Shelter in Place Diaries – Serge : Positive High System

California is just a little over 4 weeks into Shelter in Place. Originally, the plan was to shutdown for 3 weeks and hopefully arrive back to work with our usual routines at the end of March / early April. As the days went on, America soon realized that things were definitely not going to be back to normal in 3 weeks time. Even after things open up again, we as a society will slowly ease back into life before COVID-19, but with plenty of restrictions. Its safe to say that COVID-19 will have permanent effects to how we maneuver on a daily basis.

The 3 week mandatory shutdown was tough on business owners, but especially small business owners. It was hard enough to close for 3 weeks, but the extended Shelter in Place Order is forcing a lot of business owners to change up how they do business. This is especially true for Serge and his fitness business.

Serge is the creator and owner of “Positive High System.” He’s a Fitness Coach, eager to help those who want to improve their way of life through food and movement. He believes his Positive High program could benefit anyone who wants more knowledge and guidance in the fitness world. Before COVID-19, Serge was doing in-person training / group training. That, of course, is not possible anymore with the social distancing and Shelter in Place Orders. His clientele dropped by over 50% since COVID-19. As a small business owner, Serge knew that he would have to switch it up if he wants Positive High System to ride this pandemic wave and make it out in the end.

It is understandable that many business owners are frazzled and anxious about their business and their means of making a living. The unknown is what gets the best of people. Surprisingly, Serge, with his upbeat yet chill attitude, has decided to look at the bright side of this pandemic. It was already in his plans to open up the virtual / online component of training for Positive High. Online sessions were going to be Serge’s next business move later on in the year. Even though the timing is different, Serge took this as a message from the universe to act on the idea now. He has no choice but to. Serge has converted all of his in-person training sessions to live personal training classes on Zoom.

“Life is good,” he said on his vlog as he ended a workday early.

Serge is looking on the bright side of this Shelter in Place Order. He loves the fact that he gets to spend more time with his girlfriend and son. He shares that before COVID-19, he would get home around 8 or 9 PM. But now, he ends his day around 7-7:30 PM, and gets to take breaks during the day to do activities with his son, Elijah. Serge is a very active father, and the Shelter in Place is bringing him and his family closer. He’s finding time to reconnect with family through gaming apps, still running his business, spending more time with family, and doing more hobbies and activities with no time crunch.

As if he wasn’t already making the most of his time, Serge puts his phone on “airplane mode” by 7:30 PM to be more present with his family. Instead of looking at what could go wrong, Serge is deciding to take the less traveled route – taking it day by day, adjusting if need be, and not worrying about the unknown.

Serge launched his new Positive High System app that helps it’s users log their food and beverage intake, exercise, goals, accomplishments, etc. What is unique about this app is Serge is just a message away if you need encouragement or help. There is also a video section of workouts you could do at home. Serge stresses that the point of logging food is not be obsessive, to calorie count, or make drastic changes – but to be aware of what you’re doing – eating wise and exercise wise. By being aware, you’re in a better position to see what it is that you can tweak to benefit your health if that is your goal. Saying Serge has gracefully transitioned during this pandemic is an understatement!

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Shelter in Place Diaries – $wift JiGGy

March was just days away from coming to an end, and all of America was stuck wondering if the Shelter in Place Order was going to be lifted on April 7th. We were at the cusp of March and April and were anxious to know the verdict. Would we go back to our regular schedules soon?

No. The Shelter in Place Order was extended until the first Monday of May. May 4, 2020 is the new date to start countdowning to. Another month indoors. However, not everyone sees this as a bad thing. In fact, many have found themselves practicing self care by getting back into hobbies, reconnecting with friends and family, sleeping at a reasonable hour, cleaning the house, and tending to things that they just never had the time to do. Indeed, the time to act is now.

Bay Area artist, $wift JiGGy finds this to be especially true. Since the Shelter in Place Order, $wift JiGGy sees staying at home to be a blessing in disguise. Before COVID-19, $wift JiGGy was always busy with his day to day routine, promoting club events, while doing his music concurrently. Now, he finds himself with a lot of free time to chill out and work on his music.

$wift JiGGy is using this time as an opportunity to work on his craft as a rapper and artist. He takes us through his process of making beats with friends, how he promotes himself on social media, and how he decides if a beat is a mood or not.

You will see on the vlogs that $wift JiGGy doesn’t mind taking “break days” where Netflix, Hulu, snacks, and his phone are the highlights of his day. I think this is important to artists during this Shelter in Place. You can be an artist and not be creating everyday. It’s okay to not be creating. $wift JiGGy doesn’t put pressure on himself to create. He let’s the inspiration come to him and doesn’t force anything.

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Shelter in Place Diaries: Janelle

Watch:

COVID-19 is spreading throughout California at an alarming rate. With that said, Gov. Gavin Newsom has called for all wineries and bars to shut down production. Shortly after that, big businesses, small businesses, restaurants, and schools started to shut down completely to the public. Each day on the news was something different, something more extreme. Californians are advised to shelter in place effective March 16, 2020 until April 7, 2020. A full three weeks of staying home and only leaving our house for necessities like food or for medical attention.I never thought that this would happen. Thinking of the events that led up to this quarantine seems like a daze. Everything progressed so quickly and its really hard to believe that this is the situation the WORLD is currently in. I have never witnessed anything like this.I wondered how I was going to spend my 3 week quarantine. My work shut down and we are scheduled to reopen on April 6, 2020. I’m currently working from home, bored out of my mind, scared and anxious for the state of the world, and itching to go outside. I find myself on my phone a lot, scrolling through social media and taking in all the content that I wouldn’t usually be taking in since I work an 8-5 Monday to Friday.What’s crazy about COVID-19 is that its affecting everyone in the world right now. I’ve been seeing a lot of quarantine videos of people from all over the world. I feel like this is the time to document how we’re living, what we’re thinking, and how we’re dealing with this pandemic.The journalist in me got inspired, and I turned to Instagram. I posted a story asking if anyone would be interested in documenting their quarantine for about a week. An old friend from high school reached out.Janelle’s situation was really interesting to me because she lives by herself. I was going half way crazy day 3 of quarantine inside the house with my family, but being completely isolated, I don’t know if I could do it. Janelle agreed to document parts of her quarantine days and share with the public.On my Instagram feed, a lot of people I know are using this shelter in place to self reflect, work from home, do workout challenges, do fun quizzes on social media, connect with friends, read, reconnect with hobbies, etc. Janelle was no different. I really enjoyed watching her videos because I feel I everyone can relate to them. She had days where she was inspired and wanted to do all her hobbies, and then she had other days where she was like “over it, bye.” Thanks so much to Janelle for being so transparent and open! Watch her Shelter in Place Diaries here: