New Hobbies, Healthy Eating, and More: A Quarantine Guide for Self Care

Quarantine has shifted everyone’s way of living into a method we would not have expected. Being inside and practicing social distancing doesn’t have to take a toll on your health. Staying inside can fuel bad habits, restrict physical activity, and increase anxious behaviour. To bring back a normal lifestyle, here are some quick and easy ways to keep yourselves healthy during this time of worry:

1. Make a to-do list: Being indoors and having the same routine makes it seem like it is Monday, every day. Having a to-do list makes every day seem a bit different, and can spark some productivity within the day. It doesn’t have to be a 17-page to-do list, just 3-4 things you want to accomplish within the day. It can be small things like cleaning your room or meditating for 10 minutes. Just some tasks you want to complete to make the day unique.

2. Eating Healthy: It is so easy to order food on UberEats every day, but it’s also important to get all the nutrients our body needs. There are many easy recipes online that can be made in the time it takes to order and deliver food. All you need is to search up ingredients you want to include and the duration of cooking time. For example [Healthy Pasta recipes] in [20 minutes]. Try making one meal per week, and it might become a new hobby.

3. Exercise: Getting at least 30 minutes of exercise is necessary every day. But it is hard to get exercise indoors. Luckily, Youtube has a variety of content from yoga to cardio, and with different durations, so that you can get your 30 minutes of exercise easily. I personally love the Youtube Channel “Yoga With Adriene” and her yoga routines. It relaxes my body after a busy day of working and gets me thinking about all the details of my day. There are also many workout videos that you can do using a chair or at your table. You don’t need a whole room, just enough space to spread your arms and a fun video of your choice.

4. Getting Proper Sleep: Netflix is addicting, and sometimes you don’t notice the time going by when binging a show. On the other hand, it is important to get at least 8 hours of proper sleep every day. The 8 hours of sleep will leave you energized, more relaxed, and can help you think clearly throughout the day.

5. Try a New Hobby: We all have the list of things we wanted to try but never got the time for. With the winter semester ending, we, as students, are getting more time to ourselves. Learning new skills can become something you love and do in the long term or something that can help you relax. On my list, I always wanted to get back into graphic design and over the last month of quarantine, I was able to design logos for multiple clients as a side business. In the end, you now have more time to experiment with all those things you have on your list.

6. Take some time off social media: Social media has become everyone’s best friend while being indoors. It keeps us connected with the world, friends and family. It is really useful during a time like this. On the other hand, it is also important to turn off social media and focus on the world past the screen. There are many things to enjoy without social media like reading a book, listening to music, or having a family dinner.

Article and photo by Emeka Balakumar

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