Things to do at home to spend the time in these days of social distancing are plenty. Here’s 20 ideas to fill the day and contain the coronavirus pandemic.
Life in America — and in many countries everywhere in the world — is changing drastically. Governments have latched onto the thought of social distancing, banning all large-scale activities and warning citizens to remain a minimum of six feet faraway from each others for the foreseeable future.
As Americans and people around the world are being asked to help halt the spread of the coronavirus, we have frequently been told to practice social distancing. The idea is to “flatten the curve,” or slow the spread of the virus, decreasing the amount of individuals who get sick at just one occasion and therefore the risk of overwhelming the medical system. We need more than ever to stay at home. It’s not an invite but an imperative.
So now that we’re home, what do we do?
To alleviate the quarantine and overcome the difficult times ahead, I found — at least — 20 things to hang out at home.
Note: The numbers below don’t follow a specific order.
1. Stay alert
What should be doing is staying alert, not anxious. The way you do it is by getting quality information from sources like the WHO and CDC, so we can be best informed to protect our health and the heath of our family members.
Take advantage of this time to inquiry about what’s happening in your country and in the rest of the world. Not only regarding the spreading of COVID-19, but also to keep up with everything is happening around you. Read, study, use the time that (finally) we have to get a personal opinion about what we usually see on the news in our hectic life.
2. Go ahead with streaming services
#QuarantineAndChill? One of the best things we can do to keep our minds off of our real-life drama is streaming our hearts out. From Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ to Amazon Prime, Apple TV, etc. the list is long.
Just because you’re social distancing in response to coronavirus doesn’t mean you and your friends have to forgot your movie nights or TV watch parties. Now we have an excuse to never get up from the couch and keep up with all those tv series we have been thinking to watch.
Thanks to a Google Chrome extension called Netflix Party, groups of friends can get together virtually and watch their favorite Netflix titles on their computers at an equivalent time. Netflix Party synchronizes video playback and adds group chat to your favorite Netflix shows, so you can share your reactions to the programs as you watch.
3. It’s time to read
It’s hard to find time to sit, relax and read a book. We are always in a rush for work, social life and many other errands. However, now we have the opportunity to read that book that we bought last year or that friend who gave it to us for our birthday.
4. Change the wardrobe
I know, it’s not one of those activities you consider “fun”. But, in these days the excuse ” I don’t have time” is no longer valid.
In addiction, think about it. Once everything will go back to normal, you will be happy to not dedicate yourself to the change of season on a beautiful and sunny Sunday you could spend outside.
5. Home is the new gym
Gym closed? Don’t worry! You don’t have to give up to your training.
You can keep fit even without going to the gym in these tricky times of social distancing.
For example, @studiothreechi is offering daily line-up of workouts, meditations and more guided by S3 instructors. You don’t need any weights or equipment for classes. Check their Instagram for more information. The workouts are currently on their stories if you choose the “live” option and later on, they will be available on IGTV too.
6. Have you ever thought about a new hobby?
Hobbies in the social age have been left out, but it’s a mistake, and starting a new one could make you learn something and above all, spend hours with a new goal and try to forget about what’s happening on the outside.
7. Board games, what a passion
Keeping ourselves entertained from our living rooms will become a necessity as kids stay home from school and parents stay out of the office. If you want to do something that involves the whole family, a board game is the perfect activity. From the classics such as Monopoli, Clue and Life, Risiko to the new trends, board games can be a lot of fun.
Get lego, a puzzle or a simple deck of cards and start playing!
8. Try Audio books
Audio books are a passion that is conquering millions of people around the world. Now it’s the right time — if you still haven’t done it — to try it out.
Audible has a free month trial where you get two free audio books to keep even if you cancel before the month is up. I’m going to be real with you: The best part of this free trial (besides it being free) is that you get to keep the two free books you download during it. That means you get two free audio books to keep, forever.
For my readers in Italy. In these quarantine days, Audible started an initiative called #acasaconaudible. From March 14th 2020 till the overcome of the national emergency, it will make available for free many books and content to everyone. To register: Audible.it/acasaconaudible
9. Clean the house
It has come the time to polish the house like you’ve never done it before.
Wash the floors, vacuuming, dusting and in general, a clean house isn’t just “nice to have,” it’s actually a necessity for good mental and physical health.
10. Dedicate yourself to a new morning routine
It’s important to give the right weight to your morning routine, because what you do in the morning right after you wake up, it will affect the rest of the day — even if you won’t realize it.
“I’ve found that the first thirty minutes of my day have the biggest impact on how I feel for the rest of my waking hours.”
– Molli Sullivan
You can discover new ideas to create the morning routine that works for you with My Morning Routine. You can read the book’s introduction and the first routine included in their Getting Up chapter. In addition, save or print out their free morning routines worksheet. If you’ve found value in what this book is all about, consider buying (or gifting) a copy of the book to support them.
11. Relax and try meditation
In this time of stress and anxiety it’s good to try to relax as much as possible.
Take a bath. light a candle, play your favorite Spotify playlist and meditate. In general, try to do everything you can to help you relax.
12. Learn something with an online course
Follow e-learning classes has many advantages. And today there are so many online courses you can follow. When the #socialdistancing will be over, you’ll have another new passion.
13. Write something!
It’s something that we stopped doing for a while. Grab a pen and a piece of paper and rediscover the pleasure of writing.
Put aside the keyboard and why not? Start writing a diary! Journaling is no longer old-fashioned, or just for folks of a certain older-and-wiser age. It’s something you can do right now. It does more than just help you record your memories or find self-expression. It’s good for your health too.
What to write? Anything really, even a diary if you want: when all of this will be gone, you might want to keep it as a memory.
14. Spend your time with your four-legged friends
Do you have a pet? You surely won’t be alone. The company of a trusted friend that will always be around you, it will push you to not feel that sense of emptiness which can be developed at certain times.
Now you can spend more time with them, do it. You will be both really happy.
15. Experiment in the kitchen
If you love cooking, in this time of #socialdistancing, you can try new recipes. If you want, you can check out my little corner where I share my own recipes and I can’t wait to make new more. Personally, I’ll take this suggestion to the letter. What about you? 😀
16. Approach yoga
Another thing that you wanted to do for a while but never been able to try. Now, you just have to take your mat and start learning some yoga positions. In case you missed it, go back to number 5. and learn about @studiothreechi and their live daily classes on Instagram.
Learn about how yoga provides many mental and physical benefits.
17. It’s time to learn a new language
Do you dream about learning a foreign language or would you like to become more fluent in that one you already know but don’t have the time or the will to do it? Do it now.
At the moment, I’m learning a foreign language and I’m using duolingo and books to help me with that. Is there someone else who is also learning a new language?
18. Support local businesses
We might not be able to walk through our doors right now, as we are practicing social distancing but we can still support our favorite restaurants in other ways.
Have food and other goods delivered to your door. If don’t like cooking, it’s never been so easy: pay over the telephone or online, and make sure to tip. For those of you who are in Chicago, there are plenty of restaurants which are open for takeouts, delivery and even e-gift card. Check out @agirlaboutchicago Instagram stories where she put up a detailed list of Chicago businesses.
19. Take care of the people next to you
Try to spend some time with your family. Stay close to your children or your parents. Listen to your partner
Home alone? Call them
Call your grandparents, uncles or distant relatives you forget to reach out during the holidays. You will make them happy and you will be happy too.
20. Try to take care of yourselves
Try to live this situation in a positive way: now you finally have time to do all those things that you would have not been able to do before.
Whatever it is, do it by keep social distancing.
Love #17 learning a new language. Set a time every day, sit down and listen to another language. Later in the day, learn a bit and practice speaking. I’ve tried this with French on my one week off last month and I advanced more than I had studying at various times during the day squeezed in between so many other things. Now I can really focus! My goal (always important) is to visit Provence once this is over, as I’ve had to cancel my trip this May. Check out my Conversational Italian book, written as I was learning this book and Conversational French for Travelers translation for French for help and my related websites for lots of free stuff.
This virus is hitting everyone pretty hard but we can still try to look at the positive side of it by staying at home. That’s so great! I’m doing the same thing with my Spanish. Never been to that part of France but it’s in my bucket list. I’ll check it!