How to stay productive around the home during the pandemic lockdown
The coronavirus pandemic has changed our lives in an unprecedented way. At the time of this writing, more than 2.7 million people have been infected globally. We are fighting this pandemic with a lockdown.
We are stuck indoors at home during times when we would usually be working and going about our daily lives outside of our homes.
In this situation many ‘essential workers’ such as doctors, nurses, superstore workers are allowed to work outdoors as frontline warriors in this pandemic, and we thank them from the core of our heart.
The rest of us, however, are stuck home with not a whole lot to do. Those of us who are lucky to work from home have work to keep them busy. The rest of us are struggling to get through the day during the pandemic.
What we don’t realize, this is a great opportunity to build ourselves for the future. This coronavirus epidemic is the perfect opportunity for us to do some self-development.
We can use this time to engage in productive work that helps our mental and emotional health as well as help us get through the day.
Here we listed some ideas on how to stay productive around the house during the lockdown.
Household
Now would be a great time to get through the honey-do list. All those projects and chores you have put off because you just didn’t have enough time before, are all perfect ways to keep yourself busy and productive at the same time.
Make an action plan to tackle a project every day and get it done. The sense of accomplishment will boost our spirits along the way. Get your partner and your kids to join in and make it a fun family group activity while getting something productive done!
Take care of the garden
Depending on which hemisphere you are, we have been hit by this lockdown at a time when seasons are changing. This is a perfect time to get all your garden work done.
Plant that vegetable garden you always wanted and get your kids involved. They will learn where food grows and connect with food. Plant flowering plants that bring in the bees and the butterflies.
This is the year you could bring your A-game to your lawn care. Seed the lawn, get the weeds out, and start mowing the lawn as the weather gets nicer. If you have been putting off buying that new lawnmower, now would be a great time to invest in one. Before buying a lawnmower, do some online research.
Sort out the devices
Have you been putting off cleaning out your laptop drives or freeing up your phone/tablet space to get rid of the ‘running out of space’ warnings?
During normal times, we are often too busy to look into what files and photos we want to store and where. We resort to living with slow devices.
This lockdown provides an opportunity to clean out those devices. Take your time and properly judge everything before you delete them or decide to store them on the cloud or external storage, freeing up device space.
Organizing your wardrobe
This is a must-do in this lockdown. In our regular lives, we are far too busy to organize our wardrobes and declutter.
Organizing your closet can perform miracles – it can find those long lost (or forgotten) items of clothing! That long lost shirt, or those pair of pants you thought you would never find, yep, they were in the drawer, hiding under the disorganized mess.
Declutter and get rid of what you don’t need or will never wear. Take some time to fix the items of clothing you would like to keep. Do some essential ironing on those shirts. Try to take off that nasty stain off of your favorite pair of pants.
Separate the formal wear from casual wear. Hang up your party dresses in a place where you can see them. This way you won’t have to rip apart your closet next time you are looking for a dress for that date to go to once the lockdown is over.
File-cabinets and bookshelves
After wardrobe let’s go through the file cabinets and bookshelves. They probably need to be organized just as much as your closet. First, dust off the documents and books after taking them off the shelves. You could alphabetically arrange the books. It’s not necessary, but of course you have the time. If not alphabetically then organize them by themes or subject matter so you find them easily.
Take out the files and folders you don’t need. Try to repair the old books in your collection that are damaged. All of these could be your project in this time of lockdown.
Self-development
Now, we look at some activities that will contribute to your self-development.
Read a book
Now is a great time to take up reading. Reading books could be the best way to get through this lockdown. Books are the storehouse of knowledge, and your mind’s best friend.
You can learn about a whole new topic in this time of crisis. We are usually so busy and always on the go that we never get through the list of books we want to read.. It’s time to tick off some books from that list. Reading doesn’t always have to be for learning something, you can read fictions to entertain yourself and indulge in a bit of escapism – because that would be a great break for your mind.
Learn a new language
This free time could be the best opportunity to learn a new language. Learning a new language is always fun. It opens new windows of opportunities for you. You can study abroad, visit a country, even open a business in a new country very easily, if you know the local lingo.
Learning a language can be difficult when juggling a hectic schedule of our busy lives. We are so exhausted from work, that we often put off learning new skills and languages. Our brains are too tired and after a long day, all we feel like doing is veg in front of the TV. Now, this available time is perfect for learning a new language.
Your daily stresses and commutes are gone. You can use your brain capacity to learn a new language quickly. You can use various language learning apps to help you in this mission.
Working out
Gyms are closed and outdoor activities have been ground to a halt, so keeping fit and healthy can be a challenge nowadays.
However, the lockdown also gives you a lot of free time away from your sedentary desk job and all the eating out. You could use this time to get in a better shape than you were before the lockdown. Implement a diet plan that you can now dedicate time to. Put together an exercise routine that you can do around the house.
Make use of that extra time on your hand to work out. If you are missing your gym instructor, don’t worry there are plenty of online workout instructional videos to help you get moving.
Meditation
Although some confuse this with physical workouts, meditation is more of a workout of the mind. You could take the time in this lockdown to explore yourself through meditation. There are plenty of self-help videos and podcasts to get you through meditative practices. You could also pick up yoga through Youtube.
Skincare
As we said this is the time for self-care. You can develop a more indulgent skincare routine – something you won’t get to do on a busy day. Eating healthy could help you get that healthy glow and also keep your body fit. Take this opportunity of lockdown to take extra care of your skin and yourself, to give yourself a makeover when you step outside into the real world after the lockdown.
The coronavirus is not something we should take lightly. We all have to do our part and endure this socially isolated lockdown to beat this pandemic. Take this extra time at hand to indulge in all the things we discussed. You will feel productive, accomplished, and keep yourself healthy both physically and mentally. Stay home, stay safe, and make the most of it.