It's no secret that as self quarantine continues it gets more and more difficult to feel as productive and energetic as we did in the first few weeks. We do it for a reason however, we are making this sacrifice to ensure the health and safety of our family, friends and community. In a bid to beat boredom you may find yourself interested in picking up a hobby, tackling a task or just having a bit of fun in the house. Here are some of our favourite ways to make your social distancing as productive as possible while still being reasonable (It's a global pandemic, after all, cut yourself some slack!).
Get Crafty
If you've always fancied making your own clothes, can't find the perfect pair of earrings anywhere or just want a relaxing way to pass the time then pick up a craft! With the wonders of the internet at your fingertips, you can buy everything you need and watch tutorials on how to achieve your goals in a matter of days. Also, think of how much time you have to cultivate your perfect wardrobe of clothes/collection of accessories before offices reopen in August!
Self Care To The Max
Now is the perfect time to get into self-care habits and routines; start a new skincare routine, buy a hair treatment that you've been dying to try, learn how to do your own gel manicure. Or better yet go crazy and dye your hair a bright colour! I'm a personal advocate of crazy coloured hair (I've had all the colours of the rainbow over the last five years) and highly recommend adding a pink highlight or a green fringe to your look. You're stuck in the house anyway, if you hate it you have time to fade it out and dye it back to your usual colour. Have fun with it!
Home Renovations
If you're anything like me then there are a plethora of home renovation projects that have been rattling around in your head for far too long. Be it tearing up your old gross carpet to lay down new flooring, clearing out your pantry and building new shelves that actually hold everything or swapping out old, outdated hardware (Door handles, skin taps, drawer pulls etc.) for something a little more modern and chic. With the wonders of the internet, you can have almost any DIY item or tool delivered to your front door in a matter of days!
Take Care of The Little Details
Face it, there are plenty of tasks that you've been putting off, not because of how big they are, but because you couldn't bring yourself to dedicate the hour or two to get them out of the way. Whether it be deleting photos from your phone (I've spent two hours in the past laboriously selecting and deleting 10,000 photos from my mums 16,000 photo camera roll), clearing out your wardrobe, weeding the garden or cleaning your oven; take this opportunity to take care of the little details and reap the benefits!
Plan For The Future
Instead of focusing on the bleak present start focusing on the future! Lockdown isn't going to last forever so it's the perfect time to start planning for post-corona celebrations. Once the government has given the all-clear why not host a dinner party with the friends you haven't seen in months! Or better yet, plan the holiday of a lifetime to keep your mind in the future. Giving yourself something fun to anticipate will help you get through this in one piece.
Better Yourself
You're stuck at home all day with your thoughts, so take some time to think about what you want to change about yourself. Self-reflection can be uncomfortable but is a pretty important part of being human. It can be something general like "I want to learn a new language" or something a little deeper like "I want to figure out why I self-sabotage every relationship in my life".
Get Off Your Ass
I have personally fallen victim to the comfy routine of eating literally everything in the house then taking a nap on a semi-regular basis over the last two months. I've never personally been a very active person (Less like a woman in her early 20's and more like an elderly housecat) so doing at-home CrossFit was totally out of the question in terms of exercise for me but a 20-minute jog every day has done wonders for my mental and physical health. There are some fantastic tutorials online for workouts that fit your specific needs, whether that be weight loss, muscle development or just something energetic enough to help you fall asleep at night.
- Gránne