — March 19th | 10 days in Hubei (different location)
Due to my grandma’s long-term respiratory disease. My mom and I risked to visit her in another town (that’s 30 mins drive from the previous village) and took care of her for ten days.
3rd Quarantine: March 19th — April 1st | 14 days in Guangdong
On the 56th day of my quarantine in Hubei. I finally got approved by the local transportation office and received a 48-hour-valid “Provincial Pass.” My friend and I drove 12 hours to Shenzhen, Guangdong. I voluntarily put myself into another two weeks of self-quarantine until now.
I will mainly talk about my first and most significant quarantine experience in this post. I hope a part of my story can lift your spirit and make your day feel a bit better.
My Pre-Quarantine Life
As many may know, the Wuhan lockdown took place right before the Chinese new year on January 23rd. Every year, my parents and I go to my dad’s parents’ house for the new year. It’s a small village on the border of Jianli, Jingzhou, that’s a 2-hour drive from Wuhan. I returned to Jianli on January 19th with my two cousins when everything still seemed “normal.”
By that time, my mom was still in Wuhan.
At midnight on January 22nd, my mom saw the lockdown news and was too anxious to go back to sleep. Then she called my dad, who was in Jianli with me at that time. He sent a driver to Wuhan to pick her up, along with two relatives at 7 am on January 23rd. Luckily, they got home safely without being stopped by the traffic police on their way home. If they were late for 3 hours, they would be stuck in Wuhan the entire time.
The sad part is, my cat Punzel was left alone at our Wuhan apartment. (We didn’t realize the lockdown would last for more than 2-month. Knowing that Punzel doesn’t like to move to a new environment, so we decided to leave him at home and asked local friends to check-in with him every couple of days).
Our lives in Jianli, Jingzhou didn’t influence by the Wuhan lockdown in the first few days. We could still drive cars and visit friends from town to town as long as our masks were on. However, a more strict lockdown rule was issued by the local government in the following days. Since then, all of the roads, bridges, residential buildings, and stores closed.
Our daily activity range downsized from town to community. I was lucky to live in a 4-floor house and a relatively loose regulated village during the quarantine time. Neighbors were still allowed to go from door to door for sending new year blessings (with masks on and no handshaking). If I had to describe my quarantine experience in the village in one sentence, I would say that it’s like we are living under a dome.
My time living in the “dome” turned out to be an interesting one. It was the longest time that I stayed in my dad’s hometown since I was born. It was also the most unforgettable Chinese New Year I have ever experienced.
The Real-Life During My Quarantine Days
Living With the Extended Family
I always thought that I was the type of person who enjoys staying in a small circle rather than large groups. However, I did find living with 11 other family members in a compatible village during such a difficult time has more benefits than its shortcomings.
Before Chinese New Year, my aunts and uncles bought abundant food and drinks that could last for at least 1-month for a 12 people family (without knowing the lockdown situation). The fact that we live by the river and rice fields made it so easy for us to have plenty of organic meat and fresh vegetables to eat during the extended quarantine days.
Everyone has a role in the family. Senior members at the house took away the heavy chores such as cooking, cleaning, and pulling veggies from the paddy fields. Junior members were mostly performing in informal activities such as organizing chairs, feeding cats, and playing video games.
“Wash your hands!” “Cover your cough!” “Wear your mask!” are the three most frequently used phrases in my family. A lot of people were not used to washing hands before meals or covering their coughs in the village. All of a sudden, I became the supervisor in my house and voluntarily spying at all-hygiene related movements. Both younger and older adults in the house listened, and we gradually trained ourselves to be very conscious about personal hygiene.
I was very impressed by how cooperative and understanding everyone was while living together. There were zero internal issues as we kept the harmony living pattern until the very end of the quarantine.
Depression
It wasn’t surprising to see how low-spirited we all were at the beginning of the domestic lockdown.
Terrifying news was everywhere, and the situation in Wuhan was close to hell at that time. The scary vibe crept into everyone’s mind and took away the supposed-to-be happy new year’s atmosphere. The extreme winter weather only intensified the situation and made everyone feel more frigid inside.
As the number of confirmed cases increased each day, I became so doubtful about my health — am I a potential COVID-19 patient who hasn’t shown any symptoms? I was concerned about passing the virus to people who live with me since the news reported that there were a large number of asymptomatic patients in China.
I lived on the third floor of the house, and I barely went downstairs to avoid interacting with people. I also insisted on covering my face with masks inside the house.
My mood swings dramatically during those days.
The first thing I did every morning was to pick up my phone and checked the latest news about coronavirus. 70% of my phone contacts are from Hubei, and a majority of them are from Wuhan. I saw my friends would repost more than ten news articles on their social media feed. Curiosity drove me to open those links, and my emotions inevitably drowned enormously every time.
I felt the pain not only for the then-suffering patients in Wuhan but also for the raging people who tried to reveal the truth of the disease.
I don’t want to discuss much related to “the truth” as it should be dependent by the scientific and official organizations for scrutiny. What I could share was that I did not believe in everything that people posted or what the news showed. Later on, I gave up on digging THE truth and dismissed myself entirely from the bewildering internet for a while.
My behavior might look like the least civic-engaging netizen. Nevertheless, I knew that I could be the most useful person by staying at home and not spreading rumors on the internet. I remained silent, and I started to focus on the life that I’m physically experiencing at the moment.
How I Changed My Mindset
My living-in-the moment/offline lifestyle changed my mindset from depressing to an inspirational one. I started to observe subtle things in life that made me happy.
👨🏻🦱+💬+😆
My elder uncle is a reserved person and barely talks in our family. We probably spoke ten sentences combined in the last few years. One day, I began to notice something different about him. I saw that he put on the purest and most generous smile on his face when announcing dinner time. I appreciated his positive tone and consistent effort in preparing each meal for us.
I started to bring more relevant topics to the dinner table and invited him to join the conversation. For instance, I would ask how many fishes he caught that day and what magic he used for cooking the delicious steamed eggs. Gradually, the quiet and depressing dinner time became the most relaxing moment of the day for all of us.
After dinner, my parents and I would go for a long walk. That was my most-looking-forward-to activity of the day. We took different routes each time so we could see different sides of the landscape.
My dad spent most of his childhood in the village. He enjoyed sharing his naughty childhood stories (such as stealing shrimps at private ponds at 3 am) with us. Whenever I saw him giggling under the face mask, I would laugh out loud with him.
It was nice to get more familiar with my parents’ past and to know how happy they were back then living in an idyllic lifestyle. I felt the magic power of reconnecting with my parents’ younger selves. Their appreciation towards the hometown made me more respectful of my original roots (something that I felt that I’d lost the concept of a long time ago).
☘️+🌻+🏜
On a good day, we could capture the entire movement of the sun sinking below the horizon. I always took plenty of pictures of the sunset. I didn’t see it very often in the city due to the long working hours.
Immersing into nature is such a healing experience. It makes me believe that beauty is in anywhere.
I don’t need purposely flying to Santorini for a picturesque view. I was living in a surreal and most beautiful land where happiness manifests within small moments like this. Now when I browsed my photo album, 99% of the photos were natural landscapes taken from my village time. And those photos still give me a sense of peacefulness.
The long walk sometimes turned out to be a treasure-hunting adventure. We would run into cute puppies on the way. They were friendly and followed us for a few miles until they couldn’t smell their familiar scent. If we had the energy to walk further, an indistinct forest where has thousands of birds live would appear like a mirage. We found a dumped basketball court inside the woods and played a few times there.
🐱+☀️+📝
One day, two homeless cats showed up in my grandma’s backyard, and one of them was pregnant. Our longing for Punzel encouraged us to feed the cats and treat them like our own. My dad went fishing every afternoon, and he would bring a bucket of crucian carps back and give all of them to feed the cats.
On sunny days, I’d love to spend my entire morning in the backyard, reading while watching the cats play.
Not until I started to live in the moment fully, did I realize how much more life is all about.
When I wasn’t exploring nature or playing with the cats, I would spend time writing and meditating. I’m not a frequent diary writer that I only wrote twice per month previously. I started to write every other day since the lockdown.
There was an enticing urge inside of me that pushed me to capture every delicate piece that I have in mind. It might sound stupid and cheesy, but I was picturing myself in a deadly survival mode, just like Anne Frank and Viktor Frankl in the holocaust. I felt that I had to record my state of mind only in case it would be my last memory of life (😂).
Perhaps that thought was too dramatic, but without having the sense of time is running out, I would never feel motivated to focus on my inner world and have the self-realization that I had at the end of my quarantine experience.
I tried to stay away from negativities. I wouldn’t talk about how scary the world has become or criticize anyone or anything for the situation. I was in a mood of accepting the reality as it is and hoping that the pandemic would end soon.
How I Coped with Anxiety
Despite I put so much effort to cheer myself up. I still inevitably experienced random depression once in a while. I doubted about the meaning of life, I lost motivation to be positive, and I felt the emptiness in my heart as if I was in prison.
A technique I used to cope with my anxiety was to confront the pain.
I didn’t take any action right away if I suddenly felt sad. I would allow myself to feel more in-depth about it and process the unknown emotions. I usually stood on the balcony on the third floor, gazed into the trees and river outside of my window. At that moment, although I was sorrowful, I felt the most presence in my life.
Everything was real for once. The longer I engaged with my inner feelings, the less pain I felt, and my illusion of “the end of the world” dissolved on its own.
Sometimes too many chaotic voices spinning in my head all at once. Then I noticed a distinct encouraging voice echoed in my mind:
“If I survived this phase of my life, I would gain the most potent strength and mindset to live the rest of my life.”
To survive, I have to conquer boredom, to fight negative energy, and to accept who I am.
Most of the days, I found myself didn’t miss the outside world that much. I felt that I already have the whole world inside of me. I was growing more energetic, both physically and emotionally, throughout this experience.
I also realized that solidarity and solitary aren’t opposed ideas but a whole concept. It’s all about how I neutralize my desires for society and my instinct inside of me. I perceived myself as practicing yoga in my mind. My freedom continues to expand inside of me as I opened my heart more and more each day. After meditation, I went back to my normal state of mind. I restarted another day very similar to the previous one, but happier.
✅My Tips for You
In a time like this, it is indeed bewildering yet precious.
It could be the only time in the history that the entire human race becomes silent and motionless all together. Most importantly, we are driven to become more aware of ourselves and our surroundings.
I understand that for most people, it’s not the virus that causing us anxiety. Instead, our mentality and perspectives of the world make a significant impact on how we feel and how happy or sad we are in quarantine times.
Therefore, I listed a few methods (some are mentioned above in my story) below to guide you on how to cope with the stress during the coronavirus quarantine:
1. Be thankful for what you are having right now.
Are you staying with your loved ones at this particular time? If yes, you already have everything you need to get you through the dilemma. Try to avoid complaining about the situation or worrying about things that are less likely to happen. Be present and be grateful for the food, the sunshine, and the company of your pets.
If you are alive, you are lucky.
2. Take a break from your phone and your hustle ritual.
Too many upsetting news on Twitter?
Shut down your digital devices or set a time limit for the apps that give you the most anxiety. Don’t try to overly invest your time on things that you are unable to change. Alternatively, spending this uninterrupted time to focus on yourself. Do you know yourself very well already? How does this pandemic shape your view of the world and your life in general? Find a time to ask yourself more meaningful questions and reshape your mentality.
Not a fan of contemplation?
Well, it’s the best time to binge-watch all of the movies, shows, and books that you’ve missed. Guess what? You don’t have to feel guilty about wasting your time on these “unproductive” activities for once. Remember that you’re not the only one on earth doing nothing right now. Don’t put too much pressure and hustle on yourself. It’s okay to be less disciplined and less productive during this time. Just learn to enjoy life.
3. Assign small tasks to yourself or learn a new skill.
Are you starting to feel pointless in your life? Don’t be.
You may still find small things that can fulfill your life and make you happy. Try to create a customized quarantine routine and implant it into your life. A habit of mine is to organize stuff — anything from clothes, cosmetic products, to apps and digital files. The gesture of organizing resets the mind and leads you to think that everything is in order and under control.
Do you have something that you have always wanted to learn, but you didn’t have time to do? Well, now is the perfect timing to evoke that resolution. I learned skateboarding during my time at the village, and I could not be more proud of myself. Start your new skill today, and enjoy the learning process.
4. Check-in with your friends and family members regularly.
My cat Punzel lived on his own in our Wuhan apartment for 2-month until my mom recently returned home. Luckily, we installed a pet cam at the house so we could see all of his daily activities. I talked to him every day through the camera wishing that he could feel my love for him. I also set the alarm to call my grandma every day at 7 pm so we could catch up on things.
Keep a close virtual relationship with your friends and family is crucial at this time. What you feel inside will almost reflect the same way as to how they might feel. Chat with your loved ones regularly and talk about the memories that make you happy. By knowing we have so much support during this time, we will spiritually feel so much more tenacious.
5. Turn your privilege to the power that makes the world better.
Compared to my friends who physically trapped in Wuhan, to people who got the disease, and to people who didn’t have the accessibility to medical care or emotional support. I regarded myself as a lucky one. I’m privileged to live in the countryside during the lockdown phase with all of my loved ones. Hence, I am incredibly thankful for this whole experience.
Sometimes, we are so easy to get stuck on the skeptical side of the story and mistake it for what reality truly is.
Please believe that there are and will always be more survivors in this world than sufferers. If you are healthy and safe, you’re privileged. Don’t let the passive voices to put you in a position that you’re the victim, because you are not. We should be proud to be one of the disciplined human beings throughout all of this.
Ultimately, we are in this together to fight the pandemic.
Final Thought
I’m looking forward to seeing how this pandemic will reform everyone’s mindset and goals in life in a positive way. I hope we can be more kind to nature, to each other, and eventually to ourselves.
Thanks for spending your time reading my quarantine story.
