The circuit breaker in Singapore is carefully curated that the people residing in the country aren’t allowed to go outside the house for non-essential work, by closing all non-essential stores and areas. They have also closed publicly shared spaces as well. People are allowed to leave their houses for essential work because The Govt. has allowed people to leave their homes for exercise, but the walkers needing to wear masks, but the runners and the cyclists are allowed without one. Also, people in different households are not allowed to meet. It starts on 7th April and was meant to end on 4th may, but got extended to 1st June.
Emotionally the first half of the ‘quarantine’ like structure wasn’t too bad. I could spend more time with my family which made us understand each other and we definitely got a lot closer. I could also wake up later for school and sleep in for longer, since schools are closed, which felt nice for a while, I felt like a holiday. But as time ran over I started to feel less happy because the end date was extended and started to feel bored at home, with a lot fewer things I can do, since I didn’t have siblings, things became a lot harder. Also, the fact that I cant meets any friends was frustrating because I enjoy a lot with them and just feel good around them. Cricket was another thing I couldn’t do, and I got jittery thinking about it, because of an upcoming tour soon, and need to do the preparations for that.
Doing Online learning for a short period of time is nice, but when goes for a month or two, it becomes too much because it is not easy to learn online, and there isn’t an environment of learning in your bedroom, versus at school. I find it a lot easier to learn at school.
The positive side is, I was able to get more time for myself and think about all the different things in my life and be grateful for them, about how we are safe during this time. I could slow down and think about cricket and the different game plans and styles I wanted to develop and had a chat with my coaches. Luckily we are in the time of modern technology which is great since it opens up so many different streams and things to do, from entertainment to education. I am able to video call friends anytime. Without this technology, we would be missing out on so much learning from school. I also could take up a guitar since I had more time, and took the old guitar tucked away in the shelf and started playing.
Before the Circuit Breaker started, a G10 student and I started a cricket coaching camp for younger children and ended up making $800 in profits. My partner donated his $400 to charities in America fighting covid – 19, and I donated mine here in Singapore.
We just have to stay positive and look into the future. We need to be strong mentally to help the people around us. We need to stay home and understand that we are helping everyone around us by just being home, and not contributing to the spread. We can help by donating to charities around us to make their lives a little easier. Please stay safe!