Are you stuck at home wondering what you should do with the free time? Is this lockdown making you feel low? Are you sulking and feeling everything has come to a standstill? Well, it hasn’t! It is true, that the COVID-19 pandemic has made the world drown in the sea of grief. But as they say “every cloud has a silver lining”. Thus, even this phase will pass away soon, and our lives will back to be what it once was.
The time you are getting for yourself now, may not come back to you again. Think about all the good things happening now – you cannot hear the honking of cars but can hear the birds chirping; the air you are breathing isn’t as polluted as before, and the time you’re giving yourself and your family is priceless.
Utilize this time to learn all the new things you always wished, and do the things you never got time for. Think about all the times you said to yourself, “I wish I had some more hours in the day”. Oh well! You’ve got lots of time now. But just to remind you, that if it involves you going out of your homes, then that has to wait for a while now.
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How to stay busy during COVID-19 lockdown?
If you are looking for good utilization of your free time at home, during the COVID-19 lockdown. We’ve got you a long list of things to do. Scroll down and you’ll know exactly, what you need to do after you finish reading this article.
Uncover a new language
Do you even know why everyone suggests this skill? Having diversity in your communicating skills increases the perceptual sensitivity and flexibility of your brain. It’s definitely exhilarating and fun to uncover a new language. Today, technology makes it easier to enhance such skills. Just pick up your smartphones, and you’ll find a number of apps to learn languages. Busuu, italki, and Duolingo are some of these apps and will guide you through the nuts and bolts of learning a new language.
Coding
Anyone who wants to learn to code can start your classes online at Code Academy. They provide you with a detailed instruction that will guide you through it. If you are an IT personnel, this option is perfect for you. Moreover, there is no end to learning and ameliorating your pre-existing skills.
Working out
Although we have self-locked ourselves at home, you must keep yourself active and exercise regularly. This will keep you in good shape and give you a healthy mind and body. Go online and you’ll find plenty of options to try out home workouts.
Active Listening
Not all of us are good listeners, so you must question yourself about your listening skills. Use the time you’re getting right now to listen to your friends or colleagues carefully, which you normally might not do. Now we all are communicating through video calls and having meetings virtually. So, put in a little more effort to understand every word the other is saying. By doing this, you will eventually see yourself having a better personal and professional life.
Expanding your network
Trying out networking will always benefit you and to do that, can you get a better time than this? It’s a fact that meeting someone in person cannot be replaced by a video call. But being in touch with people during the bad times will always create an unbreakable bond. Moreover, making yourself feel good about yourself. Interactions between people is necessary to keep you happy and light-hearted.
A social bird-on your smartphone
Do you have over a dozen people you said, “I’ll call you back”, but you didn’t. COVID-19 lockdown has made time for you to do that. Call up that friend you last met at school, or the old neighbor that lived across the road, or your teacher- you met in a hurry while going to work. Its time you enquire about your family and friends, how they might be doing. Be affectionate towards each other and stay bonded together.
Trigger the bookworm in you
This is like a cakewalk for many, but some of you aren’t a bookworm. Do many of you think that reading an entire book is impossible for you? Then this is the time to bring out the bookworm in you. Choose a nice corner in your house, you like the most. Pick-up that book you always wanted to read, but just looked at the cover and kept it back to the shelf. Sip into a cup of Dalgona coffee or any refreshment you like and start reading. You may be impatient in the beginning, but remember, reading a page every day will eventually turn into a habit. Soon, you’ll find yourself to be a bookworm too.
Re-evaluate your life
We all end up buying and using a lot of things that complicates our life and is far from our basic essentials. Due the COVID-19 lockdown, we all are experiencing a crunch. This has led us to a shrinkage in the supply of amenities. Its high time we re-evaluate our lives and rethink about the essentials and luxuries. This is the right to rethink about the privileges we have, that many lack. This will change the perspective of your life and give you a different vision. You will be able to reassess your life much better.
Pamper yourself
Every time you saw a home remedy for your skin and just saved it for later. Now is the time to do it. Try out all the skincare recipes you saw. Pamper yourself well. Get in that extra hour of sleep, you wished for every morning. Try out the new beard styles or any hairstyle you wished for. Wear those trendy nail paints, you always wanted to wear but couldn’t make time for.
Reorganize your home
All of you have got that one space which is filled with all the paper, that you need to sit and clean out. It can be your old file reports, prescriptions, receipts or bills- use this free time to de-clutter things you don’t require and organize your space. You can even make PDFs through CamScanner and save all of your important documents. This will clear out space and soon you won’t have any paper clutter. Just go ahead and digitize them. You can also store them on a cloud which will help you access it 24/7.
Plant a Home-Garden
It’s always a fantastic idea to create a garden for your home. It will not only beautify your homes, but it will also purify the air you breathe. They create a beautiful aesthetic and soothes your mind and soul. Plant some veggies that you can use while you try your hands-on cooking.
Some easy growing veggies are chilies, tomatoes, eggplants, bell peppers, gourd and, pumpkins. Even herbs like basil, lemongrass, mint, mustard can be grown and maintained easily. You can even try planning some greens like lettuce and spinach. To avoid buying any new planters, just reuse the old bottles, utensils or cans. Gardening is a great pastime and using the home-grown veggies make a much healthier meal.
Do a makeover for your house
Are you tired of seeing the dinning kept same way for years? Whenever you thought of changing it, you were knackered? It’s the best time to rearrange your furniture, change the curtains and give your house a new look. Apart from burning out some calories, you will give yourself and the home a fresh and positive feeling.
Rekindle your passion
Have you left that guitar untouched for years? Or those dancing shoes? Go down those years when you saved up your pocket money, to buy that guitar or those ballerina shoes. Wipe off the dust from those notes or CDs and start afresh. If they have been destroyed or you’ve lost them, technology is there to help. Numerous tutorials are available for you to rekindle your lost passion.
If you aren’t musically inclined, try your hands on paint brushes or mimic your favorite star. Take short videos of them and post it on Instagram. Let your friends also enjoy the talent you have suppressed for years.
Household Chores & Cooking
With the absence of house-help, we all need to lend a hand in the house. Whether it’s cooking or cleaning up you got to do it all now. In case you don’t know how to cook, you’ve got the time. Those of you who know how to cook, treat your family with new dishes. You can also plan out a surprise candle-light dinner for your partner.
You don’t need to do every household chore by yourself. Involve everyone in the house and distribute the work among them. This doesn’t pressurize any one person and also brings a lot of fun and unity within the family.
Revive your relationships
This COVID-19 lockdown has given you time to revive your relationships. It can be your partner, your parents or your children. We are all very busy in our daily schedules and heavy workload, that we unable to give the quality time our family needs.
Utilize this time to put in that extra effort, to rekindle your relationships. Make up for the times you have slept over a fight or forgot a close one’s birthday. A quiet dinner with your partner, lending a helping hand to your mom, or watching a favorite sport with your dad, or even playing hide and seek with your children. You can do it all now.
Join the conversation
Optimize social media platforms to the utmost at this time Rather than just scrolling through profiles, join in and engage yourself in it. Sportingly participate in the challenges your friends set for you or even play tag games with each other. Put up Insta stories or go on Facebook live and start up a conversation online. Soon you will connect with the world and start alleviating the cabin fever you were facing.
Plan your next vacay
Can you get a better time to plan your next vacation? Sit with your family or your partner or yourself and plan out your next vacation. Jot down the places you want to visit, restaurants you want to eat in or the malls you want to shop from. Plan out your itinerary well. And just wait until the lockdown is over. An arm-chaired travel has a pleasure of its own.
Bring out the child in you
Every one of you must have played board games. It may be Scrabble, Chess, Ludo or snakes-and-ladder. Instead of leaving them lying in the corner and letting them gather dust, bring them out and start playing them with your family or your kids. Give your children or your parents the quality time now, which you can’t otherwise.
Time for seasonal cleaning
Instead of hoarding onto the clothes, make a pile of the ones you will not wear again. Put away all the woolens clothes for now and clean up your cupboard. As a matter of fact, you can clean up your entire house and sort out the things you do not use and donate them later.
Make a post lockdown wishlist
The entire world is going through a severe crisis because of COVID-19. Sanitize yourself well and boost up your immunity. We all have stay in this together until the new sun rises.
Till then, just jot down a list with all the places you want to visit and dates you want to go for. It may be going out to your favorite restaurant, seeing your best friend, going out for a movie, buying new clothes, taking your grandma for a day-out or just going out for a stroll!
