Last Updated on February 25, 2021 by Kickass Traveler
5 Ways a Travel Junkie Gets Through a Pandemic
Chalk it up to bad timing – starting a travel blog in 2020 may not have been my brightest idea. I didn’t know when I launched my website in late December that something else was launching in Wuhan. Enter COVID-19.
I remember in March of 202o, having a conversation that now sounds ridiculous, about canceling an international flight. Before you stop reading, this post is not about insensitive grumblings on canceled trips. In fact, tet’s talk about anything but travel.
As we all wait for something to break, travelers and non-travelers alike, we may be stuck at home, but we aren’t stuck in place. We can use this time productively to move us forward, but we can also use strategies to sustain our mental health. In other words, what take-aways can get us through this shelter-in-place-coronavirus time?
STRATEGIES FOR SURVIVING A PANDEMIC
It’s a good time for a side gig
With record numbers of Americans filing for unemployment, now’s a good time to talk about side hustles. While you hunker down, if you aren’t already working from home, can you start an online gig?
Sites like Fiverr or UpWork will give you ideas on what skills you can offer a potential client, and it’s easy to create an account to get started on earning. Virtual assistants, designers, writers, sales, and more are all possible gigs.
Don’t know where to start? Two great blogs (and podcasts) for wannabe entrepreneurs are Nick Loper’s The Side Hustle Show and Pat Flynn’s Smart Passive Income. Skim through their topics and maybe you’ll find a gig that will work with your skillset for that extra income.
Teach a course
You don’t have to know everything on a subject, you just have to know more than the person you’re teaching. With websites like Teachable, SkillShare, Fiverr, and Udemy, you can create a video course in a matter of hours. These websites have easy-to-follow instructions for course creation to have you up and running in no time.
Using social media, like Facebook or YouTube, can actively promote your course, instead of relying on viewers to magically show up. If you offer ideas on a niche topic, you might have that winning formula that will bring in a little extra cash.
Write it out
Just need a place to vent while you shelter-in-place? Write it down. Whether you feel you have something to say or not, an effective mental trick is to put feelings to page.
Start a journal, write poetry, keep a log of the books you read, keep a productivity journal, or doodle it out. Blank-lined notebooks are really cheap on Amazon. When you look back on these musings later, you will remember that experience we are all going through changed you in some way.
Always wanted to create an online community? Try blogging.
For a ridiculously cheap price, you can use a hosting site like BlueHost, SiteGator, or Siteground to buy a website name and use their web servers to host your blog. I use BlueHost for this site, and it was super easy to set up. Since airline flight is not an option, now is a great time to let your creative spirit take flight (see what I did there?).
Learn something
Want a serious education? Go back to college – for free! Top-ranking institutions (think Harvard, MIT, Penn) use a system called Massive Open Online Courses (or MOOCs).
MOOCs run on platforms like edX.org or Coursera to offer free classes on everything from Entrepreneurship 101 from MIT to the Foundations of Happiness at Work from UC-Berkely. Coursera offers free undergrad and masters programs a completion certificate for a small fee.
If you want that college-course feel, try a MOOC. If, however, your mental bandwidth is geared toward shorter courses (a day or a few hours), check out a for-profit site like Udemy, SkillShare, or Fiverr.
Mentally challenge yourself
Human beings are naturally adaptive. You may think that getting your hair cut by someone who is related to you is a hardship, but you will survive for this limited period without your Starbucks and other creature comforts.
Look toward the finish line and not at the next mile marker. Anticipate that this shutdown will last for a finite amount of time. And keep a sense of humor. Try gamifying your situation by pretending you are in an episode of Survivor. Will you be the one kicked off the island? Or will it be your cat?
You can get through this if you aim to do one productive thing each day. That’s it. That’s all you need.
I know I’ll be traveling again one day, so while I’m homebound, I’m using this time to virtually connect, learn new skills, take online classes, and dream about travel.
While I hope your life has not significantly changed during this time, I am upbeat that we will come out of this with a renewed sense of the importance of family, support, and human connections.
Stay healthy, be safe, and dream of your next journey.
xoxo ~ Vic