It was great to have nine hours of good sleep and I woke up a couple of minutes before my 7am alarm. I always marvel when the clock in my subconscious operates to such an accurate level. The first exercise session for today is at 7.10am, and it is for one hour, so I will need to have my breakfast afterwards.
On my return to the room both my breakfast and my bag of clean laundry are waiting for me. A serving of three pancakes with cream and jam and a smoothie too, morning tea consists of an apple and a muffin. The same as was served on day 3. I’ve can now see a pattern regarding breakfast and it appears that they have seven options on the menu that are rolled out throughout the week and then repeated. I have no problem with that and especially when it is so yummy.
The menu for lunch and dinner is here too. I’m having battered fish and chips with salad for lunch and dinner consists of BBQ pork ribs – it just keeps getting better!
I have been here for more than a week and prior to entering MIQ I didn’t have too much access to advice on how to prepare for two weeks of isolation or ideas of what to bring in with me. I have had enough time to think through what I would say to others and it looks something like this:
Advice for people going into MIQ
- Treat the 14 days MIQ as a form of beneficial retreat such as a health, meditation or joga retreat
- Have a device with you that guarantees access to family, friends and the rest of the outside world
- Write a blog or keep a diary
- Try and keep to a similar sleep timetable to that of either before entering MIQ or what is expected of you after leaving the facility
- Get dressed as soon as you get up, however that goes without saying unless you like opening your door to collect your food while you are still only in your undies
- Open your windows if possible to allow fresh air and sound to come into your room
- Limit or eliminate alcohol for the two weeks
- Take advantage of every opportunity to leave your room for outside/exercise time
- Look for additional opportunities to exercise in your room such as press-ups, sit-ups and prone holds
- Set challenges like doing five press-ups during each ad break on TV, or every time the word Covid is mentioned on TV you have to do a prone hold
- Use specific clothes for exercising in and change into regular day wear afterwards
- For men – shave every day as part of your normal daily routine
- Take into the MIQ facility a small Bluetooth speaker so that music is available that isn’t in the form of headphones. I use a Wonder Boom 2.
- Limit screen time or the binge watching of Netflix etc until situations like bad weather limits your outside time.
- Plan an event that can and will happen after you leave MIQ
The list is only a start and could be much longer with a bit more thought. Each person will have their own way of coping with their stay and I just hope that everyone enjoys it as much as I have so far.
My Fear Share 