Colonel Chris Hadfield has a lot of experience with self-isolating having travelled to space several times, commanded the International Space Station for six months off planet, and worked at the bottom of the ocean.
Chris shared a video — “An Astronaut’s Guide to Self Isolation” — to provide a little inspiration to help us all adjust and get through this period of isolation, drawing from his own experiences in space and lessons learned from being an astronaut.
Living and working on board a spaceship is an extremely dangerous environment, Chris said, and yet they always found ways to thrive and be productive by following these four steps:
- Understand the actual risk. Go to a credible source to learn about the actual risk you are facing right now — you, your family, your friends, the people that you care about.
- Decide what you are trying to accomplish. What are your objectives? What is your mission right now, Chris asks. Make that clear for this afternoon, this week, the next month.
- Determine what your constraints are. Whose telling you what you need to do? What financial resources do you have? what are your obligations?
- Take action. Once you understand the risk, your mission, and your obligations, start doing things. They don’t have to be what you did before, this is your time to do something different. Whether it’s taking care of family, learning to play an instrument, study another language, read a book, create.
There has never been a better time to self isolate, Chris adds. So many people have access to the internet, that we have the world at our fingertips.
“So take of yourself,” Chris says. “Take care of your family, take care of your friends, take care of your spaceship, and I wish everyone happy landings.”
But don’t take our word for it, watch Chris’ video below and learn from the man himself who mastered self isolation while in space, floating above us, away from everything that was normal to him.
