How to Stay Preoccupied Inside
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Depending on your course load, you might find yourself with a lot of free time on your hands while social distancing and quarantining in the house. Here’s a few activities to keep you occupied while we wait out this pandemic.
Work Out or Take a Walk
In quarantine, it’s easy to find yourself laying on the couch or in bed all day, but still itching to do something. Maryland’s big campus can have students walking around 5 miles a day, so staying mostly indoors might be a huge adjustment. A good way to release all that pent up energy is a walk around the neighborhood.
If you’re unable to take a walk where you live, consider taking up some at home workouts. There are YouTube channels dedicated to at home workouts, or see if your local gym is offering Zoom or livestream work out classes!
“I really enjoy working out,” said junior journalism and government double major Isabel Cleary. “So continuing to do so keeps me in a routine.”
Get Arts and Craftsy
Let this quarantine be your personal Renaissance. With not much else besides homework to keep yourself preoccupied, this is a good time to get your creative juices flowing.
This could mean breaking out your fifth grade friendship bracelet kit, watching YouTube tutorials on how to draw the perfect flower, using paint-by-numbers or making your own jewelry out of objects in your house. When you’re bored, the creative possibilities are endless.
Start a Home Improvement Project
It can be easy to ignore the decor of your childhood room when you only spend a few weeks there a year, but this pandemic might make turning a blind eye harder. If your room is still the bright fuschia color that was the envy of all other 10-year-olds, consider a new coat of paint on the walls.
“Decorating my room was fun to think about and kept me busy for a few days,” said sophomore government major Anna Smillie. “It also transformed my childhood bedroom into a more sophisticated ‘dorm’. Since I’m now doing most of my school work in my room, it’s nice to make it my own.”
A room improvement doesn’t even have to be a total make-over. Something small, like changing your bed placement, can make a space feel brand new.
Rediscover Old Video Games
The expression, “If you love it let it go, and if it’s meant to be it’ll come back,” has certainly rang true for classic online games. With everyone inside, people are getting nostalgic and revisiting childhood favorites.
Club Penguin and Webkinz have students back on their computers, spending hours trying to improve their avatars. Some teens are even having “virtual dates” on Animal Crossing and Minecraft.
If you’re unsure of your next activity, consider revisiting your favorite middle school games.
Learn New Recipes
More time on your hands means trying new things. If your bank account suffers during the academic year because you always find yourself eating out on Route 1, now might be a good time to learn how to cook. Help out your parents and volunteer to make dinner once a week.
If you don’t know where to start, Supercook, is a great site that allows you to enter whatever ingredients you have in your house and then generates recipes for you. This site can cover your baking needs as well.
Who knows? You might be the next Gordon Ramsay.
Work on a Long-Term Goal
Have you had one goal in mind that you swore you would accomplish as soon as you had more time? Well I’ve got great news for you, now we all have plenty of time. Excuses are harder to come up with when you literally have nowhere to be.
“I’ve become more invested in playing the piano,” said freshman journalism major Alexa Schaub. “I’m determined to be able to play the theme from Harry Potter by the end of this.”
This could mean learning how to play the guitar, finishing that lengthy book your mother recommended or simply learning how to touch your toes.
Start a New Show to Binge-Watch
Finally, if you’re looking for a more chill way to spend your quarantine, there are thousands of shows and movies at your fingertips. With the rise of streaming sites like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Go and Apple TV, there is no shortage of entertainment.
Some of these sites even have a week free trial. So if you’ve been eyeing a certain show but don’t feel like paying for the subscription, put on your sweats, get comfortable and have a binge-marathon!
While these activities may not fill the void of seeing your friends and hanging out on campus, they might prevent you from going stir-crazy. So pick an activity and get busy!
