Many people are struggling with the isolation that comes with social distancing, but according to some astronauts these concepts helped them live their best lives in a spaceship.
Knowing the Higher Purpose
“An astronaut’s work helps to advance human knowledge and exploration. COVID-19 gives us a higher purpose much like being in space does because we are saving lives by quarantining. It is important to understand that bigger purpose and to embrace that purpose to give you reason and rationale for continuing to put up with the situation.” -Peggy Whitson
Remember to Have Fun
Take time for fun activities: I met up with crew mates for movie nights, complete with snacks, and binge-watched all of ‘”Game of Thrones'” — twice,” -Scott Kelly
Pick Up or Return to a Hobby
“Take care of family, start a new project, learn to play guitar, study another language, read a book, write, create. It’s a chance to do something different that you’ve maybe not done before and then, repeat.” -Chris Hadfield
Hadfield recorded an entire album from space on his guitar, capturing the most attention with his May 2013 cover of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.”
Connect With Loved Ones
“We had to come up with creative ways to interact. Anything that allows you to bridge that physical gap, and make you feel like you still have shared experiences and are still relevant in each other’s lives, is really important. There’s something to be said for actually doing the same things at the same physical time.”- Christina Koch
When Koch’s friends ran a 10-kilometer race one Saturday, she raced with them on her treadmill in space, punching her timer at the same time they left the starting line. She and her crew sent “battle of the bands” challenges to musically talented friends, taking turns covering rock songs with a few instruments they had on the space station.
Reframe Your Thinking
The way to think about “this new normal” is to look at it as if it were “a new planet to explore.” “There will be things that you can do that you’ve never done before. There will be things you can’t do, but we’re almost like a new group of people now, operating within a completely different set of rules and under a completely different normal. What are the new things people can do on this new planet?” -Christina Koch
