- You can eat normal, tasty, healthy foods.
Fill your freezer with fresh, flavourful soups. Keep pasta in your pantry and tomato sauce in your freezer. Think about the foods you would want to eat on a typical day; usually there’s a way to keep those around.
- Avoid being too isolated.
Being forced to stay inside might sound like an introvert’s dream come true, but when it’s in the midst of a worldwide epidemic and everyone is panicking, it’s not such a fun and chill time. Get on the phone or FaceTime and call your family and friends with some regularity.
- Get a little fitness in.
There are plenty of workouts you can do from the comfort of your own home, and doing so can seriously help your mental health. Here are a bunch of exercises you can do without any equipment, and YouTube has tons of channels that offer instruction in everything from yoga to Pilates to strength training. And if you can still go outside, nothing beats a walk. Just avoid big groups of people.
- Clean your home.
Not only does it protect against the spread of illness, it also makes being cooped up in your home a lot more pleasant. Here’s a big list of spring cleaning chores you may have been putting off.
- Go online, but beware.
When the SARS epidemic broke out in 2002, Facebook, Twitter, and even Myspace did not yet exist. Now, people are far more digitally connected, and the ability to keep in touch over social media and video chat can have major benefits on mental health during isolation.
- Plan out your entertainment.
Watch the news, for sure, but don’t just stay glued to cable news. Get out a bunch of books from your library. Pull out the board games and puzzles. Have some craft supplies on hand, if that’s your thing.
- Seek professional help if you’re really struggling.
Whether you’ve been to a therapist before or are just realizing you might need to see one, seeking help with your mental health doesn’t need to wait till you can go outside again. Lots of therapists offer sessions over the phone or video chat.
- If you’re working from home, do it right.
Working from home sounds like the dream — pyjamas all day, slacking off, working from the couch! — but it can get bleak and unproductive pretty quickly if it’s not approached the right way.
- Remember to stay healthy and practice good hygiene
And perhaps the easiest way to stay healthy is to maintain proper hygiene. You don’t need a face mask (unless you’re sick), but you should be washing your hands regularly (and remember, soap and water is just as effective as hand sanitizer).
- Stay away from public spaces as much as possible
Social distancing – A term that refers to any measures to reduce human contact, like cancelling events, working from home, or ordering food rather than going to the grocery store — can help make the outbreak unfold more slowly, saving lives.
- Upgrade your learning skills for the holidays.
Developing your knowledge and skills, such as reading and writing books. Choose from a list of high quality novels, so that you can learn and improve your writing techniques. Scientific books like encyclopaedias are also very useful to spend throughout this holiday. At least you will be able to acquire useful new knowledge.