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Lifestyle & Travel

Keeping Sane, Active & Entertained While Isolated At Home Alone

Dawn Mikayla

There are plenty of things you can do while isolated or self-quarantined to keep sane, active, and even a little entertained. However, a lot of the tips out there are aimed at people who share their homes with family, roommates, or their partners. Those who are left entirely alone are those who are most risk of suffering the negative mental health consequences of isolation. As such, we’re going to look at just a few examples of ways to keep yourself entertained and sane throughout these trying times.

Get moving

You may not have access to the gym anymore. In fact, a lot of people won’t even have access to a good park, walking, running, or cycling route. Aside from getting out for exercise when you can, remember that there is still a lot you can do in your own home. Apps like https://www.freeletics.com/en/pages/download/can create entirely workouts that use nothing but your own body weight for a small subscription fee. It’s expected that we’re going to see the forced sedentary lifestyle we’re all living to lead to a major increase in chronic health problems related to obesity, so it’s more important than ever to stay as active as you can.

Keep testing your mind

Another surprising impact of isolation is that our mind genuinely does tend to slow down, and we’re can lose some ability to process complex thoughts or problems as effectively as we once could. Just as it’s important to get the exercise you need, it’s also crucial to make sure that you’re working out your brain, as well. You might not be able to organize a quiz with your friends any time soon, but there are still books like https://www.pennydellpuzzles.com/fill-ins/books/that offer plenty of material to keep your mind going. Try to make sure you get a diversity of different puzzles testing linguistic, organizational, and numeric skills, as well. You need to work on all parts of the brain, not just some.

Find a side hustle

SANENot everything you do from the home should necessarily be for the sake of your own entertainment, either. There are a lot of people who find themselves unable to not only do their work but to return to their job as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. As such, now might be the time to look into remote working opportunities. There are a lot of people trying to switch to working from home but there are also a lot of companies who are switching to remote working, as well. Business analysts have been predicting a major migration to working online and, while this might not have been how they expected it to go, this worldwide crisis might be the catalyst that finally sees it happen.

Stay in touch with those you love

While it might not be quite as good as being able to meet them face-to-face, you can still keep up with your loved ones and even enjoy some of the same hobbies you used to share. For instance, if you used to get together to play at board games, you can still use things like https://www.tabletopsimulator.com/to play them over the internet. It’s recommended that you keep in touch by using face-time apps, as well. Being face-to-face is much better at helping you fight the effects of isolation that relying on voice alone. Take the time to actively call those in your life and make sure they’re coping with this weird time okay.

Read and engage with what you read

You may already be a reader, but if all you do is read book after book, then you do run the risk of starting to gradually become less engaged with what you’re actually reading. You can become a passive consumer, and forget how you felt about what you read, getting little value from it. To get more value from books, you should try writing a book report to read yourself, or you can even share your thoughts with online reading communities. This can help you truly explore the different themes and ideas you’re reading about, rather than having them come in one ear and go out the other.

Get writing

There are a lot of people who are having trouble getting their creative energies together at the moment. The coronavirus and how it’s been handled has effectively everyone feeling bummed. However, it’s still worth giving it a try. You don’t have to start by writing a novel on your first day, either. You can start your own blog to share your thoughts with others, or simply give short stories and creative writing exercises a try. For instance, websites like https://self-publishingschool.com/fiction-creative-writing-prompts/can give you a prompt to start off with, whether it’s a phrase, an idea, the start of a scene or otherwise. Writing is a great creative exercise that has us thinking more flexibly about the language that we use and is another way to help keep our brains sharp.

Pick up a recipe book

You might feel like your time in isolation is being wasted. While it’s important to allow yourself to be unproductive in circumstances as extenuating as these are, you don’t have to let it be a waste if months of inactivity are getting to you. Learning just about any skill is always a good way to make sure you’re evolving and developing as a person. If you can’t think of a specific skill you would like to work on, however, then websites such as https://www.allrecipes.com/might be just what you need. There’s no-one who wouldn’t benefit from being able to cook a little better, after all. Eating healthily and avoiding processed meals is becoming increasingly important, too.

A lot of people are being forced to learn to enjoy their own company during self-isolation. With the tips above, that can be made at least a little easier. Give them a try, you might even come out the other end with a new hobby.