The Covid-19 pandemic has turned our world as we know it upside down. Over 15 states have issued lock-downs and tens of millions of Americans are stuck at home during this time of quarantine. Self-quarantining is great for our physical health but no so much for our mental state of well-being. So many people are bored out of their minds and getting stir-crazy.
We have created a list of ways to stay productive at home. Our list is geared towards entertainment and self-improvement. Add these activities to your daily schedule and you will come out of this Coronavirus quarantine a better and more well-rounded human. We are also including FREE resources that will help you implement these activities.
Exercise During Covid-19 Quarantine
Exercising at home is easier said than done for many of us. There is a reason why gyms are so popular. It can be difficult to get motivated to exercise at home. Fortunately, there are some great online tools to help you get motivated. There are even several of these web tools that are being offered free right now to help us all get through this lockdown phase. Dailyburn.com is offering a free 60 trial of their online training videos that will make you feel like there is a fitness class going right in your home. Daily Burn gives users access to over 1,000 incredible workouts, including Cardio, Yoga, Dance, Pilates, and more! Another awesome tech platform that will motivate you at home is Downdogapp.com. Down dog offers the following app: yoga, yoga for beginners, hit intensity interval training, barre, and a 7-minute workout. These apps allow you to choose your workout, intensity levels, and music.
Creative Writing During the Lockdown
Writing is a great way to channel your creative thoughts. Now is the perfect time to start a creative writing project. Here are some ideas for writing while you are quarantined.
Start a Blog
The awesome thing about blogging is that your blog can be about absolutely anything! If you have a passion or a unique point of view, a blog is a great way to communicate it to the world. You can easily start your blog with a free site from Wix.com. Here is a list of other top free blogging sites.
Create a Family Cookbook
How cool is this idea? This is awesome for several reasons. Get your family members involved by asking them to contribute a few recipes. Not only will this help you connect with family members during quarantine, but you’ll also be creating something that you can pass on to your children and grandchildren.
We suggest using the free cookbook template in Microsoft Word and sharing it with your family members on Google Drive or Dropbox. This will allow everyone to add their recipes to the document.
Journal
Most of us have journaled at some point in our lives. Journaling is great for documenting your thoughts, feelings, and memories. You may share these writings with others or you may decide to keep them private, either way, keeping a journal can be very therapeutic. There are several free journaling tools online. One of the best is livejournal.com.
Reading While in Quarantine
Reading will keep you sharp and well entertained while you are stuck at home. You may not have a library of books or reading materials at home, but you do have a wealth of them online. Many of the top online libraries are offering access to thousands of books for free for the next 30 to 60 days.
Who needs a library when you have free ebooks from amazon.com?Cambridge University: Cambridge University Press is making higher education textbooks in HTML format free to access online during the coronavirus outbreak
Scribd.com: Read for free for 30 days. No credit card is required.
Verso Books: Free online access to their library until April 12.
Learning During Coronavirus Quarantine
What better way to pass time than to feed your brain and learn something new? Why not learn another language or take a college course? There is literally no reason not to because you can do both for free! Several Ivy League universities are offering free courses. These Ivy League schools include Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, and Yale.
Do you like the idea of learning a new language? Duolingo is a free app-based learning platform that offers almost 100 different courses in 23 languages. If you are interested in learning Spanish specifically, Accelerated Spanish is another awesome free tech tool. You can access their materials online and also enjoy their Spanish learning podcast for free as well. Just search “Accelerated Spanish” on Itunes or Google Play Store.
Watch Movies at Home
Ok, so this suggestion is quite obvious and you are most likely doing this already. Challenge yourself to watch some movies that are a little outside the box. Here are some movie lists to help you find some great movies.
- Top 100 Films of the 21st Century
- 100 Greatest American Movies of All Time
- Most Impressive Movies of All Time
There are also several online movie/tv library platforms offering free access right now. Platforms such as Sling, Sundance, Shudder, Prime Video, and more are offering free trials at this time.
Other Ways to Keep yourself Occupied
Call your Cable Provider or Cell Phone Company to Negotiate a Discount
Online Dating. Tinder is offering it’s premium “Passport” features for free on April 30th. That is a lot of swiping left and right for free!
Free Guitar Lessons from Fender. 3 months for free!
Listen to a podcast. There are thousands of podcasts about just about any subject you can imagine. Search your Itunes or Google Play Store to find one (or several) that you enjoy.
Quarantine Your Boredom During the Coronavirus Lockdown
As you can see, there are many ways to keep yourself busy during this quarantine period. Just think outside the box and push yourself to try something a little different. Take advantage of this valuable time you have and come out of quarantine an improved human being.