What college and high school students can do during a quarantine

People reach out to me daily asking me to share their ideas and articles. Emily Watts reached out to me with this post and I thought it had some excellent ideas so I’m happy to share it with you today. You can find the original article here : https://edubirdie.com/blog/what-to-do-during-quarantine

Staying at home during quarantine is a must for one’s own health and the safety of the entire community. To spend a day or two without going out is often very pleasurable: having a good sleep and staying in a cozy place is so much recreational. Yet, a week or two at home may seem exhausting and feel like torture. At first glance, it suggests nothing interesting but apart from boredom and binge Netflix there are lots of interesting and useful activities one can do to stay active and happy during the quarantine.

Self-development

Quarantine and social distancing are a perfect occasion to spend some time on education and personal growth. With the internet and a laptop, or a smartphone it is super-easy to learn and have fun during the process. Here are some of the good educational resources to try out:

• Khan Academy. Always wanted to learn calculus, or maybe chemistry, or macroeconomics? This platform offers numerous STEM courses for free without any limitations.

• FutureLearn. Be it Shakespearean studies, biology or psychology, FutureLearn has an interesting course about it.

• Duolingo. If you dreamed about learning French but never had enough time to start, now you have a good opportunity. The service offers courses in numerous languages, so why not start speaking Japanese today?

• Udemy. This educational platform offers a wide range of courses from pet care to investment and trading.

• Udacity. While staying at home you can become a true Tony Stark with courses in robotics software engineering, artificial intelligence, and data science.

Communication

Self-isolation is very challenging in terms of a lack of communication with close people. But modern technologies allow people to stay connected 24/7 via messengers, video chats and phone calls. Talk to your family and friends every day. Post your fun indoor activities on Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok or Facebook and get positive emotions from communication. Do not forget to FaceTime your friends who leave abroad. Quarantine is a good reminder that we forget how communication is important in our lives and how important it is to stay in touch and support each other during these hard times.

Art

Painting, drawing, origami, making clay figurines, are all fun and meditating. There are thousands of DIY videos on the internet you can try. Apart from relaxing and developing creativity art can also be useful. For example, staying at home and entertaining yourself you can:

• Learn Photoshop. Make your pictures stunning and impress your Instagram subscribers.

• Prepare your next Halloween costume. Be a star on the next Halloween party with your handmade costume: you can make a mask for yourself, decorate some old clothes or let your creativity out and come up with something unimaginable.

• Decorate your home. Your walls seem empty? Master graphics and add color to your surroundings.

Sports

Keeping fit without the possibility to go out is actually not a problem. On YouTube and Instagram, one can find thousands of videos on how to workout at home. You don’t have any equipment at home? It’s okay. For example, dumbbells can be substituted with water bottles. All you need is some space and a good mood. It is important to keep fit and be active. Also, exercises are good for relieving stress and negative thoughts. Turn on some favorite tunes and shake it off!

Mental health

It is not easy to control oneself and manage stress in the face of uncertainty and danger so it is important to stay calm and take care of one’s mental health. One of the things that trigger the anxiety the most is bad or fake news. Try to avoid reading too much especially on social media. Trust only reliable sources such as quality papers and statements made by the government. Another crucial thing is to get away from all the bad information, which can be achieved by:

• Yoga

• Meditation

• Daydreaming

• Listening to music

• Talking to family and friends

Cooking

During the quarantine, people are at risk of gaining weight since food is available all the time and boredom often temps to eat something tasty. Try to level up your cooking skills and challenge yourself to prepare tasty but low-calorie food. You can bet with your friends on the most beautiful food pics on Instagram. Try new recipes, experiment, enjoy your food and be proud of yourself as a cook!

Developing good habits

If you often go to bed late, now you can correct your lifestyle and daily routine. Try planning your week and keep with the plan. Start making your bed immediately after waking up, use the dental floss after eating and bit by bit achieve all the good habits you wanted to. Possible areas of improvement are:

• Daily routine

• Keeping your place in order

• Skincare routine

• Budget planning

• Healthy diet

• Physical training

• Control over the time spent on social media

Beauty and wellness

Having enough sleep and rest positively influences skin condition. But you can make your natural look even better with expanded skincare routine. Masks, scrubs, and creams can nourish, purify and brighten your skin. If you feel you are too lazy for this, there is a trick: before going to bed wash your face and put toner and cream on your bedside table to apply them immediately before sleeping.

Do not forget about your hair too. A good idea is to start practicing scalp massage to boost growth and shine. Applying hair masks once or twice a week will also make your hair more hydrated, protected, and silky.

Prepare for the end of the quarantine – when it is over you will walk outside and shine with beauty and health.

Movies

You always wanted to watch some good 3-hour movie like Godfather but didn’t have enough time? Now you have plenty of it. Some good recent movies to watch while staying at home are:

• The Irishman

• Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood

• Little Women

• 1917

• If Beale Street Could Talk

• Parasite

• A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

• Marriage Story

• Booksmart

• Knives Out

• Ford vs Ferrari

• A Quiet Place Part II

• The Invisible Man

• Tenet

Music

Good music always makes things better. Relaxing, energetic, calming and inspiring, find something for yourself from the recent releases:

• “After Hours” album by The Weeknd

• The Take (feat. Chris Brown) – Tory Lanez

• Adore You – Harry Styles

• Myron – Lil Uzi Vert

• Circles – Post Malone

• Say So – Doja Cat

• Don’t Start Now – Dua Lipa

• The Box – Roddy Rich

• Godzilla (feat. Juice WORLD) – Eminem

• Stupid Love – Lady Gaga

• Live Off My Closet (feat. Future) – Lil Baby

• No Time To Die – Billie Eilish

• Cardigan – Don Toliver

• OUT WEST (feat. Young Thug) – JACKBOYS & Travis Scott

• Intentions (feat. Quavo) – Justin Bieber

• Heart on Ice – Rod Wave

• Anyone – Demi Lovato

• Savage – Megan Thee Stallion

Reading

If there was anything to read on your list but you always put it off for a later time, now you can get down to it. If no good books cross your mind, here you are:

Detective stories:

• Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White

• Megan Abbott, Dare Me

• Agatha Christie, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

• Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl

• Dan Simmons, Drood

• Thomas Harris, Silence of the Lambs

Fantasy

• Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings

• Stephen King, The Gunslinger

• William Goldman, The Princess-Bride

• Neil Gaiman, American Gods

Non-fiction

• Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

• Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes

• Mira Ptacin, The In-Betweens

• Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People

About writing

• Annie Dillard, The Writing Life

• Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Podcasts

Tired of Netflix? Here are some podcasts:

• The Joe Rogan Experience – Surprising and honest

• Proof – For food lovers

• Reply All – A podcast about the internet and survival in the digital era

• Cage’s Kiss: The Nicolas Cage Podcast – On movies and not only

• Why I’m Single, The Podcast – About relationships, love, and romance

• 3 Hours Later – Three friends try out new things for three hours and share their experience

• Killer Rabbit Podcast – Funny, creepy and thought-provoking stories

Cleaning and organizing space

People often postpone doing home chores due to lack of time or energy but quarantine presupposes plenty of both of them. Clean the house and put everything in the order: drawers, bookshelves, kitchenware. What some videos on YouTube on how to organize space effectively. You will love your comfy and clean home. It is high time to apply Marie Kondo’s method and organize your wardrobe, kitchen, living room, and so on.

Online Shopping

While staying at home you can bring your shopping to a brand new level. Whether you buy cosmetics, clothes or anything else have fun reading all the reviews, check the ingredients, dig deep in the sales section. Be discerning and capricious – choose the best deals and the highest quality products. When shopping for clothes, unleash your inner designer: check your wardrobe, look for the items that suit your style and colors best.

Discover new things

One of the best cures from boredom is a new experience. Try new activities, cook new food, watch movies and listen to music you would typically avoid. Maybe deep inside you, there is a huge talent for writing or making comics, beauty guru or a dancer. By engaging in new activities you also learn about yourself and realize what is interesting for you.

Stupid but fun

Emergency activities to raise one’s mood:

• Find your perfect rapper name

• TikTok watching

• Reading a book upside down

• Trying to lick your elbow and post your attempts on social media

• Type your name only with your nose

• Watch funny puppies

The key thing to do while staying on quarantine is to recognize the necessity of this temporary measure and develop a positive attitude towards it. Once you achieve it – staying at home will no longer feel like torture. Do the things you enjoy and the time will pass smoothly and fun.