Are you worried about how to survive the next phase of lockdown? Here is the hard-won advice of someone who works in crisis hit areas:

If a physical retreat is not possible, there are ways to create a mental or figurative “shore leave”. Some of the best techniques I have used to escape a crisis zone that I could not leave have involved a bit of imagination. I confess that the Lord of the Rings trilogy helped me immensely through sustained periods of violence, shortage, and disease. Historical fiction, science fiction, and fantasy all work well in mentally separating you from the here and now. The further away a story can teleport the reader, the better the escape. Today, I’m reading Frank Herbert’s Dune. While films and TV shows have become staples during the pandemic, books can be more effective in creating the full-system psychological escape needed at this critical juncture. If your mind is screaming “get me out of here”, this is an excellent way to placate it.

Credit: the above is an extract from an article written by Aisha Ahmad in a British newspaper.