13 Interesting Things To Do While Stuck at Home

As the world fights a battle with a global pandemic, many of us are fighting our own internal battles, at home. We're staying home as much as possible and keeping our distance from others, but there's only so much cleaning and Netflix-bingeing a person can do. 

So here's a list of 13 actually interesting things to do in your spare time while staying home:

1. Start a blog about one of your random interests. Woodworking? Whales? World War II? There's room on the internet for you! Alternatively, start keeping a journal just about your daily life, your thoughts and feelings. 

2. Take time to reflect on the past year and make goals for the coming year. Reflection and goal-setting isn't reserved for the new year! And maybe your priorities are looking a little different now, anyway. 

3. Finally go through the photos on your camera roll. Pick your favorites and order prints to put up in your house or into a photo book. You could even make a gift for someone else!

4. Make a list of the places in the world you want to visit when you can travel again. Get specific. Which cities and towns would you visit? What would you do there?

5. Attempt things with your non-dominant hand. From writing, to opening jars, to brushing your teeth, this one may be a little more frustrating than interesting. But it could be worth it! Using your non-dominant hand increases the amount of activity in your non-dominant brain hemisphere. This is correlated with improved levels of creativity and intuition. 

6. Practice typing. How many words per minute can you type? See if you can get speedier by taking an online typing course.

7. Learn origami. You can learn to make anything from an origami Penguin to Pomeranian here. 

8. Take an Instagram baking class. Such as Christina Tosi's "Baking Club"!

9. Learn a new style of dance by watching YouTube tutorials and practicing in your living room. Hip Hop? Folk? The Jitterbug? The possibilities are endless. 

10. Go through your home and find out how many plastic bottles & containers you have. Then research plastic-free alternatives for a more eco-friendly and lower-waste life!

11. "Visit" tourist destinations via a live webcam. And marvel at how deserted they are! Here's a list of 10 European destinations to check out. 

12. Get lost in a cool coloring book. Coloring can help to relieve anxiety, and it's calming and fun! Check out this list of 11 of the best coloring books for adults for some options. 

13. Enhance your knowledge with a free Ivy League online course! The Ivy League schools across the US - Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Pennsylvania, Princeton and Yale - are currently offering free online courses. There are almost 450 options, so you're sure to find something to pique your interest. Buddhism And Modern Psychology, anyone?

The situation we're in right now is definitely not ideal, but we hope one of these ideas will help to relieve some of your stress and worries. And who knows, maybe you'll pick up a new interest, or learn a new skill during this time! Or, maybe you'll watch everything on Netflix. That's cool too. 

 

Much love,

Amy Rawlings

Rice Love