Whether you’re self-isolating for 14 days, or in a vulnerable group and needing to shield yourself for 12 weeks (and assuming that you’re not actually ill) you’re very likely to be bored out of your skull.
Here are 15 ways to survive the boredom –
- Do something that’s needed doing for a long time – clear out the shed or go through your wardrobe or sort out your books. Or all three. I’ll be painting the garage floor when it’s my turn.
- Get into a routine – get up at a sensible time, have a shower, get dressed. You’ll feel better for it even though you might prefer to stay in bed all day.
- Divide the day up into chunks, so you don’t spend the whole day doing the same thing.
- Eat regularly – don’t just graze all day. Spend time planning what you’re going to eat, and then cooking it. Breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, mid-afternoon snack, dinner, evening snack.
- Do some baking.
- Pace yourself. Whatever you’re doing, take your time over it.
- Never do two things at once. If you’re drinking tea, drink tea. If you’re surfing the web, surf the web. If you’re watching the TV, watch the TV. There’s no room for multitasking when you have this much time to fill.
- Keep up the communication. Ring or email other people who are also stuck at home. Keep in touch with work if you need to be off but your workplace is still functioning. Check in with elderly relatives – or if you are the elderly relative let your family know how you are.
- If you have a garden get out in it – breathe in the fresh air, do that gardening.
- Do some home-based exercise. There are lots of videos on YouTube. Sitting around all day isn’t good – get up, move around.
- Have a movie night – choose a movie with care and enjoy it. And don’t do anything else while you’re watching it.
- Watch something you don’t normally watch on the TV.
- Deep clean your house from top to bottom – it’ll give you something to do, and in the current circumstances it’s not a bad idea anyway.
- Keep up with the latest news about the virus – but not so much that it causes you stress or anxiety. Watch the news – and then turn it off and do something else.
- Read those books you’ve always meant to read. (Why not read my blog from start to finish? Start here!)
I was going to suggest that you could start researching your family tree (you can get a 14 day free trial on ancestry.co.uk). But on second thoughts, I’ve been doing it for 15 years. 12 weeks might not be long enough…
What’s the situation where you are? How are you coping with it all? If you’ve already had to self-isolate, what are your tips for getting through it?
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Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
