Throughout the past few months, I and many others have had to go into periods of quarantine and self-isolation. The first few days are typically a nice break however it begins to become very boring and difficult rather quickly. Going day after day staring at the same walls not and not being able to do very much it gets easy to start feeling like you are going to lose your mind.
If you are anything like me, you may start out by doing the chores and other housework you had been putting off or by sitting down and finally binge watching that show you started two months ago and as nice as it may seem at first you inevitably find yourself in that quarantine slump. Something that I found to be very beneficial when I have to quarantine and that I would recommend to others is to have a variety of productive leisure activities at the ready. Now if you are unlike me and do not get bored with things rather quickly you may only need fewer activities to get you through than I do.
I’m not going to lie, it took me quite a while to compile the stock of things that I now keep on hand and to find the activities that worked for me, so I figured I would share some tips and tricks that I learned through trial and error to help make the process easier for others.
Tip 1: Create a list of activities that you like, activities you want to try, and skills you want to learn. You can use this list as a reference down the road and can cross off activities as you try or accomplish them. You can also use this list as a baseline for research or a compare and contrast sheet before you make any decisions. See what kinds of materials you may need to complete these activities, so you know if it is stuff you have lying around or if you are going to have to make some purchases.
Tip 2: Make a plan of action. Don’t just jump headfirst into a new activity as it will most likely just end in frustration. Break down the activity into small pieces first so you can build up the skills you will need. For example, during my first quarantine of the summer I decided that I wanted to learn how to crochet and I made the mistake of thinking I could jump right in and follow along with a pattern, and this just led to hours of trying to complete the first two rows over and over again. Once I realized that I was not getting anywhere I made a list of all the things I needed to be able to do in order to work on the project. I then went to work looking through Google and YouTube learning how to do each individual task before starting to piece them together.
Tip 3: Learning a new skill or activity takes time so don’t expect to be great at it right away. It is okay to fail and to have to try several times before it turns out right! In every single new activity, I have tried this year I have failed, I made several candles that refused to burn evenly, miscounted or messed up stitches numerous times while crocheting and cross stitching, killed an absurd amount of plants, and lost track of the amount of baked goods I burnt beyond recognition, however with time, practice, and experience these errors and mistakes have become less and less frequent.
Tip 4: Pace yourself. Try to avoid doing too much at once. If you try too many new activities within a short period of time you may overwhelm yourself. It will also likely take you longer to learn how to do them well as you will be dividing your attention to learning multiple different skills at the same time. You also might want to avoid sitting down and doing one single activity for too long of a period. As you may begin to grow bored with the activity quicker.
Tip 5: My final tip is that it is okay to not like an activity. No one is going to force you to like an activity or to keep up with it. If it turns out that it just isn’t meant for you stop doing it because all you are going to achieve by forcing yourself to do something you enjoy doing is making yourself miserable which is the exact opposite of what your leisure activities should do for you. At this point just go back to your list and find something new to try!
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