Marine Baron: How To Cope With Self-Isolation

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Hello,

Marine Baron shares ideas on how to cope with self-isolation (French)

My name is Marine Baron. I am a writer. If things go well, my new book will come out later in 2020. Besides, I do research and some teaching. I also have a seven-year-old daughter.

Positive aspects of self-isolation

First, I would like to talk about the positive aspects of the lockdown.

In fact, I see self-isolation as something positive. To me, staying isolated clearly means that we can afford to take care of ourselves and of our health.  Those who can stay at home are privileged compared to people who don’t have the opportunity to work remotely. If you look at quarantine this way, you won’t complain about being locked up.

I also believe that now we are much more likely to communicate with our relatives. Even with those living far from us. So many people call each other and talk to each other regularly, even if they have not been in touch for a long time. I feel that it’s good for us.

Negative aspects of self-isolation

Regarding the negative aspects, they are quite clear.  It’s the danger to accumulate all our worries and negative thoughts, to boil up! 

We receive too much negative, frightening, and confusing information and might feel helpless.  And of course, the lack of physical contact. Sometimes, we might not even be able to hug our loved ones. That’s what many of us might be missing the most.

How to cope with self-isolation

Finally, I would like to share some ideas on how to cope with confinement. 

Here are a few things that work for me.

First, do not think about unpleasant things. For example, we have doctors in my family, they can’t stand hearing the officials say that face masks are useless! They simply switch off if they listen to it. If not, they could have a nervous breakdown. 

The same applies to the blogs of people locked down in their big beautiful houses. This is so annoying, just do not read those blogs!

Second, I’d love to recommend the book “Le dernier verre” (“The Last Glass”) by Olivier Ameisen, published in 2008 and reprinted as a paperback in 2013. I believe it’s very relevant in this period. It tells a story of a doctor who finds the cure of an unknown disease (later on, we understand that it is alcoholism). I think this story is relevant to many situations in our life today.

I recommend Marmiton – the website for people who like to cook, like me.

I also practice karate. For those who would love to give it a try, I recommend my fantastic teacher, Eric Delannoy. Eric offers free online courses on his Facebook page.

I don’t recommend to spend the whole day in your pajamas! Even if it feels super comfortable, it helps and feels nice to dress up when you are at home.

Last, there is the Devs series (Canal + on request). It’s pretty scary, but paradoxically, it makes me feel good. It’s kind of strange and mystical and gives an impression of if being in a different universe. A perfect way to get distracted from the current situation. Sometimes this is precisely what we need.

See you soon!

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