Social distancing has brought the world together in the strangest ways. With the quarantine in effect, old friends have been catching up, reliving old stories and learning new ones all the same. There’s never been as much of a need for communication and human warmth.
The fact is that these are hard times for everyone right now, some far more so than others. It’s easy to get caught up in the news and lose yourself to the cacophony, but we should all keep in mind that in the same way recent events give us reason to seek each other out, this is also an opportunity to be kinder to ourselves. This list isn’t a definitive one by any means, but here are the things that’s helped me keep my mind active and imaginative even in the face of The Big Pause that has the world at something of a standstill.
From the bottom of my heart, I hope this helps even a little bit.
Meditation
Hear me out, it’s not as weird as it sounds. Take a few minutes each day in a quiet room, sit down, and just be. No chanting or prayer necessary, but meditation is such a deeply personal thing that I’d honestly be remiss to tell you how to go about it! But here’s a tip: Put on some calming rain sounds or babbling brooks to set the mood, or go vanilla and stick with the soundtrack of the world around you.
Read a book
If you’re anything like me, chances are there’s anywhere between three to thirty (or God forbid, more) books piled up in some random corner of your house that you’ve sworn to yourself you’d eventually get around to reading. Eventually. Well, now’s as good a time as any, really. I’m a fantasy nut myself and tend to lose myself in far-off worlds fairly often, but I’ve had “A Journal of the Plague Year” by Daniel Defoe queued up on my Kindle for way too long. Maybe a bit too on-the-nose for the times, but it’s a classic for a reason, I swear.
Video games. Yes, really.
Call me a millennial (which, I take no offense because I am one), but I don’t get the hate directed at video games. This could just be my opinion, but video games are as much an art form as music, literature or sculpture, offering a whole new dimension in that they’re interactive! My Steam library’s… maybe a bit more cramped than my actual book library, so now may be a good time to make up for all those Steam Sale binges. I’ve actually been playing a mobile game (don’t @ me that people who play those aren’t “real” gamers) called Elevate to keep my brain from rusting. It ostensibly helps with attention, speaking skills and a host of other things, so I can’t wait to put all that to practice—as soon as I’m able to talk with other people face-to-face.
Dancing
Spending more time than usual at home makes it all too easy to fall into sedentary habits. It could just be because I’m getting on in years too, which is a scary thought that I have to suppress now, thanks me. Where you used to have to literally push me to not be a potato before, I now actually kinda relish any excuse to get up and stretch my limbs. Dancing is a great way to lose yourself in music you love (don’t mind the haters), not to mention it’s good for your health and recent studies have shown that it actually helps improve neural processing speeds, or how quickly your brain can process information.
Listening to Music
People nowadays are pretty spoilt for choice, and this is no more evident than in how streaming platforms have quickly taken over the internet. I’m a bit old school, being a fan of CDs and maybe wanting to invest in a turntable and some decent bookshelf speakers someday, but regardless of the means what matters is that it’s never been easier to find the music you love and revel in it no matter where you are. Whether you’re looking for a creative solution to a creative problem or looking to paint your magnum opus, checking the latest pop hits or going old-school and mellowing to Pink Floyd is a great way to get those creative juices flowing.
Art by Dana Calvo
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