By Kimberly Bermudez
With the ongoing COVID-19 coronavirus continuing to spread, we are all encouraged to practice social distancing. We have seen an increase in New York citizens being able to test for the COVID-19 coronavirus. So far, there have been over 70,000 confirmed cases in New York City and they continue to rise every day.
As we continue to see an increase in cases, it seems that social distancing won’t stop any time soon. We have to make the most of it and figure out ways to keep ourselves busy in the meantime.
Here are a few ways to help make social distancing a little bit easier.
Have a self-care day
As we are stuck at home, why not take the opportunity to take extra care of yourself. We’ve been so busy with work or school that we haven’t been able to catch our breath. Now that we are encouraged to stay indoors as much as possible, we have the time to give ourselves the extra care we’ve been wanting to have. It can be as simple as making your favorite drink to having a relaxing bath.
Exercise
We always say that we’ll start working out eventually but never do because we can never find the right time for it. But with staying indoors and nothing else to do, you can start a workout routine. You can even start that 7-day, 14-day, or 30-day challenge you’ve been wanting to try for so long. A friend who wishes to stay anonymous said, “I have nothing to do, so I made the decision to start working out to keep myself distracted.†It gives her something to look forward to since her normal routine has been disrupted because of the ongoing pandemic.
Listen to music
You can never go wrong with listening to your favorite songs. Make a playlist of songs you love and listen to it when you start getting bored. You can also try and discover new music by listening to genres you haven’t heard of before; you might find new songs you’ll love.
Personally, I have started listening to music that gets recommended to me on Spotify out of boredom. I never really pay attention to the recommendations given on the app, but because I started doing so, I’ve found new songs that I enjoy.
Watch a new show or movie
Since we have plenty of time to spare, why not start binge-watching something new. And to make it a more fun experience, you can take to social media and start a watch party and encourage others to watch along with you and discuss it together. Daniel, a student, has been non-stop binge-watching on Netflix. “There’s nothing to do, so I’m always in my living room watching stuff to keep myself entertained.†It helps him get through the day since it’s one of the few things he can do for hours on end without getting easily bored when he’s stuck at home.
Watch YouTube videos
You can never go wrong with watching animal videos to life hacks. With many content creators stuck at home, there are plenty who will be actively uploading content to keep us distracted.
Clean
There are some things we don’t want to do but should be, cleaning can be one of them. Since we have plenty of time to spare, why not get it out of the way. You can clean around the house or your room. When you start cleaning, you might even find lost items that you’ve been searching for or things you didn’t know you owned which is a fun way to look at it if you don’t like to clean.
Pick up a new hobby
Now is the best time to pick up a hobby you’ve always wanted to do but didn’t have the time to do so. Some things you can do are to learn how to draw, cook or dance. Many have actually taken the time to learn viral TikTok dance routines with their family members and post them online inspiring others to do the same making it a trend. This helps make new and fun memories with the people you love.
Watch TikToks
When you get bored, you can also count on opening the app and finding random videos on the For You page to distract yourself for a bit. You can get lost in it and find endless content, from dancing to comedic videos. It always helps to entertain you when you have nothing else to do.
Go on a diet
Consider going on a diet or try to balance your intake of food. We tend to binge-eat when there is nothing better to do. Since we’ll be home all day, try a new diet and have balanced meals to make your groceries last for as long as possible. It might not be a bad idea since we can’t always go grocery shopping because there is the possibility of a store not being stocked with food we need or not having the money for it.
There are plenty of other things we can do to keep ourselves busy as we go through this crisis. Try and find different activities to do to minimize going out as much as possible so you can keep yourself and others around you safe. This pandemic will pass, but for now we have to continue to practice social distancing and hope for the best.
