Tag Archives: covid 19

Tips To Relieve Boredom During A Pandemic

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Boredom is something that hits a lot of us regularly, but it’s likely been made much worse during the pandemic. As we can’t see many people or go to places we’d usually go for fun, it’s made it a lot harder to find ways of relieving that boredom when it hits you. With that being said, if you’re needing some inspiration, here are some tips to relieve boredom during a pandemic.

Take Up A New Hobby

A good way of getting rid of boredom is to try and do something you’ve not done before. This is where a new hobby comes in. It could be that you want to try and pick up reading again if you always used to read when you had more free time. You might tap into your artistic side and paint a new masterpiece. Or even try out RPG with SkullSplitter. If you have a bucket list of things you want to do in life, perhaps there are one or two things that can be done within the confines of your home like learning a second language or writing the next great American novel.

Organize A Zoom Party

Zoom has been used by many around the world during this pandemic, both for work-life and to connect with friends and family. That being said, you should definitely try and organize more get-togethers with your loved ones. For example, host a zoom party. This could be especially helpful when you’re looking to spend some quality time with friends and family. There are lots of ways to make the experience engaging and fun — play a game, set a theme, or organize a blind taste test.

Try Baking

Baking can be something that’s therapeutic and delicious at the same time. Cooking and baking, in general, are two skills that are always worth building on so that you can explore new tastes and experiences with food. It might just be that you want to enjoy some freshly baked cookies or try out a family recipe that you’ve been missing over the months (since you can’t pop round to see extended family). Whatever the case may be, strap on that apron!

Focus On Looking After Yourself

Focusing on yourself is so important and all this time in quarantine could be a great opportunity to spend some quality time on oneself. For example, why not do something you enjoy and that looks after your physical wellbeing or mental health. Or both! Practicing self-care is definitely something that’s important to do right now.

What has been relieving YOUR boredom throughout the pandemic?

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How To Celebrate A Birthday When Stuck At Home

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It can be increasingly challenging to find fun things to do when you are stuck at home. However, as we continue to battle the Covid-19 pandemic, it is important that we all do our part to take care of others – and that means staying at home when possible. However, that does not mean you can’t have fun – especially if you have to celebrate a birthday at home!

With that in mind, here are some great stay-at-home party ideas!

Start the day off by sleeping in

Getting out of bed in the morning is always difficult. So, a great way to start birthday celebrations at this time is to enjoy a few extra minutes in bed. Turn off your alarm clock and ensure you get all the rest you need! 

Treat yourself

Ordinarily, you may try to be careful about what you eat – especially after the holidays, which are full of delicious indulgences. However, your birthday (or the birthday of someone you live with) is a great excuse to indulge in some tasty treats. Don’t limit the good food until the evening – celebrate all day with a range of delicious meals. Cook your favorite breakfast, order take out for lunch, make the most of your extra time and bake a cake (or two) to enjoy! 

You could even take baking to the next level by hosting a contest with your partner, kids, or housemates! 

Schedule some calls

By now, you’ve probably attended your fair share of zoom parties. Although you might be getting a bit sick of them, this is a great way to connect with your friends and family if you cannot meet in person. If you can’t face yet another zoom quiz, there are plenty of fun alternatives that the whole family can get involved in. For example, you can turn popular games such as Pictionary or Bingo into virtual versions. Alternatively, there are a range of online games you can take part in – no matter where you are in the world. 

Play some games

After your Zoom calls, you might want to play some in-person games with those that live in your home. Whether that means you dust off your favorite board game or download a new game – the choice is yours.

However, you could also go for something a little different and set up a themed cornhole game. Cornhole worldwide (https://www.cornholeworldwide.com/themed-cornhole-games/) have a variety of cornhole games for sale – and they are sure to bring a smile to your face. Remember, to take plenty of photos for your grid!

Dress fancy (or not)

This is your birthday – so how you celebrate it is truly up to you. If you like to dress fancy on your birthday and head out for a meal – why not don your favorite outfit as you head into the dining room? Just because you are indoors does not mean you can’t look fabulous. However, if you don’t fancy getting dressed and would rather have a pajama party – what’s stopping you?

Have you celebrated a birthday in lockdown? What activities were a slamdunk for you?

P.S. A birthday book haul, and a great conversation starter. Plus, cute gifts for foodies!

28 Things To Do When You’re Sick of Scrolling

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Boredom be gone! Sometimes it can be difficult to snap yourself out of the never ending loop of scrolling. You want to do something else. But what? Commence the shame and guilt spiral….and then? You continue scrolling. Rinse and repeat. Rinse and repeat.

As a decision averse Enneagram 9, I love having game plans in place. My goal with any game plan is to take one layer of thought out of any decision. With that in mind, here’s a game plan I created for us all when we’re feeling sick of scrolling! Find yourself feeling icky because you can’t break the never-ending cycle of your social media feeds? Turn to this list for an easy alternative. Want an extra incentive to stop the scroll? Why not treat yourself once you’ve managed to check off all 28 items! Rinse and repeat. Rinse and repeat! 🙂

Want the printable PDF version of this checklist? CLICK HERE. 

What fun non-scroll activities did I forget? Leave your ideas in the comments below! 

P.S. Fun ways to improve your vocabulary.

Feeling Trapped? Fighting “Quarantine Stress” in 4 Simple Steps

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*This post may contain affiliate links.*

The last few months have not been the easiest for anybody, and have brought on many challenges we did not expect to face. As a result, I’m sure we’ve all felt down and anxious at least once while in quarantine. Some are coping with working from home, while others have to manage the many responsibilities that come with school and entertainment options temporarily closed. Many have had to face these self-isolating months completely alone – something that might have taken a toll on their mental and physical well-being. Call it the dreaded quarantine stress, if you will. Here are some ways I have found useful to cope — 

Mindful Exercise

Staying fit and healthy while confined within four walls can be a challenge for many. However, moving, staying active, and exercising can have incredible benefits on our mental well-being – benefits that you should not be ignored! Maybe HIIT training and running for miles aren’t your thing, but other practices – such as yoga and meditation – can help you understand yourself better and fight stress. 

All this, while also toning your muscles and tuning your mind! While doing your make up and putting on your corporate dress might not be part of your routine anymore, starting your day with a Power Yoga session can be just as beneficial to boost your self-confidence!

Take Up a New Challenge

Boredom – especially when combined with feelings of anxiety – can be extremely detrimental. Keeping your mind busy and giving yourself a goal to work toward can be an easy solution to implement. Several challenges can work, but the one you pick should fit your preferences. Whether this is minimalism, vegetarianism, or working toward a zero-waste lifestyle, a challenge can help you focus your mind and energy toward a positive goal. 

Turn Your Home into a Sanctuary

Of course, you might have started to feel a little trapped within your four walls. However, instead, start thinking of your home as a safe place where you can retreat in turbulent times. Start by turning your garden, patio, or terrace in to a space for enjoying the sunshine during the day and get all that Vitamin D you need during this time. 

Indoors, add plants and swap the heavy curtains for a lighter version. These two simple additions can help you let in enough natural light and fresh air to create a much happier environment. Some companies, such as Kaya Hemp Company, create ethically-produced products that can help you craft a comfortable and healthy sanctuary all for yourself.

Build Relationships (Virtually!)

If you have had to face the quarantine alone, you might have struggled to find enough support from others. However, technology is on our side. Don’t skip a call with your loved ones or a catch up over the phone with your friends. Even just a quick chat can lift your mood and help you see things differently. Moreover, many people now have more free time to fill so you can deepen the relationships you treasure and rebuild the ones that you haven’t had time to cultivate before the restrictions.

I hope you found this useful, and maybe even a little reassuring? Have you created ways of combating quarantine stress? Share your tips in the comments! xoxo

P.S. Follow Kaya Hemp Company on Instagram HERE.

10 Things To Do When You’re Stuck At Home: Summer Edition!

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Last month, I presented you with 10 Things To Do When You’re Stuck At Home.

Today, I thought I’d share 10 more in case you, like me, plan on keeping it a bit more close to home this summer than you normally do. These are some activities for a SUMMER STAYCATION, if you will! Ready? Let’s go —

Make a playlist and have an outdoor dance party.

Half the fun of this activity is sitting down to curate a list of songs you KNOW will get you moving and grooving. The other half is actually heading outside, blasting your tunes as loud as you believe your neighbors will tolerate, and getting your groove on. Get the whole household involved! And if you’re a household of one, that’s ok too. (Note: This activity was totally inspired by this video. So feel free to just jam to this if you want to make your dance party more of a workout!)

Get creative with outdoor soakin’ and splashin’ options.

Public pools might be out of the picture for you this summer. If that’s the case, and you don’t live near any other bodies of water, you might have to get creative! Check out some inflatable pool options on Amazon, go the galvanized stock tank route, or just set up a sprinkler or two.

Pay up for a print subscription.

It’s so easy to stay glued to your devices when you’re home all the time. Why not spring for a print subscription of a newspaper or magazine to encourage yourself to read the news OFFLINE for a change? One of my favorite budget activities from summer’s past was when my friend Katie and I were living together, we would take a copy of the USA Today outside to our backyard to sit in the sun, leaf through the pages, and do the crossword puzzle.

Grab your camera (or smart phone) and have a photo shoot.

Scrolling through pictures of myself over the years, most of them were taken at some sort of an event. A wedding, meeting up with friends for a weekend, a party. With so many events cancelled over the last few months, it’s like there’s a weird gap in these tangible memory-keepers. So corral a housemate or friend and take turns acting as photographer as the other models.

Decorate your outdoor space.

Nothing will encourage you to spend as much time outside as possible as a beautiful outdoor space. Start by picking what space you want to spruce up and then create a mood board. (Here’s one I did for our balcony when we lived in Miami.) Then start sourcing materials and get to creating a wonderful space!

Continue supporting your favorite creators.

I don’t know about you but there have definitely been some choice creators (ie. authors, youtubers, instagrammers, etc) who have gotten me through the last few months. If they’ll continue seeing you through summer, consider finding some additional ways to support them! Share their content with others, buy their merch, post reviews for their books on Amazon…etc, etc. If you’ve been consuming a lot of their free content, do they have any paid options you would also enjoy?

Create a piece of artwork to hang on your walls.

You know that ICONIC post on @BritneySpears where Britney’s painting in her yard with her two kids and they all have little canvases on little easels? THAT COULD BE YOU! Or, you know, you could save arts & crafts as a rainy day activity to do indoors. You do you. I’m just saying…creating visual art of any kind is going to be a fun endeavor for your summer.

Watch Saturday morning cartoons with your favorite childhood breakfast.

This could even become a weekly occurrence! And it doesn’t have to happen on Saturday mornings either. If you want to watch cartoons every Thursday at 4:30 pm with a bowl of nostalgia and milk, be my guest. Maybe you even change into your pj’s. Maybe you squeeze some oranges into juice or bring all your blankets out to the couch and make a fort. Maybe you swap out cartoons for middle grade fiction or prefer childhood lunch foods to breakfast. It’s your life!

Do a book swap with a friend.

Are you a bookworm with a ton of books on your shelves? Do you have a friend in the same boat? Spend some time on the phone with them getting a sense of their favorite reads, how many books you want to swap with each other, and then head to your shelves for books you’d like to pass along to them that you think would be in their wheelhouse. Drop your selections off on their porch with a note on why you made your picks!

Pick an actor and binge your way through their filmography.

Some fun ones to try —
Lupita Nyong’o
Reese Witherspoon
Jim Carrey
Julianne Moore
Dev Patel
Anne Hathaway
Gael Garcia Bernal
Denzel Washington

Have you done any of these things yet? What other ideas would you add for folks who are planning on keeping it a bit closer to home than usual this summer? xoxo

10 Things To Do When You’re Stuck At Home

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This past weekend was beautiful. Sunny and mild and what should have been Derby Day. Instead, we’re still social distancing. But when I scrolled through my social MEDIA, there didn’t seem to be a whole lot of distancing going on.

I get it. It sucks to distance on weekends that are beautiful. Weekends that are sunny and mild and traditionally Derby Day. But we can’t give up so easily. We can’t quit before the world is ready just because we got bored.

So, because people seem to be getting restless and running out of at-home fun that doesn’t involve inviting all their pals over, here are a few additional ideas —

Organize your photos and paper memorabilia.

Social isolation can bring on some serious bouts of nostalgia. While you’re wandering down memory lane, why not create a new photo album or organize your memory box by year?

Meal prep your favorite breakfast foods.

It’s so nice to have foods ready to go in the morning. Without a commute, you may have already found that the start of your day is less frazzled and rushed. This is an additional step to buy yourself even MORE time in the mornings. What you do with that extra time is totally up to you!

Do some landscaping.

We’ll take any excuse to get outside these days! Pop in some tunes or a podcast and get to work weeding, planting, cutting back overgrowth, or whatever it is you need to do to make your outdoor space a special oasis.

Wash your car.

Anyone else’s car perpetually covered with pollen this time of year? Washing it at home is really a win-win-win. Not only does it give you something to do but it will also save you money AND make for a great workout.

Make a pocket letter and send it to a friend.

In the age of social distancing we have to find creative ways to connect with our loved ones. And since, when you’re home all day, checking the mail can be a big highlight, sending a little something by way of the USPS is a great way to do so.

Spend some time in water.

Go ahead and take that extra long bath or shower you would have felt guilty about a few months ago. You have no where to be anyways!

Draft a series of top 10 lists.

I love making lists! Give yourself some creative prompts and record the results. You could make lists of favorites, like all-time favorite books or movies, or experiences. Top 10 meals, vacations, and childhood memories are a few that could really take a while to noodle on (and are super fun to chat about on those family Zoom calls!).

Have a sports documentary marathon.

In the absence of ACTUAL sports being played at the moment, sports documentaries are a great place to get your fix. Think: Cheer, Last Chance U, Ronaldo, The Least Expected Day, The Test, and any of ESPN’s 30 for 30 episodes (but especially The Price of Gold lol).

Create a restaurant in your backyard.

Nothing beats dining al fresco in the spring! Get creative with a beautiful table setting, create ambiance with a Spotify playlist and twinkle lights, heck – you could even design your own menus!

Film a video of yourself reading a picture book.

This would be a super cute thing to send to any kiddos in your life. Don’t forget to do all the voices!

Have you done any of these things yet? What other ideas would you add for folks who are getting a bit restless? xoxo