Some of us have been training for a scenario like this our entire lives!
 
Coronavirus has hit and in the early public reaction to the outbreak, there are already talks of a possible nation-wide quarantine or “self-isolation” policy.
 
I may be an introverted troglodyte, but I’m not selfish. I don’t wish to be a part of the unnecessary spread of this disease. So, I am here to spill trade secrets from my introversion on how to safely keep yourself occupied while indoors for two weeks.
 
The first task is to create a hoard of food to make even Smaug jealous. I recommend avoiding supermarkets as there are far too many people there – and everyone knows being among large crowds is the perfect environment for an anxiety attack, too.
 
Instead, jump online to and order as many bags of Doritos and bottles of Mountain Dew you can. After all, this virus panic could last for months. You don’t want to be forced to live off Code Red flavoured Dew because all the good flavours ran out.
 
When that’s sorted, I highly recommend taking an audit of all your social events planned over these next few months. Perhaps your weekly Dungeons and Dragons session is now a bit risky. No worries. My group is going digital for a few weeks, which seems to be the wider trend anyway. Even the Supreme Pontiff is jumping on this bandwagon after he announced he’ll perform the mass virtually rather than at the Vatican.
 
Next, audit every activity you can possibly do at home to stay occupied. I know you’re expecting a Gen-Z like me to immediately suggest electronics. However, as anybody can tell you, relying on the New Zealand Netflix sounds about as appetising as bat soup. So, if Netflix is all you have, a VPN could help (if you know what I mean).
 
If that fails, there are plenty of other things to choose from. Settlers of Catan as a must have board game for you and your flatmates to enjoy. Or you could dust off the old card deck of Magic the Gathering and reintroduce yourself to the game.
 
Whatever you choose to occupy your time, just ensure some of it is spent (while using plenty of hand sanitiser) with friends and whanau, even if the only option is a Skype group call.
 
Kia kaha!