In times of social distancing, most of us spend pretty much the entire day at home. And while it’s absolutely crucial to stay safe, it’s also important not to go crazy when you’re confined inside your home.
Being unable to go outside can take a toll on our mental health. But instead of focusing on the restrictions, we can try to see the silver lining. After all, we’ve never had this much time on our hands!
Today, I’m sharing 11 tips to help you make the most out of your days while staying at home.
Create a routine to structure your days at home
First and foremost, life needs to go on, even when you’re not leaving your house. Staying in bed all day won’t help lighten your mood. And it certainly isn’t a good use of your time!
Instead, get up at a reasonable hour. You don’t have to forgo your beauty sleep, but simply avoid sleeping through the whole morning.
Make sure you have breakfast, lunch, and dinner instead of snacking on fast food all day.
If you’re working from home, stick to your usual working hours and make sure to end your day when you normally would. It’s far too easy to get sucked into your tasks and work until you go to bed, but don’t do that!
By sticking to a healthy schedule at home, you avoid feeling like a potato and make sure that you’re reasonably productive, but not burnt out. And this, in turn, will prevent you from feeling guilty or like you’re wasting your time.
Don’t stop getting ready although you’re not leaving the house
Just as the right schedule will keep you from feeling like a potato, getting ready can add even more normality into your at-home life.
I’m not saying that you need to put makeup on every day (actually, use this time to let your skin breathe!). But showering and brushing your teeth and hair can do wonders for your mental health!
Instead of staying in your pyjamas, throw on a cute but comfy outfit like some leggings and a sweater.
By doing that, you’ll feel refreshed and ready for the day. Instead of lying around doing nothing, you’ll feel much more motivated to make the most out of your days at home!
Create a designated workspace if you work from home
If you work from home at the moment, you might want to create a designated workspace. Sitting on your bed or couch is great, but it will make it more difficult to switch off at night!
Depending on the space you have, you could use a guest bedroom for work. Or even the dining table! This way, you’ll be forced to take a break for lunch and turn off your computer before dinner, since you’ll have to use the table for food. 😉
Creating a designated workspace will also ensure that you can concentrate while working from home, which might not be the case if you’re sitting on the couch while your kids watch TV right next to you.
Use your phone for communication (not the news or social media)
When you’re suddenly staying at home for weeks on end, you easily feel tempted to turn to your phone. Since your personal life probably feels kind of quiet, your phone becomes a welcome distraction.
But here’s the thing: you’re probably spending way too much time watching the news or scrolling through Instagram. And both might be detrimental to your mental health.
Of course, it’s important to know what’s happening in the world, but try to limit this type of information to once a day. My fiancé and I decided to only watch the news at night, for example. Otherwise, you’re just putting yourself in a state of panic, which isn’t what you want!
As for social media, it is and always will be a pass-time that needs to be enjoyed in limited quantities. You can still follow your favourite influencers, but don’t spend all day refreshing your feed and waiting for some new distraction to arrive!
Instead, find ways to actually live your life, even if you’re staying at home. Use your phone for communication and check in with your family and friends around the world! This will also make up for the reduced social contact you’re having these days.
Rediscover board games and other fun activities at home
If you’re lucky enough to be staying at home with other people, (board) games are a great way to add a bit of fun into your at-home life.
My fiancé and I have been doing tons of cooperative detective games or escape games. These tend to take a long time, so we’ve been making the most of it these days!
Board games are great to take your mind off of the current situation for a couple of hours. They also don’t require you to stare at a screen, which you might be doing for most of the day anyway. And they allow you to spend quality time with the people you live with!
If you’re not into games, try other fun activities you can do at home. My favourites would be painting, playing Singstar or Just Dance, redecorating, sewing, cleaning out my closet and playing with my cats. 🙂
Spend time cooking healthy meals
Do you usually eat out a lot or complain that you never know what to cook? Now’s the time to change that!
Use the opportunity to make yummy meals for yourself if you live alone. And if you don’t, cooking is another great way to spend quality time together as a family!
And if you don’t have any idea what to cook, this might be a great time to try a meal kit delivery service.
Staying at home doesn’t mean that you can’t maintain a healthy lifestyle!
Find some type of at-home exercise
Speaking of a healthy lifestyle: have you found your favourite at-home exercise yet?
Personally, I’ve been doing yoga at home for quite some time now. But even if you’re used to going to the gym, you don’t have to give up your workouts!
Find exercise routines that you like on YouTube. Join in one of those online-dancing classes that I’ve seen everywhere in the past couple of days. Just keep moving in any way, shape or form!
It will make you feel better, I promise.
Get some fresh air
Maybe you’re one of the lucky ones who have a garden of a balcony. If you do: make the most of it! Go outside. Take a walk if your garden is big enough. Barbecue. Enjoy the sun when it comes out.
And if you don’t have an outdoor space, make sure to open the windows and blinds and get some sunshine and fresh air into your home!
Create a to-do list of all the things you never get around to
We all have a list of things that we should technically do but never get around to. For me, this includes deep cleaning out kitchen cabinets. Mowing the lawn. Planting some stuff in our garden. And creating photo albums for all our recent trips!
But your to-do list might look different than mine. Maybe you’ve been wanting to start a business or a blog but never did. Maybe you’ve been putting off building a treehouse for your kids. Whatever it is, now’s the time to tackle these tasks!
Creating a to-do list with all these things is a great way to stay productive while you’re staying at home. It feels great to get stuff done. And once again, it will prevent you from feeling like a potato and inspire you to make the most of the situation.
Pick up a book or an online course
Another great way to make the most of staying at home is to learn something new. Or work on your general education.
Pick up a book that you’ve always wanted to read. Or, if you already read a lot, try reading in a foreign language!
Or, use this time to complete an online course. There are so many great ones out there!
Enjoy the additional time with loved ones
More than anything else, take this time as an opportunity to be with your loved ones. The conditions are less than perfect, and yet, we get to be with our partners, kids, families.
Enjoy the additional time you get to spend with them!
If you found these tips helpful, please be so kind as to share this post on social media! And let me know how you cope with the situation in the comments.
This is a very meaningful post and very helpful in such a critical time in the world. These are very good tips to help people stay productive in the such times. Thank you for the tips I will be using some of these during this time.