Well, it looks like we might be in for a bit of a long-haul. Sports are off, same with music festivals, bars and clubs, restaurants, cultural events, conventions, and anything else fun really! While being stuck with nothing to do but eat comfort food, play video games and watch Netflix might sound great, it can get old fast. Not to mention, you usually aren’t aware of how much healthy movement you do during the day until you aren’t doing it anymore. The solution we’ve come to? Get in touch with your inner child (and we don’t mean play more video games)!
Once you clear the table, or better yet the furniture, you’ll be surprised at the activity space you create! Board games and smaller scale stuff won’t cause you too much grief, but you might want to put that inner child on hold just while you move all your fragiles and delicates out of harms way. After that, the world is yours!
Indoor Sports
So straightaway, the vases and ornaments aren’t safe. However, both department stores and sports stores are full of equipment for “mini” sports. Think little basketball hoops, table tennis sets (any old table is fine), even a soft footy or soccer ball! You’ll be working up a competitive sweat in no time, and will have hopefully well and truly compensated for missing the gym, but if you still feel it’s not enough...
Bring the gym home
We’re sure there’s plenty of people out there that have found the most convenient of excuses not to be hitting the gym (despite the fact they weren’t going well before lockdowns were in place!). However, you don’t need a home gym worth thousands of dollars to keep fit. There’s loads of content online with fitness routines that require nothing more than your own body and maybe a soft surface; think fitness boxing, ab workouts, push ups, planks…See!? Now get off the couch and onto the mat!
Embrace the Arts!
As is the case with the arts itself, this is a pretty open ended one. Utilising activity space doesn’t have to be all about scratching a competitive itch. That space could be used for the performative; such as learning a new dance or singing karaoke (be mindful of the neighbours!), or the visual, like painting a picture or building something. If you don’t have the equipment for such things, but are lucky enough to be in a position to purchase it, then go ahead! You shouldn’t expect to find too much craziness around these items compared the essentials. Not to mention, the classification of what “essential” is can get seriously contended, so don’t underestimate the value of investing in morale-boosters during this time. Your mental health is as important as your physical, and these activities are great for those who are used to keeping an active mind.
Tick those boxes
Okay, so maybe we partially lied about embracing the inner child, as this next point is adulting at its finest. This one might not be as fun as the last two, but it could very well be the best use of a level of spare time many might not see again for a while after this. Of course, we mean knocking out those odd jobs! You could tidy the garage, dust the house, clean the pool, scrub the bathroom, vacuum the yard or do some gardening. On top of getting tasks done that would only be further stalled once regular life resumes, making sure your home is at the highest level of cleanliness during this time will do wonders for your health and safety. You may not get COVID-19 itself from dusty rooms and mouldy surfaces in your own home, but you’re certainly leaving yourself open to other infections and illnesses that would make the virus much harder to deal with in the event it enters your household.