I recently had a conversation with Dineo Molaba and I am glad that I had an opportunity to catch up with her on a personal level. She is one of the most amazing and hard-working women I have ever met, her work ethic is out of this world. One of the things that I admire about her is that she gets things done no matter what she is going through and she has a high standard that she lives up to. Dineo is a Public Relations Manager at FNB.
See my mental health check-in with Dineo Molaba below;
What is life like living in lockdown?
Life has been quite interesting living in lockdown, I must say that it starts out quite exciting as a result of being something new, but it wears you out and humbles you after some time. Things that we took for granted such as freedom of movement, access to shopping centres and simple interactions with neighbours seem to be a distant yet reminiscent memory. The isolation is grilling, but the lesson of living within your means is truly an eye opener, emphasising that we spend on and do so much things that we don’t have or need to do.
Who are you with in the lockdown?
I’m currently bracing the lockdown with my partner. We tag team on a lot of stuff around the house and he’s been amazing in making it bearable.
What do you do to keep connected to your colleagues, family and friends?
A lot of calls, skypes, texts to stay connected to colleagues, family and friends. It’s been an easier transition with my family as we’ve always been a family that speaks daily so we check-in with each other every morning and evening before bed time.
Do you have a routine and how does it look like?
Well, because work continues as normal, with the only change being that everything is now digital and virtual – this has resulted in a routine of sorts. My days starts at 07h00 every morning, with a cup of coffee, followed by a quick shower and cleaning the house. Then I start with emails and work at 08h00, which consist heavily of skype calls, drafting content and handling back and forth on emails regarding issues. I normally break for lunch at 13h30 and have a 30 minute breather where I do things around the house, or chill a bit with my partner. I get back into work at 14h30ish and get busy right till 17h00ish when I call it a day.
What do you do to cope and what is your philosophy during lockdown?
Having elements of normality is my coping mechanism. So, there are things around the house, that I still do on certain days to keep me sane. So, I still call my parents at exactly the same time daily, have my coffee at the same time and reserve Wednesday mornings as my spring-cleaning days as per the norm. My philosophy over the lockdown period is to keep things basic, and that less is actually more. In essence, work with and be content with what you have.
What keeps you awake at night?
At this point my neighbour’s new puppy.
But on the real, I think the prospect that things will definitely never ever go back to being the same post the pandemic is a worrying factor. Our country, the economy, our people, our health, my family’s safety and health – we’re all not in a good place now. And the fact that thinking of where we’ll be next year this time is a very scary thought, keeps me up at night.
What do you do to de-stress?
Exercise around our complex, doing some motivational reading, and keeping in touch with my family works wonders for me.
What do you think life will look like post lockdown?
I’m not sure, but definitely more restrictions until we’re entirely in the clear regarding a vaccine and we aren’t getting anymore infections and deaths.
What’s your reaction to the extended lockdown?
I definitely welcome it, it’s a hard knock on the economy, but an amazing showcase of leadership by our president and clear view of his set priorities – people’s lives first followed by the resuscitation of our currently weak economy. Truth of the matter is that you cannot have an economy without human life, yet you need an active economy to sustain human life. It was a tough call by the President and his team, but absolutely well thought out, thus my level of confidence.