COVID-19: Living the quarantine in all serenity (with Epictetus)

Since the health crisis caused by the coronavirus, many countries have implemented containment measures, forcing citizens to stay at home. In this particular context, how can boredom, anxiety and feelings of isolation be avoided? Stoic wisdom can help us.

Before anything else, let’s make it clear that the obligation to stay at home all day is a privilege. Medical and hospital staff, cashiers, delivery personnel, urban cleaners, in a word, all the people in the country who are called out to work in spite of the storm do not have the luxury of being able to count every hour of the day. It is also important not to forget the homeless, the sick in hospital and those who, for one reason or another, do not have secure personal spaces.

This ticket is therefore aimed at a privileged majority — of which I am one — who nevertheless remain isolated in the face of new problems.

Quarantine anf the feeling of being in quarantine

What is containment? It’s the obligation to stay in an enclosed space. First remark: confinement and the feeling of being confined are two different things. From the Stoic point of view, confinement is only experienced as a prison if the mind is already in prison.

“What sort of prison…