Since returning home from my now-closed college, I’ve found myself with far too much time on my hands. Aside from playing with my cats, it’s hard to come up with creative ideas to use my newfound free time. If you’re experiencing the same issue as I am, these six things should help keep you from spiraling into boredom during social quarantining.
- Bake some fancy pastries.
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Now that you’ve got almost 18 free hours a day, it’s the perfect time to prepare for your Great British Baking Show audition. Whether you’re a skilled baker or complete amateur, now that you have all the time in the world to perfect the eclair or profiterole, you should! Baking is a great way to pass the time and have a delicious dessert in the safety of your home. It also makes for a quality Instagram post without needing a cute background.
- Reread your favorite books.
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Whether it’s John Green’s romance novels, the entire Harry Potter series, or Jonathan Van Ness’ autobiography for the tenth time (seriously, that’s a good read), now is the perfect time to fall back in love with reading. If you curl up with a cup of tea and spend hours reading, you’ll forget the cabin fever you’re experiencing.
- Deep clean your house.
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You know you’ve been looking at your bathroom grout thinking it was too much effort to clean it out. You can’t make any more excuses for not grabbing that sock that fell behind the dryer. Now that you’re not “too busy to clean”, clean out all the crevices you’ve been consciously avoiding to save effort. Declutter your closet and ethically get rid of your unwanted clothes by donating them to ThreadUp (free, contactless delivery!) or a local donation center.
- Do some at-home workouts.
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The gym is closed but that doesn’t mean you can’t get those gains! Running outside (at least six feet away from people) is just as effective as other cardio machines like treadmills or ellipticals. If you don’t have indoor weights, fill two water bottles and work your arms. Indoor pilates and yoga are also great effective workouts. Watch Blogilates or MadFit on YouTube for any motivation you might need.
- Learn some crafts.
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Since you can’t go out shopping, you might as well learn how to change up your own clothes. Take some inspiration from Pinterest or life-hack YouTubers! In no time, you’ll be a master of embroidering cute patterns, cutting your jeans into shorts, and making muscle tanks for the summer.
- Relax!
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Give yourself a break! Recent news and events have been crazy stressful; you deserve to take some time off in the way you know best. Let yourself use that expensive bath bomb, eat some comfort food, and sleep in until 1pm. Don’t expect yourself to be as productive as you might have been while you were on campus or in classes. You deserve to rest, so allow yourself to!
Whatever you choose to do to cure your boredom, just remember this will end and we will all get through this. On that note, this will end, so don’t cut your bangs, text your ex, or download TikTok; seriously, these still have consequences. Happy quarantining!