COVID-19 Journal Entry #1: Propel's Communications Officer
COVID-19 JOURNAL
CREATE, CONSUME, TO-DO, BE STILL and FRIENDS & FAMILY
We recently published a blog post about taking everything that’s been going on positively, and it outlined 5 things: CREATE, CONSUME, TO-DO, BE STILL and FRIENDS & FAMILY for us to focus on whilst we social distance. We’re posing these 5 facets of life to young people and asking them: How have you been doing?
Emphathise, connect or find new recommendations. Read up on the experiences of young people in WA as they reflect on how their lifestyles have changed and what they’re up to at home whilst social distancing.
Discover new recommendations and catch up on what our Communications Officer Yoshika is up to in our COVID-19 Journal. Yoshika writes about Animal Crossing, her home café, YouTube, video calling friends to help you work and sleeping.
COVID-19 Journal Entry #1: Yoshika
Mix and match your outfits, design your own clothes and hang out with friends virtually. Can you guess who’s who from the Propel Office? Photo credit: Yoshika Kon.
CREATE
Animal Crossing: New Horizons. You’ve probably seen a meme or saw us talking about it on Instagram Stories. Animal Crossing is ragingly popular right now and for good reason. It’s your one stop destination to creative production, digitally playing with your friends, and creating your dream island and house. Beware of the dark, massive black hole that will suck you in forever– you won’t see it coming, just accept it and dive in.
Another thing I’ve been doing at home is my little home café. Has anyone else had a dream of owning a cute little café?? Cause I have, and I delve into this dream of mine when I make café drinks like filtered coffee, tea and matcha lattes at home. Making tea or coffee slowly is satisfying and allows me to zone out for a bit. When I say slowly, I mean taking the time and conscious effort to thoroughly make a drink – not just pouring boiling water over a tea bag or pressing a button for a quick coffee. Afternoon tea time has become somewhat of a habit in my household these days. Along with a drink, we’ll usually have something sweet to eat to boost ourselves upon returning to work!
Soy matcha latte for tea time. Photo credit: Yoshika Kon.
CONSUME
Whenever I want to kill time or unwind at night, I’ll usually turn to relaxing food related videos on YouTube. I’m a big fan of Peaceful Cuisine for ASMR vegan cooking videos and travel vlogs. Ryoya who makes these videos has that slow-life, he makes everything from scratch (he roasts his own coffee beans and also makes his own alternative milks), he also has a super expensive and fancy juicer that squishes fruit into juice that looks amazing on screen.
Another YouTuber I’d highly recommend is Honeykki for relaxing food vlogs with no talking. After finding her videos, I realised that I really enjoy videos with no talking. The silence except for noises that come with cooking is super soothing and calming. She cooks and bakes things like overnight soaked French toast and dolsot bibimbap! She cooks amazing Korean food and her dog Peanut is a pleasure to watch.
And if you’re looking for a new show on Netflix, you should watch Ainori, a Japanese reality show where 7 people board a pink bus and travel to off the beaten track countries, and in the process find love. The biggest thing about Ainori is that you learn a lot about Japanese dating culture, as well as culture from countries you don’t really hear about like Kyrgyzstan. It’s like one of those guilty pleasure dating shows, except you learn about culture and different people, and it’s so much more wholesome. Also, Terrace House has nothing over Ainori.
Meals and tea time with family. Photo credit: Yoshika Kon.
TO-DO
We’re all working from home, but to be honest, it’s been difficult for me. It’s hard to keep concentrated and to set boundaries when your home and work spaces are combined. The other work day, my friend and I video called each other to do work. I had serious doubts about whether we would achieve anything, but to both of our surprises, we actually managed to get work done. We literally had our video call up for three hours in the background whilst we worked and intermittently caught up on each other’s life. My friend and I discussed it, we think it works! Having someone on video call near your work station must be a subliminal stimulus for zoning into work.
BE STILL
Whilst social distancing at home, I catch up on sleep. I’m a type of person that relies heavily on sleep for their health, if I don’t sleep enough and overexert myself, I’ll get sick. Times are tough, sleep for your immune system.
To be still, is also to pause and reflect, to appreciate and be grateful for everything that I have despite troubling times.
FRIENDS & FAMILY
Video calling my friends to just talk or to work, meals and tea time with my family, cuddles with my dog, all of these are major factors in helping me keep sane, and makes me so, so happy.
If you’re a young person who likes to write or knows someone who might want to contribute to this new blog series, please email Yoshika.