How many months have you been working from home now? More than six months?
Oh, tell me about it!
The outbreak of Covid-19 has forced most people to work from home all around the globe. Most of the countries are applying lockdown, forcing public places, even offices to close and encouraging people to stay at home. People who used to work from home and others that are new to the work-from-home lifestyle, face their own unique challenges, due to different personalities and also various lifestyles and the type of work.
But the most common issue that people face while working from home is how to create boundaries between work and personal life. This can make a person stressful enough and need a distraction. Finding a good way of distraction is able to make us feel good and more relaxed.
Every April, we celebrate International Good Deeds Day. It is that time of year when people all around the globe gather to do good deeds for others. One Study by Harvard University shows that after giving money to someone else, the happiness levels of the giver will increase - even more than spending the money on themselves. In many studies, science already confirmed that doing good deeds releases the feel-good hormones endorphins and oxytocin in the brain. It produces what’s called the helper’s high that boosts the part of the brain associated with pleasure, trust, and social connection.
Now the question is how can we do good deeds while the country encourages us to stay at home? So, here are three amazing movements that you can contribute from home:
1. Collect and donate your plastic waste to save the earth
Which one of you who orders food delivery and shop from online marketplaces more often now than before the pandemic? Yes, I’m also talking about myself. You must have realized that the packaging mostly uses plastic, oh don’t forget the bubble wrap! Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) notes that the amount of household plastic waste increased from 1-5 grams per day per person to 5-10 grams during the Covid-19 outbreak.
So what can you do to help reduce plastic waste? There is an amazing movement called Beberes Indonesia. It is a non-organic waste pick-up service platform which aims to invite people to start a clean and healthy life through their movement. You can collect your household plastic waste and ship it to their address: Jl. Surya Kencana No. 61, Pamulang Barat, Tangerang. Or you can contact them through their official Instagram account [at]bberes.id to arrange a pick-up schedule directly to your home.
Currently, I’m doing this, so everyday I’ll collect all my personal plastic waste, clean it, and put it altogether in a big trash bag. Every end of month I’ll ship it to Beberes Indonesia’s address, most of the time I am surprised on how much I generate plastic waste just from myself, but on the other hand I feel good because that much amount of plastic waste won’t end up destroying our environment.
2. Put your used prescription glasses to a good use
From time to time, I’m sure you will change your glasses, just to change the model and keep up with the trend, even though it still works or maybe your eyesight decreased. Because the worsen your eyesight, the more vision correction you need. Unfortunately, there are so many people who still cannot afford their prescription glasses even when they need it. So, what can you do about it?
Donate your used prescription glasses, because there is a very great movement called ‘Sejuta Kacamata Gratis' - a million free glasses. You can ship your used prescription glasses to their address: Jl. Rasamala No. 8-B, Jatipulo, Jakarta Barat. Or you can contact them for further information through their official Instagram account [at]sejuta_kacamata.
Established in 2015, they have distributed about 25,000 glasses in various remote areas in three years. Cited from Kompas.com, Komunitas Sejuta Kacamata (The Million Glasses Community) conducts reading glasses checks for children and the elderly. This program was carried out with the contribution of giving 1,302 glasses and as many as 5,025 participants had their eyes examined. Apart from that, this community has also carried out social services several times, such as in Bekasi, East Jakarta, Banten, West Jakarta, and others.
3. Find a new home for your old smartphones
In early March, when the first cases of Covid-19 were announced in Indonesia, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan announced that all schools in Jakarta were forced to be closed. However, many schools were not ready to implement learning-from-home programs yet. So many obstacles are faced by the students during the learning process from home, mostly because of the lack of devices and internet access to be able to participate in online classes.
A few of Indonesian journalists had an idea to create a movement called ‘Ponsel Pintar untuk Pelajar’ - smartphones for students in early July to help the less fortunate to be able to join the learning process from home. They collect used smartphones from people then distribute them to students needed. You can donate your old smartphones and contact their official Instagram account [at]wartawanlintasmedia for further information.
Cited from Detik.com, the smartphone donation program targets to help 50 underprivileged children in the Greater Jakarta area. Ghina and her colleagues at Wartawan Lintas Media received a variety of smartphones that are still functioning properly.
It’s important to understand that helping others can actually help yourself. And remember that karma goes both ways, most of the time the idea of karma is if you do bad, bad will come to find you. But it works the other way too. When you are a good person and help people, good things seem to happen.
Photo by Clark Tibbs on Unsplash
