Safe At Home – Now What?

Since a majority of us have been told to stay home and not go out, it may be hard to come up with things to do around the house.

As a certified introvert and home body, I am an expert at finding things to do at home.

So here is a list of things that I’m doing/want to start doing.

• Reading!! – I love to read (obviously). And I have quite a list of books to get through so I’m taking advantage of this quarantine time to turn those pages. A series I just finished was His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass). It was the second time I read the books and I forgot how good they were! Definitely on my top favorite list. To help support local businesses, I bought a couple books from Bookshop and part of the proceeds go to my favorite 2nd hand bookstore, Half Off Books. I purchased Macho! by Victor Villaseñor, one of my favorite authors, and I can’t wait to get started on it.
• Exercise – Exercising has already been part of my routine pre-quarantine, but it’s important now more than ever, mostly because it gets me outside. I decided that now would be a perfect time to start training for longer distance running (hey, it helps take up time during the day). I went on Pintrest to get some ideas and tips to make sure I’m being safe. I also want to work on being more flexible, specifically in my hips. I’ve been doing yoga consistently for 3 years so I have some moves in my tool box to help me stretch out on my own if need be. I tend to do some extra work while binge watching a show or movie. Youtube has SO many free workout videos, I had rediscovered how fun Blogilates is recently. With being cooped up in a house all day, working out is a perfect way to relax and up those endorphins. Or even just dancing to some good music will do the trick.
• Coloring Books – I have a Harry Potter coloring book and I brought it out last weekend for something to do. That also triggered me to buy a box of 120 colored pencils off Amazon. Coloring is another good activity to do while binge watching a show (I had Tiger King on while I was working on a spread) or listening to music or a podcast. Not to mention, it’s very relaxing. So if you have any coloring books that you bought during the coloring book craze, well this is a perfect time to bring them back out again.
• Skillshare – I already have a goal to do one Skillshare class each month, but with our “going out” options being severely limited now, there’s time to do more than one. I have a couple of Powerpoint classes that I’ve been saving, so maybe I’ll start one of those. For two months of free Skillshare classes, click here.
• Journaling – So this another thing I already do, but it can be helpful for some people who are stuck home and have trouble keeping the days straight. You can write down what happened, even if it’s always the same thing. You can use it to come up with and keep track of a routine for your day. I highly suggest to at least start a gratitude page and write one thing you’re thankful for each day. It could be anything: a particularly good meal, seeing a beautiful flower, discovering a new song, etc. It can help you be present throughout the day and put a pause to any anxiety brought on by thinking about the virus.
• Netflix/Hulu/Disney+/etc. – This one is a no-brainer and probably most popular option. I’ve gone through two documentary series so far (Tiger King and The Family) and I’m rewatching The Crown with my family. This past weekend, my sister and I rewatched some Marvel movies like Winter Soldier, Civil War and Far From Home. I suspect I’ll be doing more binge-watching, but I’m trying not to make it a go-to activity.

Those are the main things on my list. Since we don’t know how long we’ll be “safe at home” for, I’m sure I’ll have other things added to my list as time goes on.

How are you spending the time at home? Hope ya’ll are safe!