Top Tips To Survive Self Isolation
With everything going on in the world at the moment. I would not be surprised if many of my readers are also working from home. For years I've known people who spent their day at home, glued to the laptop trying to whittle away through their work activities. Now we all get to do the same, as the average freelancer. I've always liked the idea of spending countless days in the house and having a proper digital detox, but it feels bittersweet to be able to spend all day under the covers and not being able to leave the house.
COVID-19 has pretty much fucked us all over, marketing is not really recession proof but everyone is trying to keep their clients happy and businesses are working to capitalise on the small business selling point to get as many people as possible through the doors.
It just feels weird! Many high ranking people are encouraging people who work from home to try improve their skillset and grow as people. I definitely agree with this idea, we always have a list of stuff we'd love to do/learn but we're never able to accomplish them due to time.
Now we have an abundance of it. So why not try be productive? This is a peculiar time for every single one of us. What we make of it is completely up to us and could mould the future of our society and social interactions. I'm already hearing talks of a Skype knees up and video call birthday parties, others are opting for quiet meditation and reading, its amazing.
When we grow old people will tell stories and write papers about this time, we're living through a key moment in history. Let's make the bloody most of it! I've been staying at the blokes house since remote working officially started, but from Monday I'll really be working from my own home. So I thought it would be handy to go through some ideas to keep you sane when stuck in the house, some are work related and others are not.
Make a Bucket List
What do you want to accomplish? Do you want to learn a language, practise your grammar or even lose some weight. Like I said, we have so much time to focus on self growth so make a list of everything you want to try do during this time and prioritise, we don't know how long we're going to be inside.
Read a book
There is absolutely nothing better than relaxing with a good book and a glass of wine. There's so many options for reading material at the moment I'd recommend downloading a few and even joining a virtual book club! My own book club has had to make the switch to online next week (You can check out my review of this months book here). Oddly, I'm also finding reading to be the perfect way to create a barrier between work hours and home life. So if you've already begun working from home, why not pick up a good book and break separate the boring stuff from the good.
Here's my spring 2020 reading list for some inspiration.
I also wrote a self-help reading list.
Cook something new
Cooking is fun, yeah if you don't do it right it can be stressful at times, but who doesn't love to lick the spoon? Personally I really struggle to use every single item I buy on the weekly shop, now I've got the perfect opportunity to channel my inner Gordan Ramsay and get cooking! Currently I've been really craving sugar and fattening things like red velvet cupcakes and edible cookie dough (recipes coming soon!). I do recommend trying to cook some healthy stuff while you're self isolating, we can't go the gym at the moment hear so the only exercise you can get is a brief walk in the park or some exercise videos on the telly.
Follow me on Pinterest to see what I'm planning to cook during isolation!
Make a new exercise routine
You don't need to pay for the gym, you don't need to go jogging out in public and risk being coughed on. The internet saves the day when it comes to keeping fit, there are plenty of fitness YouTubers who share their best tricks and tips for keeping fit. I also imagine that whilst we're all stuck indoors there will be an influx of organic content as creators are bored and looking for ways to ensure they're revenue.
It goes without saying that working out does wonders for your mental health. So if you're worried about cabin fever or going mental stuck inside, why not focus on getting fit (or staying fit)?
Connect with friends
Now is just a good of a time as any to connect with friends and loved ones, everything is so uncertain at the moment, lets make sure to keep in touch with everyone who matters. Why not organise a zoom call with some of your friends and indulge in a glass of wine? Self-isolation has been thing for 4 days (As of writing this) and I've already been invited to virtual knees up and book clubs sessions; I'm also planning on making my friend a virtual birthday part as she's has to go back to Gibraltar and probably won't be able to celebrate her 22nd.
This is the perfect time to rekindle relationships, if you haven't connected with someone for a while, why not write them a letter or drop them a text message?
I'm a much bigger fan of letter writing than texting, But this is probably one of the best times to make use of the internet, it stops us feeling isolated and alone. From a social media view, I'm interested to see what trends emerge and how people choose to spend their time.
Expand on your employability skills
Everyone keeps calling this time 'our new reality' but I think we should view this as something else. The government and most reliable sources are telling us this is temporary, we will return to work and we will step back into the sunlight. For many people this might mean returning to normal life without a job or some level of financial difficulty, so take this as an opportunity to learn a new skill or beef up your CV.
Want to learn a new language? Sign up to an online course!
Want to improve your grammar? Groupon has LOADS of courses!
Want to help with homeschooling?
There's so many things you can do to improve yourself during this time. Thank goodness for the invention of the internet, we're still able to stay connected and interact with our loved ones. But it's an opportunity to learn more and grow as a person. We have an abundance of time on our hands and for a lot of people the future may feel quite bleak.
Watch your mental health
Being stuck inside with nothing to do can make you feel quite lonely and isolated at times. For those with mental health issues, it's going to be a quite a scary time. Making a bucket list, like I mentioned earlier, is a good way to keep a set plan of everything you want to accomplish during this time. If you're working from home make sure you have a firm separation between the stuff you're doing for yourself and set work hours. This can be anything from going for a brief walk around the block (whilst still practising social distancing) or changing into something more suitable for an awkward zoom call with your co-workers. Keep that line crystal clear or you'll go crazy.
I will definitely will be getting back into reading and taking up yoga. I'm trying to look at it as an opportunity to reflect on life, finally try quit smoking and take a few things of my bucket list. In an ideal world I'd be getting a bit ahead of my NANOWRIMO entry for November and perhaps learn some Thai with the bloke.
Let try be positive, be creative and be a community. These are new and peculiar times we're living in so lets make the most of it.
If you're doing anything cool or even want a self-isolation pen pal. Message me on Instagram @stephwrites_stuff !