Welcome to #circuitbreaker life. From today (Apr 7) to May 4, most workplaces and retail outlets in Singapore will be shut, with only essential services in operation, as part of enhanced measures to inhibit the spread of Covid-19.

As for the rest of us? Three words: Just. Stay. Home.

How do you adjust to this new normal for the next month? For helpful tips, look no further than astronauts. These folks have stayed in a little metal container with just a handful of colleagues for months — in outer space. No such thing ducking out for grocery runs or a quick jaunt to the hawker centre to tapao food. Astronauts go through extensive training to prep physically and mentally for their time in space (in fact, they're quarantined on earth for two weeks before a flight to ensure that they don't carry any viruses onboard).

So if there’s anyone who knows a thing, or three, about staying indoors for a period of time, it’s them.

The Canadian astronaut and former commander of the International Space Station (ISS) has gone on three spaceflights and spent six months outer space.

Photo: Twitter/@Cmdr_Hadfield

#1: Learn the facts of Covid-19 and have a plan.
“[It’s really easy to] be paralysed by fear right now,” Chris said in a recent podcast with UAE media outlet, The National. “[On] the Internet or TV or radio, everyone is screaming at you… What really matters are the actual facts here and how do they impact me?

“Meteorites hit the world all the time — 40 tonnes a day. You can spend the whole time shivering terrified [in your little spaceship], but instead, [you should] figure out what the actual odds are, figure out what you’ll do if it hits you, figure out a plan, practice it and then you can deal with it and move on. And that’s important for this. Truly become your family’s expert on Covid-19 — know what to do, where to go and dig into the right ideas so that you’re not just scared, but informed. Then you can move on with the rest of your life.”

#2: Embrace your new normal.
“Just because your normal life has now shifted into a different normal life, it’s not by definition bad,” Chris mused. “It’s just different. Change can be hard, but you’re alive and you’re finding food to eat and you’ve got the entire internet at your fingertips. Just shift what you’re doing and find a way to not let the change of circumstances be a negative. I learnt that in all our different training simulations [in extreme cold, in the jungle and in the desert]. It allowed us to thrive and love the experience of being onboard a spaceship, even though you could just as easily say, ‘Hey I’m locked in a tin can with nothing to do and I’m choosing to hate it’.”

#3: Set achievable goals.
“A lot of people are feeling lost, like what am I going to do now that I don’t have all my normal stuff to do,” said Chris. “But you still have 24 hours a day and you’re still the same person. Make a list right now of 20 things you wanna do. Giving yourself purpose is a healthy thing. Don’t say ‘I’m gonna learn a new language’, because that’s crazy. But you could say, ‘This week, I’m going to learn 20 words in, say, Japanese.’ Anyone can do that. Break it into pieces that are doable. Don’t say ‘I’m going to get fit — that’s a never-ending process of incremental change. But you could say, ‘I could do 15 pushups before I go into the shower.’ Don’t give yourself a crazy goal, but instead, [give yourself] a thing to do. It’s different.”

The former NASA astronaut has spent the most time in space among all American astronauts — 665 days over three different missions.

Photo: Twitter/@AstroPeggy

#4: Keep the big picture in mind.
In an interview with a news outlet in Texas, Whitson emphasised the importance of recognising the team purpose. In the case of Covid-19, it is to save lives by quarantining ourselves. “The big picture [now] is we are saving lives by trying to self-quarantine as much as we can, minimise our contact with other people, because that saving of lives is going to be important in terms of how fast the virus spreads.”

#5: Keep in touch with your loved ones.
“See how they're doing. Make sure everybody's staying well and healthy. And if somebody needs something that maybe you can arrange or help them get, that'd be great too,” Peggy explained.

#6: Be flexible.
“When I was on my last space flight it was initially supposed to be six months but it turned out to be nine-and-a-half months. They told me the day before I was going to go,” Peggy recounted. “So I told my husband, ‘We gotta have a flexible plan of happiness. I’m going to be happy when I get home in six months or I’m going to be happy when I get home in nine-and-a-half months.’ So maybe that flexible plan of happiness is what we need to be thinking about.”

#7: Stop procrastinating.
“We always say we’re so busy or I don’t have time to start on this project. Now’s the time to do it and set those objectives and work on them. Give yourself some goals and a timetable to get them done and I think you’ll appreciate that. I know some people are working from home and I think that’s great too, that gives you that daily purpose.”

The retired NASA astronaut spent a year in space.

Photo: Twitter/@StationCDRKelly

#8: Manage your expectations.
“It’s not easy, but I think if you have the right expectations — and since we don’t know how long this is going to be — you have to think this is my reality this is where I live and I’m going to be here for who knows how long, I’m going to take it seriously,” Scott shared in an interview with Good Morning America.

#9: Draw up a schedule.
“Having a schedule is so important. I found that as I got used to my schedule, I needed it. It’s critical in helping us get through this. You need to schedule work, rest, and taking care of your environment. Go outside, if you can. Sunlight and nature are so very important to our health,” he said.

“When you are living and working in the same place for days on end, work can have a way of taking over everything if you let it,” Scott further explained in a New York Times opinion piece he penned about living in isolation. “Living in space, I deliberately paced myself because I knew I was in it for the long haul — just like we all are today. Take time for fun activities: I met up with crewmates for movie nights, complete with snacks, and binge-watched all of Game of Thrones — twice.”

#10: Journal, journal, journal.
“NASA has been studying the effects of isolation on humans for decades, and one surprising finding they have made is the value of keeping a journal,” he wrote in his NYT piece. “Throughout my yearlong mission, I took the time to write about my experiences almost every day. If you find yourself just chronicling the days’ events (which, under the circumstances, might get repetitive) instead try describing what you are experiencing through your five senses or write about memories. Even if you don’t wind up writing a book based on your journal like I did, writing about your days will help put your experiences in perspective and let you look back later on what this unique time in history has meant.”

The NASA astronaut is currently living onboard the ISS, and tweeted videos to share tips.

Photo: Twitter/@Astro_Jessica

#11: Have a workout routine and stick to that schedule.
“Some of the things we do up here is to make sure that we try to stick to our routine — we make sure we stick to our exercise regime to stay fit and healthy,” she said in the short clip. “Research shows that exercise is vital not only to your physical health but also to your mental wellbeing and that’s something we emphasise a lot up here. You may need to get creative to get that heart rate elevated while at home without heading to the gym, but we’re confident you can do it. “

She went on to demonstrate their weight training and cardio regimen in zero gravity. Luckily for you over here on Earth, we’ve already compiled a list of home workouts for you here.

Jessica goes on to say that reveal the importance of staying in touch with family, reiterating Peggy’s point. “We talk weekly to our loved ones with video conferences. That’s something we do regularly for our psychological support on the space station as well,” she said.

Her 328-day mission in space was the longest-ever single spaceflight for a female astronaut.

Photo: Twitter/@Astro_Christina

#12: Use music to transform spaces at home.
“While living and working on the [International Space Station], I used music to stay connected and to transform my environment into a new place with different playlists,” Christina tweeted. “Discover what happens to your time at home when you infuse it with new music and genres.”

#13: Make playlists and share them with loved ones who may not be in the same house.
Christina also mentioned the importance of music in an interview with streaming service Spotify: “My husband would make playlists for every chapter in the preparation process…The playlists were also a really awesome way for us to stay connected aboard the Space Station, where everything from what we ate to what we wore was all predetermined and there wasn’t a lot of choice involved in the day-to-day.

“I listened to streaming music on board — whether I was working out, doing cargo, or running around handling the mundane tasks throughout the station — while sitting in the cupola watching the Earth go by. There were different things and different soundtracks that defined those times while I was onboard the Space Station, so for me it really got me through and was a very important part of my life onboard.”

Main photos: Twitter/@NASA, @Astro_Christina