Make The Most Of Your Self Isolation

I am currently looking out my window, my usually busy street which overlooks a train station is far from busy today - the street is quiet and the empty trains go past in case anyone wants to use them. I am in Melbourne Australia and things are starting to get quiet here, with people keeping indoors amidst this pandemic we’re all facing.  I don’t want to really talk about the flu that’s sweeping the world, as all the news you are watching is likely to tell you everything you need to know.  I am going to focus on what things we could be doing to make the most of this very uncertain time. Even just thinking of the pandemic fills me with anxiety, so I’ve listed a few ideas of what I suggest to fill your days with…the creative way:

Read, read, read!  

I don’t know if you’re the same as me, but I have a shelf full of books I have been planning getting around to reading, and now is the time I can start.  I also have a kindle, which is great if you want to buy a book instantly.  Another thing to do once you’ve read your books and what I plan to do will be to pop them in a box and leave them outside my door, inviting anyone to take a book. During this time especially with shops closed, it might be difficult to find new books to read, so this way you’re spreading the love and helping people in a small way. Maybe give the covers a spray of disinfectant first!

Connect with family and friends:

We all lead hectic lives, but this might be the first time you’re able to stop, breathe and look around.  Think of the people who are close to you - give them a call, an email something to let them know you’re thinking of them…and don’t wait for them to get in touch, you make the move!  A big thing I’ve been using is WhatsApp, now I don’t want to look as If I’m promoting them, but I have been using their voice recording with people close to me, it saves time writing and makes you feel like you are there with them.

Baking:

Stand up from the couch and avoid Netflix! Put your time into something worthwhile like making something with your own hands…that you can eat! Win win, creating and eating!

We are all going through different seasons in different countries, Melbourne is at the beginning stages of Autumn-fall, there’s pumpkins everywhere, so I will be planning to make sweet American style pumpkin pies.  It is also worth considering to look at recipes that don’t use the standard flour or common ingredients, you may have noticed that the supermarkets have run out of these staples with people bulk buying. So if you are able to think outside the box, try recipes without flour or different flour like coconut or semolina - my husband made banana loaf the other night using banana flour which was delicious!  Work within your means, check out google and Pinterest…there lots of new and different recipes out there, and what better time to try experimenting…

Arts and crafts:

Maybe you have a ball of wool and knitting needles somewhere you’ve been meaning to use, or a sewing machine collecting dust?  Even just a plain pad of paper and pencils, anything you can use to do something creative.  YouTube is amazing and has thousands of videos showing you how to create simple projects.  Have a look around your house, maybe you could learn how to knit a scarf, or sew an easy apron for all the baking you’re going to do?  And if you have kids, it might be something fun to do with them!

Meditation and exercise:

Exercise is important, but it’s especially hard at this time if you have no access to a garden - but it doesn’t mean you can’t exercise in your home.  There are simple exercises you can do in the comfort of your living room, I like doing pilates or yoga, which are great for stretching and gives your body a workout.  You can find so many instructors/classes online for free, for different levels of difficulty and for all lengths of time.  There’s definitely ones for ten minutes if thats all you can manage!

I plan to start looking into meditation…I have said this for a long time now, after giving up all too soon once I did a few sessions…I found I just couldn’t switch off my mind.  But during this isolation, I plan to make time for meditating and focussing my mind on positivity, not letting anxiety and stress take over.

Learn something new:

Now’s the time you could learn a language, learn about gardening, writing a book of your own, anything! The world is your oyster, and this might be the only time you get to really look into an area that interests you. A great way to start is to listen to different podcasts, there’s loads out there covering every topic under the sun. So if you were interested in midwifery, history, business, marketing the list is endless - there will be a podcast out there. And a shameless plug, if you are playing with the idea of writing your own book, then myself and my friend Hayley have a podcast where we chat about writing our own books. We cover a lot of topics, from tips on how we write, how we plan to publish, and other factors that can affect writers/creatives such as fear and self doubt.

The Aspiring Authors Podcast. Available in Google-Apps, ITunes and Spotify too

I hope some of these ideas inspire you. I’m aware not everyone has the internet to follow through with a lot of these, but hopefully they make you realise the possibilities that could be right under your nose.

L x