Blog: How to Keep Your Spirits Up During Quarantine in China

David Mahon is the executive chairman of Beijing-based asset management and corporate advisory firm Mahon China Investment Management Ltd.

The 21 days of quarantine in my Guangzhou hotel passed steadily. I settled into routines of morning and evening exercise, corresponding with clients, reading and writing. The routine was the key. Many days were fulfilling, while others were fragmented and dogged by inertia. It is too easy to feed empty curiosity by reading articles randomly online and indulging in semi-informative YouTube clips. Climbing increasingly reluctantly onto my exercise bike (they are poor substitutes for rowing machines), I managed to cycle to nowhere for 40 minutes every day. Being alone for any length of time forces you to face yourself. I knew that I did not have to like what I saw, but needed to accept, and perhaps try to change some things. Three weeks of isolation may seem an unreasonably long time, but if one can deal with two weeks as millions all over the world are doing, an extra week is not too much.