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The novel coronavirus outbreak in 2019 has prompted affected countries to implement a total lockdown in cities, regions, and states to contain and control the spread of the pathogenic virus. The lockdown involves home and community quarantine as well as the shut down of businesses, institutions, and transportation, leaving only the grocery and drug stores open.
While most of the employed people have been working from home since the enhanced community quarantine, others are on their vacation from school or office. How do you keep yourself sane during this time? Sure, all of us need some rest, but you won’t be able to make the most of your time by staying idle. During this season, we should strive to be productive even when we’re at home. Here are some ways of staying productive during home quarantine:
Cook Your Favorite Dishes
It’s about time to practice your culinary skills! Because your beloved fast-food chains and fine restaurants are temporarily closed, why not try to do the cooking yourself? Practice making your favorite recipes and try to make your own version for each dish. Your family will definitely love it! And since everybody is under quarantine, it’s not enough to just stay at home. Observe proper respiratory hygiene as well. Wash your hands frequently especially when you’re handling your food. Always sanitize afterward. Ensure that you’re getting your items from a reliable hand sanitizer supplier.
Do Indoor Workouts
Staying at home means you will always be tempted to be a couch potato, a sleeper, or a gourmand. In order to remain healthy, you will need to move. Do some stretching and workout. It does not always mean that you need a morning or evening run outside. You can look up for videos or a guide of indoor workouts and follow that as an example. Staying physically active during the quarantine will make your body stronger and resistant to any sickness or virus as it boosts your immune system.
Spend Time With Your Family
You can always be productive by spending some precious time with your family. Normally, you are not able to give this much time to your family due to work and life, so now is the chance to bond with them. There are plenty of activities that you can do at home such as cooking, playing board games, cleaning the house, and going for a movie marathon. You can simply sit and talk about life, career, or just about anything over a cup of coffee or tea.
Be Creative!
Now is the time to unleash your creativity! You may not be an expert, but everything can be learned so go ahead, squeeze those juices and create. You can apply it to a manual or digital art, drawing, painting, composing a literary piece, doing your chosen craft, etc. Do-it-yourself activities such as fixing, restoring, and installing something at home are included as well. Create anything that’s fun to do and useful for you and your family. If you have a dull wall in your bedroom, you can start painting on it.
Meditate
The pandemic might have been driving you stressed, worried, and worse, crazy. Perform some mindfulness meditation exercises to calm your bustling mind and give your pounding heart some rest. In trying times like this, you need to regain your peace of mind and not be overcome by anxiety and depression. Try to find a quiet spot in your house, and play relaxing music. Clear your mind, pay attention, keep practicing. Meditation improves your physical, mental, and emotional health. This is necessary when you’re under quarantine.
Learn How to Play an Instrument
For those who are musically inclined, try to learn how to play an instrument. If you already know how to, go learn other techniques, scales, etc. It can be a guitar, a piano, a ukulele, or drums—whichever you have at home. Playing an instrument and hearing music cultivates creativity as well. It enhances your memory skills and brings about patience and endurance out of you. Also, it minimizes stress, tension, and anxiety.
Grow Some Greens
You might also want to have a project that requires you to monitor daily such as growing some plants in your garden or backyard. Potatoes, tomatoes, root crops, etc. will also sustain you in a cost-effective way. Studies have shown that taking care of plants boosts concentration, creativity, mood, and productivity. It adds life to your home and produces clean air.
Read That Book
We all have that long-pending book that we want to read but don’t have all the time to finish. Since you have much time on your hands now, why don’t you pick it up from your bookshelf and continue reading from where you left off? After that, read another one, and another, and one more. Until you finish reading all the books you have there. Here’s a challenge: read everything that’s in your bookshelf before buying new books.
It is easy to get bored when we’re at home, but we’ll only lose our valuable time if we don’t pursue productivity when stuck at home due to a community quarantine. You can do many things if you have the desire and courage. Don’t waste your time by not doing anything, create something, learn something, do something. Most of all, take care of your health, eat nutritious food, exercise, and wash your hands properly.
