Since the beginning of the year, most of us have been stuck at home thanks to COVID-19. It started out as a pretty nice vacay, working from home and attending weekly meetings in our jammies. But with over half the year over and no release in sight, people are starting to get quite stir-crazy stuck inside their houses and apartments! Thank god we’re in 2020 because though there is a pandemic going on, we’re still all free to roam to our heart’s desire on the internet!

The internet is filled with weird and interesting things to do to beat the blues, and it’s going to become your best friend this year unless the folks over at Oxford start shipping the vaccine sooner than we thought. From online classes and courses to simply passing the time, here’s your survival guide to 2020!

1. Learn To Play An Instrument Online

With quite a lot of time on our hands, learning to play an instrument seems like a no-brainer! As an adult, you can pick up easy to learn ones like the ukulele or the guitar. If you have severe space constraints, you look into the exotic kalimba or the African thumb piano. If you can still walk into a music shop, you can see that guitars are also extremely popular, as are the keyboards.

Considering that gigs and other music events have been canceled, you should consider supporting a local musician and contacting them for classes. You’ll make a new friend, help the community, and learn something – three birds with one stone! If you’re buying a new instrument, get yourself something that has good reviews online, and don’t just go for looks.

2. Grow Your Own Food

Do you have a sunny window box? Or a small yard? Or even a patch of grass by your front door? Buy some seeds and plant them! Growing some of your own food is super rewarding, and makes for some of the best pictures on the ‘gram. You get food, flavor, and followers – how can you say no to that?! Many people, including celebrities, start out with one pot and end up with a forest!

Herbs are a popular choice to start with. Mint, basil, oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme, and parsley are some that require little to no attention and are great for beginners. You can also experiment and try to grow from scraps you throw away when you cook. Carrot tops, for example, can be left in some water to regrow the leaves that can be added in salads. The great thing about this is that you could use up things you’re throwing away and upcycling yourself something tasty. You can get more information about local vegetables at your local farmer’s market, and you could pick up supplies there as well.

Mushrooms too are excellent additions to your indoor garden. You can grow them using mushroom-growing starter kits, which are ideal for beginners with little to no experience with fungiculture. They’re easy to set up and won’t take a lot of space, so you can grow them even without a garden.

3. Adopt A Pet!

Animal shelters across the country are reporting record numbers of best friends being adopted. If your job has also decided to shift you to WFH permanently like so many others, you should totally consider adopting a pet! Go to your animal shelter right now and pick out someone who will keep you occupied all day.

Make sure you consider the needs of the animal before you adopt it. Dogs need to be walked at least twice a day, and taken out for potty as well. Cats need cat-proof homes so they don’t get out and injure themselves or other animals. Both cats and dogs need spaying, and insurance, so factor those costs in the long term as well!

4. Talk To A Psychic!

Sounds crazy, right? But too many people believe in this to discount them completely. A lot of people get scarily accurate predictions from their psychics and fortune-tellers. If you want to talk to a lost loved one, a psychic is your best bet. If you want to know about yourself or your future, you could check out tarot card readers, palm readers, and more.

If your dreams have been bothering you, there are dream analysts as well. If any of those things sound interesting to you, then head on over to Kasamba!  Kasamba is most popular among people who consult and have a wide range of services for you. Pick your poison among the highly-rated professionals on the website!

5. Get Cooking!

Of course, most people have been forced to eat at home during this lockdown. However, meals aren’t the only thing you can cook! You could try baking, which involves a lot of skill and always results in something tasty. You could look into making jams and jellies out of summer fruits to last you through winter.

Fermentation has been becoming more and more popular among a lot of people, and you could look into that as well. It’s as easy as measuring and adding a few things to mason jars, so it’ll take more shelf space than effort. Sourdough takes about a fortnight to make from scratch, and it’s a super fun process. You could even try brewing some alcohol, like tepache – the possibilities are endless! Making ingredients you can use later is an unusual aspect of cooking, and if you get any good at it, you could sell some as a savvy side hustle.

6. Skill Up!

Just because people are under lockdown orders doesn’t mean life isn’t going on. If you’re sitting at home with nothing to do, consider browsing websites like Coursera to better yourself. You could identify specific courses that will give you that extra edge to get a promotion or a raise.

Since a lot of classes have shifted online, it has opened up a huge world of opportunities for working people. You could get another degree, get a certification you’ve been waiting for, or even shift your industry. You could hone existing skills as well.

7. Start An Exercise Group!

It’s no secret we’ve all been couch potatoes throughout the lockdown, and we’ve all put on the Freshman Fifteen thrice over since January! With gyms closed and social distancing measures in place, exercising has been pushed to the bottom of our priorities a long time ago.

Instead of battling it out alone, why not make a group with your friends and do some workouts over video calls? If you see your friends sitting alone and doing nothing, convince them to start with you so you can keep each other on track. If your local gym trainer is out of a job, consider asking him or her to lead the group, and get private coaching for your fitness journey. You’d be helping the community and helping yourself in one fell swoop! If you are a trainer yourself, consider organizing group sessions on Instagram or other social media to supplement your income and keep you in the game!

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us