The novel coronavirus has brought the world to its knees by disrupting the economic activities of many countries. Covid-19 has become a nightmare in the eyes of the world because it has and is still taking a lot of lives worldwide. Nowadays, the message from many governments is very clear and is: #StayHome! Many countries are in coronavirus lockdown and we must stay home, as that is right now the only “vaccine” we have. So, what to do to fight boredom at home during this quarantine or lockdown? Here you go a list with some productive and fun things to do at home during coronavirus quarantine.
The disease is mainly spread by touching infected surfaces and then touching the face, inhalation of sneeze droplets, touching or shaking hands of infected individuals, hugging and kissing infected people. Due to the facts that the virus spreads rather quickly and easily, people get infected at an exponential pace and travel with it thereby spreading it to other countries.
Many countries as a result have decided to lockdown to reduce the odds of people coming into contact with others and have also encouraged copious hand washing as well as social distancing.
Lockdowns and other measures being put in place by governments to reduce the transmission of the virus are having uncomfortable outcomes for the economies and livelihoods of citizens. Many people are being affected by the disease both directly and indirectly by being either in quarantine or lockdown.
5 Things to do at home during the Covid-19 lockdown
GreenViews brings you things you can do during the time spent indoors.
1. Take an online course
This is one of the most effective ways of enjoying the quarantine is using the isolation period to improve your knowledge and skills of the things you have longed to do. You can learn a new language, learn to play an instrument, learn a new recipe, learn to code, and learn to use particular software well.
Taking online courses with the aim of enriching your CV is also not a bad idea. There are many online websites that offer you these courses – some free, others paid; they are Udemy, EDX, Coursera, Eduonix, Class Central, Alison, FutureLearn, OpenLearn. These are to mention a few and there is a plethora of information on these websites.
Browse through these sites and you will find courses that will satisfy your desire to grow and be the best you can be. More websites where you can get courses are: Khan Academy, iTunesU Free Courses, MIT OpenCourseWare, Stanford Online and Codecademy.
2. Play Video and Board games
It has been proven scientifically that games help us in various ways – most of the benefits are not realized instantly but over time. They make us mentally awake and increase our concentration power, improve our thinking ability, teach us the power of teamwork and to find a way out of difficult and tricky situations.
A lot of times, games need good strategies for better performance and when these skills are applied in real life situation can prove to be very useful. There are many non-violent games that can give immense benefits to the players involved; many of the physical games we play as team or as individuals have online and offline versions that we could play with people from all over the world.
Games like Scrabble, Monopoly, Checkers, Chess, FIFA, NBA, Ludo, Solitaire, and Pinball have immense benefits that can help individuals in real life situations. During this period, you have to make it a must to get to learn about a game or two to help you get by.
The caution is that, these games get really addictive and one must have to plan your time appropriately so that you do not get addicted.
3. Start a side hustle
Many people have day jobs and a good number of people are also freelancers. Almost everyone is working hard trying to make a living and also to assure a better and secure future. Living conditions continue to get higher and hence getting a side hustle or other source of income is very much desired.
This side hustle can be kept as such or eventually blossom into a full blown business with structures and employees depending on decisions and circumstances and this usually involves turning hobbies into income generating activities.
In this season of quarantines and lockdowns, you can take up blogging, designing, coding, copywriting, website designing, writing a book on a subject you are passionate about, data analysis, making podcasts, social media influencing, photography, writing business proposals and many more.
These activities can be very fulfilling provided they are things you enjoy doing and also generate revenue if done right. You can come out of this quarantine with a new source of income. Isn’t that great?
4. Read! Read!! Read!!!
In addition to the above listed suggestions, this quarantine and lockdown period is a really great time to acquire some knowledge and also entertain yourself by reading books.
Reading is a really great way to broaden our horizon and deepen our understanding of issues. If your everyday hustles does not present you with some quality reading time, then try hard to seize this opportunity.
There are millions of books on almost every subject under the sun and are now much more accessible than ever in the history in mankind. While you gain pleasure from reading very captivating books, you get to improve your vocabulary, reduce stress, alleviate depression, sharpens your memory and increases your knowledge. Moreover, reading has been shown to slow down and even prevent cognitive decline in some cases.
There is so much information hidden in books that we can’t find anywhere else. During this quarantine, it will be great to get in on some novels and self-help books. You can try out some Ghanaian writers (here you will find a list of books worth to read from Ghanaian writers) as well as some books such as: Mastery by Robert Greene, The Art of Deal by Donald Trump, Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People, The Art of War by Sun Tzu, Barack Obama’s Dreams of my father, Michelle Obama’s Becoming, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey, The Tipping Point by Gladwell Malcom, Paul Coelho’s The Alchemist, Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki and more can be found on PDFDrive – a free online database of books with over 75 million books that can be accessed and downloaded easily.
5. Create Educational YouTube Videos
Creating YouTube videos can really be a good way of making great use of your quarantine or lockdown period. The saying goes that there is more happiness in giving than in receiving and sharing knowledge in any field could be solving someone’s problem somewhere in the world.
The process can be rewarding especially if you touch someone’s heart or problem. Share that cooking recipe, the business secret, the talent you have, that knowledge you have which can help make someone’s life better.
Make sure you come out of the lockdown or quarantine a better person than you used to be.