During the most recent COVID-19 outbreak we are all advised to stay home to help prevent the spread of the virus which is good but what are you supposed to do for the next thirty days? As many disabled people are used to this type of living and nothing has really changed about our life that is not the case for many abled people. Abled people, who are always on the run will face some major changes and wonder how am I supposed to entertain myself if I can’t leave my house? This is the reality of many disabled people and the time I ever leave my house is for my weekly occupational therapy and an occasional shopping trip. When you are home all the time you have to find things to do or you will become depressed and go crazy. Leaving the house is not always an option for disabled people as some people like me can’t drive so unless someone is willing to take us somewhere we are stuck! Entertaining with what you have at home is more difficult but for many disabled people, it is a lifestyle and is not as hard as you think. If you are so bored from being home here are a few things you may not have tried that can help you end that boredom.
Write- Writing is very therapeutic and if you have been thinking about it now would be a great time to start a blog or Youtube channel. While everyone else is shutting down because of the virus content creators can still do business as usual and since everyone is at home and online it makes many content creators very busy! For a while, I felt stuck as my blog wasn’t getting views and I thought for the remainder of this outbreak, I was in trouble. Luckily it all changed in an instant and now I am getting two to three times as many readers as I normally would. Writing can still have many benefits without being published online and as a matter of fact, the very first thing I wrote was never published and never will be. You shouldn’t publish everything that pops in your head as some things will give your readers no value and you will suffer because of it. Publishing your work online is an added bonus as your work will get in front of more eyes. Journaling also has benefits because there are no limits on what you can say as for blogging can be.
Read- If you are a super busy person chances are you have a couple of books that you never got to reading. Get those books out and start reading them or look for new ones on your kindle or tablet. There are so many books, articles and blog posts that even if you read all day long for the next month you still wouldn’t have come close to reading everything in existence. New blogs are created every day and one of the perks of blogging is that you have access billions of blogs at your fingertips and it would be impossible to read and support all of them. If you aren’t a blogger and want to read some of these amazing blogs instead of waiting for your friends to share them why not make a WordPress account? You don’t have to be a blogger to create a WordPress account as there are many who have one and have never written a single post and only have it to read some of the incredible blogs created on WordPress. Bloggers sometimes pay for their blogs to have more freedom and to look more professional but it’s free to blog so this is not a requirement.
Do an old project- Do you have an old project that has just been sitting there for months because it’s not that important and you haven’t had the time to get to it? If you are stuck at home and are bored do something productive by tackling some of these projects!
Find a hobby- If you are home with nothing to do you need to find a hobby to occupy your time with. One of my favorite hobbies is calligraphy and although it is one of the harder hobbies that I am nowhere near mastering it is a great time killer. Right now, I almost have one letter mastered so still a long way to go but my goals is to one day get good enough that I can incorporate in my blog posts and create a logo. I don’t know if this will ever happen but all you can do is try! There are so many hobbies waiting to be discovered so find something that sparks your interest and see if you like it. If you don’t then it might not be the right activity for you so keep trying the right thing will come! Hobbies can hours out of your day so if you bored you definitely want to find one.
Workout- If you are able now is not the time to be skipping your workouts as it will help boost your immunity and raise your chances of survival if a serious illness were to strike. There are so many at-home options that there are no excuses not to get your sweat on and are just as effective as gym workouts. If you don’t own a treadmill walking around your neighborhood, lifting weights or subscribing to a fitness channel can help you stay in shape and burn some extra calories. My favorite fitness channels that I use regularly is Blogilates for my pilates and Rebecca Louise Fitness for my strength training. Both of these channels are not designed for a disabled person but new ones are created weekly and there are some workouts that disabled people could benefit from and you will never run out. The most important thing is that you stay consistent, find something you really love, and get moving!
Play games- There are tons of gaming options on Facebook, Playstation, Xbox or the Wii that it would be nearly impossible to run out of games to play. Find some games from whatever gaming device you have and if you want invite a friend to make it more fun. I sometimes play the Sims and easily burn an entire day so you’d be surprised at how much time playing games kill.
Watch a movie- After going through multiple surgeries throughout the course of my life I learned that watching tv all day long or is not what’s it’s cracked up to be. At some point, you will not entertain you anymore and you will want nothing to do with Netflix. There is nothing wrong with an occasional movie but if that’s is all that you do it will be entertainment that is shortlived.
Call a friend– During this tough time, everyone is told to stay home until it’s safe and who knows when that will be. For many disabled people, this isn’t much different from our daily lives and sometimes we only see our friends but once or twice a year. Not being able to see your friends is no excuse not to stay in contact so give them a call, text or skype them to see how they are. Checking in on your friends is always super important during difficult times because you never know how they are holding up. They may need you to help them get through this difficult situation and if you never contact them you won’t know they are struggling.
Learn a language- If you have a month off work and have been wanting to learn another language now would be a good time to start. Sometimes when you working you are too tired to do anything else. Just before Christmas I picked up sign language again because I did it years ago and remember how much I loved it. It will still be years before I am even close to fluent but with practice, it could happen. Learning a language is not easy but there are so many apps that can help if you are truly motivated to do so.
Practice your typing- As a blogger, my typing is always getting faster as I am always practicing that sometimes my brain can’t keep up and I have to type slower so I don’t forget vital information because I totally will! It hasn’t always been that way and there was a time when I pecked at the keyboard and probably typed ten words a minute. When you type that slow tasks that involve typing take twice as long so I decided one summer that I was going to dedicate two hours a day to improve it. By the end of the summer, I was able to type close to fifty words a minute without looking at the keyboard. My accuracy wasn’t great but because I was typing faster I was able to get stuff done in half the time. There are tons of free online typing programs that I took advantage of and really helped improve my speed and accuracy. I am glad I did this because I can’t imagine blogging while pecking it would take so long to write longer posts! When I first started learning to type numbers and symbols weren’t my strong suit but since then and practicing them through blogging it has become automatic for me. Keep practicing as it will become easier and there is no better time to work on your skills than when you are off work.
Color/Draw- Drawing or coloring is great if you are stressed and need something to help you relax. Coloring is not just for kids anymore but there are tons of adult coloring books that have lots of details or if you are an artist get that sketchbook out and draw something. Personally, I am not talented in that area and all my artwork looks like a child’s but even if your not good at it don’t let it stop you no one has to see it.
Make a recipe- Who needs an excuse to make good tasting food? I know I don’t and while you’re stuck in your house unable to go out to eat you might well make good tasting food. Make a recipe and share it with your friends!
Limit your time on social media- When people are home from work the first thing people often do is spend their entire day complaining in social media. Everyone is having a difficult time with social isolation so you are not the only one and complaining will not make it better. Spread some positivity because some people are really struggling with this and posts that bring people hope can help them through a difficult situation. If you are too depressed to do that limit your time on social media until things get better!
When you can’t leave the house there will be less options and some things will be off-limits until it’s safe to leave but there are still options. Look at what you have in your house and see how you can use those things to entertain yourself. There is more in your house to occupy your time with than you realize and if you are bored enough you will find something to do. Many disabled people are isolated all the time and rarely leave their house so this is much of a change and we find plenty of things to do. If we can find something to do without getting crazily depressed and going crazy then you can too. This is only temporary for abled people but not so temporary for many disabled people so you will survive and get through this period of your life! Get creative because believe it or not there are other ways to entertain yourself other than binging Netflix. How are you entertaining yourself during the self-isolation?
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