With a huge number of people around the world currently trapped indoors for their own good – and with this impromptu state of quarantine likely set to last for a while – boredom and cabin fever are very real possibilities.
Of course, just because you are stranded indoors for a while doesn’t mean that there aren’t still plenty of things you can do in order to have fun, stay entertained, and to turn this otherwise stressful and negative situation into something altogether much more positive.
Spend some time coming up with goals that motivate and excite you, and begin the planning process
Even if you can’t currently go outside and engage with the world in the way you might want to, there is nothing to stop you from sitting down and spending some time coming up with goals that generally motivate and excite you, and from then beginning with the planning process in earnest.
On an everyday basis, it’s common for everyone to get a bit too caught up in their own personal dramas and the rapid pace of everyday life. One consequence of this is that it’s often easy to end up operating on autopilot, without paying much thought to whether or not you are actually pursuing goals that you find genuinely meaningful.
So, now that you’ve got a bit more time in your hands, let your imagination run wild and indulge yourself in the process of planning and preparing for all the things you want to do and achieve when the world gets back to normal.
It might be that you’ve got a certain vision for your dream home in mind, that would involve you contacting a company such as https://philadelphiawindow.com/ to have new features fitted. Or, maybe you’ve decided that now is the time for really making headway on that startup business venture that you’ve been meaning to get around to for some time.
Treat this exercise as something fun, rather than as a chore. In reality, it can be very positive and uplifting to allow yourself to generate big plans and dreams for the future.
Take this opportunity to curl up with a good book
There are all sorts of serious benefits to reading a good book – ranging from the fact that it helps to calm the mind and get you focusing on one thing at a time in an intentional manner, to the fact that reading books helps to bring your imagination to life, and give you all sorts of creative thoughts and insights.
Whether you’ve just been a bit caught up recently and haven’t had a chance to read as much as you would have liked, or whether you’ve never really been much of a reader, this particular moment in time seems as good as any to discover or rediscover the joys of curling up with a good book.
In many places, you’ll be able to still order books online and have them delivered to your home within a reasonable period of time. But, if that’s not very convenient for you, you could always purchase ebooks from a large number of online platforms, and read on your computer, ereader, tablet, or smartphone.
For that matter, you can also sign up to an audiobook service and listen to your action-packed novels, instructional guides, and fascinating biographies of choice as you sit back or do some chores.
Get involved in some (balanced) gaming
During stressful times, it’s certainly good to find regular, balanced opportunities for a bit of pure unadulterated fun, without a whole host of responsibilities or tough work attached.
Among other things, that can mean that this period in time could be a great opportunity to get involved in some gaming, in a balanced way.
If you are at home with family, you could play all sorts of different board games, card games, and games of pure imagination, like charades.
Then again, you can obviously also indulge in some video games that help to whisk you away to another world, where you can have a series of fun adventures within moments.
Of course, with whatever games you’re playing – and especially with video games – it’s important to maintain balance. If you overdo it, you could easily find yourself neglecting your everyday duties, and becoming imbalanced in your approach.
All the same, in the right doses, a bit of leisurely gaming might be just what the doctor ordered in terms of keeping your spirits up, and keeping you entertained.
Find regular opportunities for silence and calm, so that you can get more in touch with yourself
While this might not seem “fun” in any immediate or direct sense, it can actually be a really uplifting and positive experience to just find some regular opportunities for silence and calm, especially during periods of heightened stress and uncertainty.
On an everyday basis, it’s very normal for people to become so caught up in their routines and in the distractions of the moment, that opportunities for silence and calm are the last things on their minds, whatsoever.
When you have more time to yourself at home, though, simply setting aside a number of hours each week to just sit around by yourself in silence, maybe with a pen and paper, can be very powerful. Not only can it help you to have a “conversation with yourself,” and to come to terms with any questions that have been on your mind for a while, but it can also help you to find the sort of balance that will make the rest of your life significantly more interesting and exciting, when you get back to it.
Overstimulation – in the sense of constantly doing things, constantly being entertained, and constantly taking in huge amounts of information at any given time, can have a detrimental effect, when all is said and done.
By balancing things out with regular periods of silence and calm, you not only ensure that you will be able to find more joy and entertainment in each day, but also that you will come to know yourself better, and eventually be more at peace with yourself, as well.
