Quarantine : tips from Kirill Serebrennikov

“How to manage staying at home without going crazy”

Film and theater director Kirill Serebrennikov, manager of the “Centre-Gogol” theater in Moscow, is known worldwide for his dissident liberal opinions and his very critical stance on the powers in Russia. In 2017, he was accused of financial fraud in his management of the Centre-Gogol. As far as the international community is concerned, it was a political trial with fabricated evidence. From August 23, 2017 to April 8, 2019, about a year and a half, he was under house arrest.

We share with you here his ten points “How to manage staying at home without going crazy”. For those of us who are teleworking, we add that staying centered and maintaining the continuity of our professional activities are also invaluable in living through this period of confinement.

Perceive this confinement as a moment of truth, as a true gift from heaven.
Take advantage of it by removing yourself from the agitation of ordinary life, the incessant solicitations from social media, and all imposed stress. It is the moment to ask ourselves simple questions: “Who am I?,” “What is most important in my life?.” To answer them, make a list which will become a compass in your life, not only for the period of confinement, but probably for a long time afterwards.
Start a personal diary, not for publishing it later, but to reread it when the confinement is over, using it as a tool of self-analysis.
From now on, you have more time to read: plunge into the great classics of world literature! All the books you have heard of and seemingly read, read them for real! For example: Cervantes’ Don Quixotte, Tolstoy’s War and Peace, Joyce’s Ulysses, Wallace’s Infinite Jest, Littell’s The Kindly Ones, Yanagihara’s A Little Life. After reading these books, you will no longer be the same person, they will change you.
Exercise, rethink your diet, eat healthily, take care of your well-being.
Devote this time to creation! Remember your dreams, think of what you are passionate about. We all have creative projects that we have never had time to realize. Do them now!
Attempt to write your memoirs. Recall your whole life, describe it very conscientiously, honestly, with lively language, and take pleasure in it. Memoirs have real value for humanity, it is our patrimony for everyone.
Learn a foreign language! It’s a door opening into another culture, another world. This lowers the risk of Alzheimer’s, trains the memory and opens new horizons to us.
Maintain, create and recreate social links, getting in touch again with people who are dear to you but not necessarily part of your circle of close friends. You probably are going to rediscover some friendships!
The last point is the word PLEASURE. What gives you pleasure? Films? Literature? Making love? Take pleasure in everything! Write this word in your daily calendar: PLEASURE! May each day bring you a new immense joy! And start off again on the right foot with pleasure!