Living the I Life: ‘I would rather be in denial because it helps me keep peace of mind'

The best part of the quarantine is that you’re talking to friends you haven’t talked to in years. I’ve been connecting with people all over the world.Since my sleep cycle is off, I can call people abroad and talk to them. There’s so much comfort to just pick up the phone and talk to people. It’s a bunch of random conversation that we would have never made time for earlier. Chilling at home with my grandmother and parents is also so nice. We watch a movie every day. My grandmom is a huge movie buff and she’s become tech-savvy too -- she knows how to connect Bluetooth. Since our TV is not working, she’s been on Amazon Prime. 

For an hour or two, we sit on our terrace - we never go there usually - and watch the sunset together. In the beginning, I thought we’d lose our minds, but we’re keeping it together. No arguments have broken out as I predicted. So it’s really wonderful. For the past one to two years I’ve been working relentlessly with shoots. Now I can’t go out, so I’ve learned how to use my creativity differently. I’ve gotten into writing now. With this unlimited, uncapped time, almost never-ending, I’m in a Petri dish for creativity. There’s nothing pressing to do otherwise. One of the things I’m so grateful for is that I have no petrol costs. Since I have the privilege of sitting at home, I have fewer costs too. I’m grateful for that. We’ve also been practising sobriety at home. It’s a good breather to get our minds and health back in order. I’ve been working out every day -- I never used to do that. I finally have the time to do it. My editor had sent me stuff to edit and I sent it back to him. He asked to get on a call, and we rescheduled it to 11 pm. At 10.20, he sent me a message asking if I was free to play Ludo King. People don’t care because we’re not pressed for time. 

My general approach is that if you have time to think, you’ll spiral. And we have nothing but time, so I’ve been trying to keep me busy. Sometimes having time can also be the worst thing -- you’ll be thinking of things that you usually wouldn’t be thinking of. I can’t lie about it, aside from a few news updates, I have been off consuming news because I’d rather be in denial because it helps me keep peace of mind. What I’ve learnt is that people are receptive and if you’re lonely, you can just call your friends because they’re also lonely and spiralling.