How to survive the holidays in 2020

This year has been challenging for many of us. And just as a Swiss watch, the Christmas holidays have arrived. I myself was given a special gift for this holiday season: a positive Covid test! While I try to recover, in the small windows of energy I have, I want to share with you my personal list of “antidotes”, to cope with these heavy days.

Are you stuck at home unable to join your family? Are you quarantined alone? Are you fighting or recovering from Covid? Or you simply had enough of 2020? Here’s my personal list of antidotes, tried and tested, that got me through, so far in one piece. Enjoy!

1. The private Life of Plants (BBC documentary — David Attenborough, 1995) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trWzDlRvv1M&t=13s, this is a delightful 6-episodes series on the world of plants, it’s as beautiful and as interesting as it sounds!
2. Grounding into Gratitude (Yoga with Adriene, 35 minutes practice), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pbuvhbg7po, did you know that gratitude is an incredibly powerful tool to work on your perspective on the world? This practice combines movement with reflections on gratitude, just the perfect mix!
3. A hot cup of ginger, turmeric and honey herbal tea. You can follow for instance this recipe: https://feelgoodfoodie.net/recipe/ginger-turmeric-tea/. During my covid peaks, I drank several cups a day of this healthy potion!
4. Fantasia (Disney movie, 1940). This is an all-time favourite of mine. This movie was hand-drawn by a group of amazing artists. It is an absolute masterpiece. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqM1qmpi8fs. And if you have not had enough of the movie itself, here is an incredible short documentary on the making of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xns6ZDKxSQ
5. Meditate. There are a ton of meditation apps and guides out there, one of my favourite is Sam Harris’ Waking Up: https://wakingup.com/. Sam is philosopher, neuroscientist and writer. He is also the host of the Making sense podcast: https://samharris.org/podcast/, I have never once been disappointed listening to him, he has always and surely taken me down rabbit holes and extremely interesting thoughts and conversations. Highly recommended!
6. Gilmore Girls (tv series), or a rewatch of a tv-series you used to watch when you were younger. I watched Gilmore Girls (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0238784/) when I was a teenager, and absolutely loved it. A small town, a simple family with lots of family conflicts and struggles, a girl that loves to read and learn and makes her way to an Ivy league school, what’s not to like! This tv-series lifted me up during the worst moments of my covid infection and brought me back to the 10-years-ago me.
7. Cosmo Sheldrake music: https://www.youtube.com/user/comsosheldrake. I heard a song by this musical genius a while ago, when he was just getting more known. It was clear to me that he has something absolutely unique, whimsical, magical, with a connection to the natural world, which is honoured in every single one of his songs, that is un-matched. He is a one-man band, working with musical instruments, sounds from nature, from animals and his voice. A true gem. Here’s one of his short interviews: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed7UknVt74o
8. The Happiness lab podcast: https://www.happinesslab.fm/. This is a podcast led by Laurie Santos, a psychology professor at the University of Yale and the lead teacher of the excellent course The Science of Wellbeing (which I have reviewed in this article: https://medium.com/@decarolic/how-to-be-happier-according-to-science-5259055a9025).
9. Meet the Romans with Mary Beard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rggk_H3jEgw, I could not leave this short series out. Mary Beard is a badass, I only wish she had been my classics teacher! She will take you on a very surprising tour of ancient Rome, full of colourful characters, the fun is guaranteed.
10. Duke Ellington’s Sugar Rum Cherry — a jazzy Dance of the sugar plum fairy, just superb IMHO. And the whole jazz christmas playlist on Spotify, a great assemblage for a festive time.

In the hope that any of these picks brings to you as much joy as it brings to me, I wish you all a merry time at home!

Fantasia, Disney 1940