For those of us that pride ourselves on our “booked and busy” schedules, the next few weeks, possibly months, are looking to be a very uncomfortable time. If your nickname is “waka about” i.e. always on the go, looking for a place to go or cannot sit at home doing nada, I’m talking about you! Come and join your mates at this table.
In my honest opinion COVID-19 went from 0 – 1000 too quick! To preface; it is incredibly important to take precautionary measures such as self-isolation, self-reporting and maintaining utmost hygiene, in order to protect yourself and others around you who may be more susceptible to COVID-19 -related health complications.
The overwhelming amount of information being disseminated about COVID-19 and health precautions from public health officials, schools, local fitness studios, retailers and even fast food restaurants can also get confusing quickly. It is advisable to pick a trusted and up-to-date source of your information and filter out the rest.
What breaks my heart are the travel plans cancelled, meetings postponed and events delayed for the foreseeable future. As a proud member of the aforementioned table, the thought of sitting at home idle looking like I have ZE-RO ambition? – nah, not in this life.
If you’re like me, some of the feelings bound to come up include anxiety, restlessness, boredom, cabin fever, you name it. The minimum two week isolation period is a LONG time but you can certainly put that time to use and NOT by spending most of it on Netflix or glued to your phone.
Here are 14 things I came up with that could mean growth and productivity if implemented during your two weeks of home-staycation (the word quarantine is just too depressing).
This may seem like common sense but consider that area of the house or corner of your room that you’ve been putting off for some time. Put on your favourite playlist and tackle that clutter! On a different day you could decide to rearrange a photo album, a bookshelf, a collection of jewellery, drawers of makeup or even rearrange a room; for example switch up the layout of your bedroom by moving beds, drawers and vanities to create more empty floor space.
If you have your own personal gym in basement you are certainly in luck. If you don’t you can still achieve a full workout using the right resources at home. Now this is for anyone who has been cleared by a doctor as exercising while recovering from an illness can exacerbate your condition. Some great alternatives include using your stairs, body weights, and following YouTube videos. I’ve posted two of my faves below!
i. Cat Meffan
ii. Chloe Ting
Finding a new podcast can be hard. There are so many out there and it’s easy to get turned off by stumbling across one that you cannot relate to or don’t find interesting. My challenge to you during your home-staycation is to find one that teaches you something new or addresses an area of your life that you’ve been meaning to work on or develop. Here are three of my personal favourites that you may consider:
i. White Coat Black Art – CBC Podcast by Dr. Brian Goldman
ii. The Healing Circle Podcast – by Kobe and Kyle Campbell
iii. Therapy for Black Girls – by Dr. Joy Harden-Bradford
For most people this has been a thought in the back of your mind but factors including time, money and motivation may be holding you back. Well now you have plenty of time to think of what you might be motivated to get into, and research ways to grow your side business with as little initial investment as possible – see what I did there?
Some ideas include: making wigs, designing logos, braiding hair, buying and selling from wholesalers, cutting men’s hair, modelling, virtual personal assistant, makeup artistry, photography, heck this is prime time to sign up with UberEats and make some cash delivering to those who can’t leave their homes (please be sure to take extra care with this one!)
If you want to make the cash without as much planning and energy keep reading for some ways to make some extra change!
If you’re one of those who carried 10 bags of rice and all the ground beef and fresh veggies from Superstore, you’ve already completed part one of this suggestion. Otherwise self-isolation does not mean UberEats and Skip the Dishes should know the route to your house by heart! Why not try your hand and cooking a different meal 5-6 days out of the week? If you are less skilled in the kitchen, this is a great time to pick up a cookbook or follow along to recipes on YouTube.
Alternatively you can work to improve or change your diet. Perhaps you’ve been trying to go vegan or vegetarian for a while or cut out certain foods that you find cause bloating, indigestion etc. Your two weeks of home-stay are prime time to meal prep your way to a healthy body and better quality of life!
I mentioned on my Instagram about how March is the perfect time to check-in with the progress of your 2020 goals. So much has happened in such a short time on a global level and it can be easy to use this as an excuse as to why things in our own lives have not been going well.
Take this period to get your head back in the game. Yes there has been so much loss, WWIII almost happened, and we are dealing with a pandemic but YOU are still here today. Make a mental or written list of the goals you set to achieve this year and see where you have veered off. Perhaps some were not realistic or were too easily achievable – time to make some edits.
At the same time take at look at your financial status – you can very much fall apart, but your life cannot and in order to keep your life intact things like finances need to be in order. Feel free to make a realistic budget using your expenses so far in 2020, I have linked one of my favourite budget planning guides featuring YouTuber___ below. You will thank yourself later!
Tying in with the idea of a side hustle, you may choose to venture into a business you know nothing about. Thankfully learning a new skill can cost you ZERO dollars if you know where to look; I’m talking YouTube tutorials for how to do hair, free online courses on photography, and freebies offered by the experts themselves, such as for web and graphic design.
Besides for the purpose of a side hustle, learning a new skill can enhance your current occupation and expand your qualifications and skill set. For example, I plan to brush up on Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator as well as R programming to help with my grad school work. You could equally choose to learn a new language, how to mix soundtracks, or even how to create a website.
When I think of making quick cash online I automatically think of Forex trading but my brain hurts anytime someone tries to explain how it all works so we won’t go there. There are many ways to make an online income – from data entry, to being a virtual assistant, transcriber, YouTuber, selling digital art and design elements, selling mixed soundtracks etc. Here are three sources that I have interacted with in the past:
i. UserTesting – Complete a brand webpage review for 10USD!
ii. PickyDomains – suggest domain names for new brands for 40% of their cut.
iii. Fiverr – market a variety of skills at your own rates.
There’s a chance you may be required to do this already depending on the nature of your job, but for students, you could use this time to catch up on notes, outstanding assignments, and if you’re that type of person, study for those modified final exams.
Good tip: Be intentional about this task, schedule hours devoted to doing undistracted/uninterrupted work for maximum productivity!
At times it is only when we are forced to stop by peers or a traumatic experience that we realize that we have forgotten to take care of ourselves. During this period, be sure to check in with yourself mentally. Are you okay? Is there a past experience you have not dealt with? Is there something you are avoiding dealing with right now? How can we tackle this moving forward and what are the consequences of not dealing with it now?
A great way to self-analyze is through writing down your thoughts. Start by having a conversation with yourself about the past year, or this year so far. From there, write down your main issues, thoughts and ideas about how you’ve dealt with yourself and people in different areas of your life. Perhaps make a list of things that are in your control and things that are out of your control, this will help you focus on the best way to keep moving forward.
Here’s your chance to pick up a good read if you don’t normally have time to do so. This does not have to be fiction or even a novel – I honestly have not read a fiction book in a long time. Apps like Medium have interesting essays on all sorts of topics. You could also choose to articles on historical figures or historical events.
Back in 2016-2018 when I was a Resident Assistant, adult colouring was ALL the rage, but in my post-graduate life, I have not seen a single adult (besides clients at nursing homes) ever sit down to colour …. Regardless, I remember it being a super chill stress-relieving activity. If you have a digital device, you should definitely try your hand at digital art on apps like Adobe Illustrator and or Artflow.
Now is a great time to check in on family and friends you don’t often get to check up on due to busy schedules and physical distance. This could be as easy as a phone call or FaceTime session and can be very rewarding to be reminded of fond memories.
Similar to your physical space, your online space can get very congested quickly with links you hope to “get back to later”. Time to read those unread emails, accept/delete Facebook friend requests, visit those reading list links and bookmarked web pages and even check out those YouTube videos on your watch list. Half of them are probably irrelevant to you now and can be deleted, but some may hold some hidden gems.
Yes, you fall asleep each night but do you REALLY get your hours in? Getting enough sleep is key to waking up ready to tackle #1-13 and will leave you feeling like you better self. Just for fun, try out the app Pillow ($7). It let’s you record your sleep in order to know your sleep cycle better.
Getting in tune with your spiritual side is also key during your weeks of isolation. Make out time to meditate and pray with intention. The chaos of life and anxiety and stress of dealing with abrupt changes can often pile on weight that we don’t notice until we slow down.
If you’ve made it this far, you must be taking self-isolation seriously – kudos to you! Let me know in the comments below which of these tips you will use! I wish you a safe and productive staycation wherever that may be.
Catch you in the next post!
ANTHONIAxo
Very nice write up dear
These are all great advice, I loved how they holistically focus on mental health and personal development. Personally, I will be prioritizing 12, 2, 7 and most definitely 14.
Author
Yes! We hardly get to wind down during life and adulting, and this might be a gem in disguise!