Social Distancing Activities
Hello Friends. As you all know we are currently in unprecedented times. The news outlets and social media are a constant reminder of the crisis that we are in. While I am grateful that we are in a day and age where we benefit from receiving news at lightning speed, I find myself feeling emotionally fatigued by the onslaught of information during this pandemic.
While we are all quarantining to flatten the curve and preserve our physical health, I am also being mindful of protecting my mental and emotional well-being. For me, this involves limiting the amount of news coverage I consume in a day. I check in in the morning to catch up on any developments that might have happened over night, and then I tune in again in the evening for the same reason. I have found that keeping the TV on all day long isn’t giving me any additional information, and it is drastically affecting my emotions.
I have always described my blog as “a happy little place on the internet”. I enjoy putting together content that I find interesting and that I hope others do as well. With that in mind, I am going to continue to work on my blog posts because putting them together makes my heart happy. This is my positive and creative outlet, and that is something that I need to continue to do to keep my spirits up. I’m explaining this to you (my readers) because I want you to understand that I do not take this outbreak lightly. I wouldn’t want anyone to misinterpret my intentions about posting to a lifestyle blog during these times. All I want to do is to try and lift my spirit, as well as others, by putting a tiny bit of light into the world during these dark times.
Content Recommendations
I have been using my Instagram Stories to ask my followers what TV shows, series, documentaries and books they recommend consuming during this time. Below are the responses I have received. Keep in mind that I have not watched or read all of these, I am just sharing what my community is recommending. Please feel free to mention any must-see or read recommendations in the comment section below.
TV Series Recommendations (Alphabetical Order)
A Million Little Things - ABC
A Place To Call Home - 6 Seasons on ACORN TV
Doctor Foster - NETFLIX
Fauda - 3 Seasons - NETFLIX
Good Girls - NBC
Little Fires Everywhere - HULU
Modern Love - 1 Season on AMAZON PRIME
Outlander - 5 Seasons on STARZ
Pandemic - NETFLIX
Schitt’s Creek - NETFLIX
Self Made - NETFLIX
Shtisel - 3 Seasons NETFLIX
Suits - HULU
The Crown - 3 Seasons - NETFLIX
The Five - NETFLIX
The Morning Show - APPLE TV+
The Stranger - NETFLIX
Tiger King - NETFLIX
Documentaries (Alphabetical Order)
20 Feet From Stardom - PRIME VIDEO
Bill Cunningham New York - NETFLIX
Iris - PRIME VIDEO
Jeff Lynne’s ELO Documentary - SHOWTIME
Jiro Dreams Of Sushi - NETFLIX
Strokes Of Genius - NETFLIX
Taylor Swift Documentary “Miss Americana” - NETFLIX
The Chef’s Table - NETFLIX
The Windsors: Inside The Royal Dynasty (Six Part CNN Series On Demand)
Trials of Gabriel Fernandez - NETFLIX
Books (Physical or Audio)
Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
House Of Gold by Natasha Solomons
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Maybe You Should Talk To Someone by Lorri Gottlieb
Becoming by Michele Obama (a great one to listen to because she reads it)
Inheritance by Dani Shapiro
East Of Eden by Elia Kazan
Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Order Of Time by Carlo Rovelli
Talking To Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell
Salt Slow by Julia Armfield
Normal People by Sally Rooney
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
Unforgettable - A Son, A Mother And The Lessons Of A Lifetime
Cook Foods You Can Consume Now AND Later
Being confined to our homes means more home cooking and less take out. After all, we want to limit our exposure to other people as much as possible. The situation at grocery stores means that if you are going to venture out for supplies, you should make the most out of your grocery haul. From what I have noticed at my local grocery stores is that there is an abundance of fresh produce. It’s the canned and frozen foods that have been wiped out. My suggestion to you would be to make meals with fresh produce that are suitable for consumption now AND also freezes well. That way you can rotate your meals and not get sick of them! If there is just one or two of you in the house, I suggest using smaller tupperware to break up your kitchen creations into 1-2 serving size portions.
Photo Credit: Magnolia.com
Any soup recipes can be frozen. I’m a big fan of Lentil soup and Tortilla soup. I have made a batch of each to keep in my freezer in small portions
Lasagna can be frozen before it is cooked or after it’s cooked. If you are going to freeze it after it has been cooked, make sure you let it cool to room temperature before you pack it up and store it in the freezer. Another alternative to a sheet lasagna is lasagna rolls! They’re small and easy to portion out in whatever sized containers you have on hand.
Banana Bread is one of my favorite baked goods. I’m a huge fan of Joanna Gaine’s recipe. Once you’re done cooking it you can slice it up into chunks and store them in the freezer to be enjoyed on a day when you’re not in the mood to cook. I also have a delicious and easy recipe from a dear friend of mine that I will post at a later time. I know you’ll enjoy that one too!
O-R-G-A-N-I-Z-E Your Life
During this time of self isolation I am sparking joy left and right! You know that incredible feeling of satisfaction you get when you check off a big to-do list that you’ve had in your head for years? Let’s get it done now and feel great about ourselves! When we look back at this time, we’ll feel better knowing we made the most out of it. Here are some things that you can organize while you have the time.
Email Inbox
Have you heard of the “Inbox Zero Method”? Long story short, the jist of it is that your inbox should never be used as storage and you shouldn’t live in your inbox. There are four things that you should do with every email that arrives. You decide if you should: Delete, Delegate, Defer. Do.
Delete: You assess immediately that you do not need to read this email and you delete it or archive it.
Delegate: Are you the best person for this email? If not, forward it to the person that should be handling it and then archive it or delete it.
Defer: Is this email going to take you more than 2 minutes to answer? If so, move it to a defer folder for you to go back to later and answer.
Do: If you can answer this email right away, respond to it and then archive it.
I am TERRIBLE with my email inbox. I will sadly admit that I have way too many emails in my inbox. It even stresses my husband out when he looks at my phone and sees how many emails I have. A big project that I am looking forward to in the next few weeks is purging and organizing my email inbox.
Marie Kondo Your Closets & Cabinets
What I love about the KonMari Method is that every thing you own should have a designated place in your home. That makes sense to me. Going through a tight space and purging all of the “stuff” that you don’t need is such a fulfilling feeling. This is also a time to re-discover things you own that might have been buried and out of sight. Decide if it is something that you really want. Does it spark joy? If not, give it a second life by donating it to someone in need. I highly recommend “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” on Netflix to learn her organization and folding methods.
Organize your Photos on Your Phone & Computer
15 years ago we had a lot less photographic evidence of the things we did in our day-to-day life. Now, we all basically carry a high resolution camera around with us in our handbags or pockets. If you’re like me and you take a LOT of photos, I would highly suggest using this time to organize your photos on your phone or computer. As an iPhone user I love to take advantage of the folders you can create in iPhoto. The same goes for professional photos that I have on my MacBook. It is so much easier to create a folder for each of my kid’s weddings instead of scrolling back through years of photos on my phone. The same thing goes for vacation photos and other special events. Looking through years worth of smart phone photos will also be a great time to delete ones that are not worth the storage space.
Self-Care
With all of this downtime, it is an excellent opportunity to truly unplug, relax and treat yourself to a relaxing afternoon. It’s important to stay productive during this time of quarantine, but it’s equally important to take care of your emotional well-being.
Take A Bath: It’s rare to make the time to enjoy a relaxing hot bath. Treat yourself. Kiss the shower good-bye for a day. You deserve it.
Give Yourself A Facial: There are so many beauty companies that make wonderful at home masks. I love a good mud mask to cleanse and clarify my pores. I’m also a big fan of Korean sheet masks for hydration. Whatever your skin type is, there is a mask out there to suit your needs.
Meditate: If you’ve never meditated before, have no fear! There are MANY apps for that! Some of the more popular ones are: Insight Timer, Calm and Headspace. Some health insurance companies offer their members discounts on these apps. You have the time right now, log on and see what wellness benefits your insurance offers you!
Create Your Family Tree
This is the type of project that I have always wanted to do but felt that I never had the time. Ancestory.com is a great resource to plot your family’s origins.
Virtual Experiences
During this time when we can’t necessarily be there in person, technology has allowed us the next best thing - virtual attendance. I have seen a lot of photos on social media of people holding nightly happy hours with their friends and family over zoom video conference. There is an abundance of apps and streaming services for fitness - many of which are offering free trials!. A lot of the zoos here in the US and around the world are offering live streams of their animals to brighten our days! The internet allows us to replicate a lot of experiences to maintain some semblance of connectivity and normalcy.
Art
Online Cooking Classes
Online/App Fitness Classes
SWEAT- Fitness App / Monthly Subscription
WollenDance - Live Stream Dance Fitness Classes. 14 day free trial then $25/month
Pure Barre - Streaming App
Seven - 7 minute high intensity workout app
SworkIt - The best personal trainer app to help you get (and stay) in the best shape of your life.
Lauren Roxburgh - LOROX Aligned Life Fitness App / Monthly Subscription
Yogaworks App - 14 day free trial then $15/month
I hope everyone who reads this finds at least one helpful idea to pass the time. Please feel free to share any suggestions of your own with everyone in the comments section below.
Moving forward all we can do is our best to help flatten the curve. Self-isolate and adhere to social distancing when you need to go out and buy supplies. We need to reach out and communicate with friends, family and even with those who might not have a strong support system. Even though we are all isolated right now, that does not mean that we have to feel alone. We’re all in this together. Please be safe out there y’all!
Virtual Hugs,
xx Barbara