Finding meaningful ways staying in

PETALING JAYA: Many Malaysians in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur who are living through the enhanced movement control order are finding ways to better manage the extended time spent at home.

For housewife Nur Diyanah Zainuddin, this is a hectic period for her at home as she juggles household chores, monitors her daughter’s online class and takes care of her one-year-old toddler.

“It is exhausting sometimes when the kids need my undivided attention,” said the 30-year-old.

“I no longer have my usual free time in the morning and have to multi-task. I also have to put on hold my plan to find a job.”

Nur Diyanah said she was taking one day at a time and planned to treasure the moments with her family as they go through the enhanced MCO.

“We’ll be doing more activities with the kids since they can’t go out, and planning more movie nights and exercising at home.

“At least by having my family safe at home, the time spent constantly at home is more bearable,” she said, adding that she hoped the vaccination programme would be expedited to help the country recover from the crippling pandemic.

The enhanced MCO in swathes of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, implemented to bring down the consistently high cases of Covid-19, took effect yesterday.

Lecturer Muhamad Amirul Faiz Abd Ghani said he hoped to help whoever is in need during the enhanced MCO as he believed it would also help him get through the period more meaningfully.

“The MCO has impacted my mental health the most, especially when I have not yet been vaccinated.

“I am overwhelmed by the feeling of uncertainty about the country, my job, my parents and people around me.

“I’ll do whatever I can and support whoever needs my help during this period,” he said.

The 30-year-old said he would try to keep in touch with his friends and distract himself with work.

He expressed hope that the government would speed up the vaccination programme and put any less important matters aside to make Malaysia harmonious and better again.

Senior executive Lee Xiao Jin said despite the current situation affecting her sales performance at work, she planned to spend the time to improve her well-being, creativity and skills.

“I have more time to focus on myself and I plan to exercise every evening, if possible.

“I have more time, too, with my parents,” she said.

The 27-year-old said she also came up with an idea to become a streamer or YouTuber for gaming as she used to be a hardcore gamer.

“Now I may have more time to achieve my dream,” she added.

The less frenetic pace during this period also brought different and new approaches in her work, she added.

“They help improve my work performance,” she said.

Lee said she hoped that more vaccination centres would be opened further to enable more people to get inoculated and reduce Covid-19 cases.

“I believe everyone else shares my hope – a Covid-19-free country.

“The pandemic has affected many SMEs, especially those in the servicing fields.

“Hopefully, once the enhanced MCO ends, we can move towards economic and social recovery,” she said.