Hello! During these tough times it might be a little difficult for some people to stay home (especially if they aren’t naturally homebodies) and when we don’t find anything to do we might feel like we’re bored and start losing our minds.
I have 9 quarantine ideas that I practice myself and I think it would be extremely helpful during these times so I wanted to share!
Nine Quarantine Ideas
- Gratitude – Some people don’t understand how important it is for us to be thankful for what we already have. Every morning when I wake up I am extremely thankful for my life, my family, friends, work, school etc… And during this time where so many people are suffering… I am extremely grateful for my BREATH! I make sure I let the universe know how thankful I am. It makes us feel better when we think about the things that makes us happy and the people who make us happy rather than focusing on the negative situations and negative feelings because on top of everything that is already happening, it will only make us feel worse. Try to take a moment each day either when you wake up or before bedtime and genuinely feel thankful. Sure, a lot of people are currently in messed up situations, but if you are breathing and you are alive you should feel EXTREMELY GRATEFUL!
Read more about being grateful and the benefits of being grateful in the link below:
- Yoga– yoga has been around for a really long time and has MANY wonderful benefits mentally and physically. I will go into specific details about the benefits of yoga in a separate post, but some of the benefits mentally include decreasing stress (really helpful in times like these), it increases body awareness, reduces muscle tension, helps build confidence, and helps reduce anxiety and depression. Some physical benefits include increasing flexibility, increasing muscle tone and strength, improving energy, improving respiration, decreasing chances of injury, helps maintain metabolism, it improves athletic performance, helps with menstrual cramps, improves cardio performance and improves circulatory health. (Stay tuned for a full yoga post).
- Finance– I am no expert in finance, but everything I do know about it is by teaching myself reading different finance articles. I have read a lot of different articles written by different people, but most of them mention emergency funds, high APY banks, and retirement funds. If you have any financial goals now would be an amazing time to learn all about finance and how to reach your goals. Learn how to build an emergency fund which are super important especially for times like these. Where you save your money will make a huge difference in how much you get back monthly for having your money stashed in the bank, research which banks have the highest APY (Annual percentage yield). Learning about retirement funds is also extremely important especially if you want to live comfortable once you retire. The earlier you start, the better because of compound interest.
Read more about emergency funds in the link below:
- Draw! – Have you ever wanted to learn how to draw? You can definitely find some time to practice now. I used to draw decent before and because of lack of practice I am now horrible. This is definitely a skill I am picking up and I encourage anyone who wants to learn to also pick it up. If you already draw, practice practice practice! It is a useful skill to take your mind off things and you can increase your creativity! If you have kids this is an activity you can enjoy with them!
- Read! – I love learning and feeding my soul with knowledge. Self-help books are my favorite, but I also enjoy fictional books. Do you have a whole bunch of books stacked up in your shelves that you’ve been meaning to read but never did? Now is the perfect time to pick up some of those books. Some of the benefits of reading include reducing stress, helps you sleep, builds your vocabulary, strengthens your brain, keeps your mind engaged as you get older, helps alleviate depression symptoms, and it will also get your mind off things. You may even also attend an online course. Want to learn about nutrition? Take a nutrition course. Want to learn a specific topic? I have taken plenty of courses on Udemy – Check it out! Link below
- Exercise– Exercise has a lot of wonderful benefits both mentally and physically. If you always wanted to shed some weight off or gain some muscles what better time?! You don’t need a gym for either. You can do plenty of workouts at home. (Will make a specific post about this stay tuned!). Exercise has many benefits which include reducing pain, helping you sleep, may reduce risks of chronic diseases, increases your energy, helps you lose weight or strengthen your muscles, improves self esteem and makes you feel better about yourself which makes you happier. I know it’s hard at first just like everything else, but stick through it and you WILL get used to it and learn to love it, especially when you see yourself changing for the better and start experiencing all those benefits for yourself. Even starting 15 mins a day until you get used to it, go up to 20. Or workout less days, but workout for longer 30-60 mins.
- Meditate– this is definitely my favorite! The one that seems so simple, yet the most difficult. Sometimes we put our focus on other people because we are scared to face our true selves. Who are we? Some people are scared to find out. Some people are terrified of being alone with their mind. I think this is when you mostly need it. Tuning inwards is the best thing that has happened to me. I was (and sometimes still am) a bit negative, it happens to most of us, to all of us at one point in our lives. But we can only fix and drift that energy when we focus on it and try to understand it, so we can then finally release it. If you keep thinking about something consistently, instead of ignoring it take a time and close your eyes and become aware of the thought, feel why you keep thinking about it? What does it mean? and finally once you have understood the thought, release. Do not dwell on it! That is counterproductive. Think about why it keeps popping up, how to fix it, why it happened, how to prevent from happening it again and release the thought forever! Same with emotions, understand the emotion, but do not act up on it and do not become the emotion. Some benefits of meditation are helping control anxiety, it may decrease blood pressure, enhances self-awareness (really important to achieve everything you want in yourself), improves sleep, helps you generate kindness and compassion, improves attention spam, brings you closer to your higher power (w.e that means to YOU), makes you more alert of your surroundings, you become one with your body and you learn how to listen to it and appreciate it more, and you learn how to discipline your mind.
- Self-care practice– self care practice includes all of the above, but it also includes you pampering yourself. Taking a moment for yourself, to relax, drink a glass of wine if you drink, put on some face masks, turn on your essential oils, listen to your favorite music, dance if you want to, give yourself a mani & pedi, or massage yourself. Take a nice warm bath. I know it’s hard when you’re a parent. Do it while they nap! Don’t clean when they nap! RELAX! It’s the only time we moms can. I practice self care by doing all of the above and I also use my essential oils and masks a lot. The essential oils help my room smell better therefore making my mood better and the masks help me relax, allows me to close my eyes for a moment and helps my face feel super fresh after which also relaxes my mood. Learning nutritional information during this time is also part of self-care. What are we feeding our bodies to help it keep us alive and strengthen our immune system? Make nutritional smoothies or home remedies, if you don’t have masks, make your own at home! play soft music or rain music and just for a moment RELAX… your mind and body will highly appreciate it.
See more benefits and nutritional benefits in the link below.
- Try anything new you’ve been meaning to try- Always wanted to learn to play your guitar that you bought months or years ago? Now is the time! You can learn almost anything on youtube LOL and I am sure there are plenty of websites and blogs out there, even books! that will teach you what you’ve been meaning to learn. Want to improve your makeup skills? Practice now! Want to get better at baking or crafting? Whatever it is… DO IT NOW! Take advantage! It’s better to use the time wisely than just sitting all day and moping and being upset overthinking, beating yourself up, bathing in negative energy! IT’S NOT WORTH IT! USE THIS TIME! STAY SANE MY FRIENDS! WE WILL GET THROUGH THIS!!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRECIOUS TIME!
FemConscious 