As we all already know, COVID-19 is declared as a global pandemic. In the context of our country Nepal, all the schools and universities are closed to prevent the spread of the virus. The government has not declared a curfew yet but it has been requesting the citizens to stay at home and practice social distancing as much as possible. Social distancing is really important and is the only effective way to stop the spread of the virus. If we can control the chaos and possibly save lives just by staying at home, then why not do so, right? 

The world just hit the reset button and maybe it is time for us to do that too. So, instead of just panicking, let us also focus on the positive sides of this situation. We may think being quarantined is very dismal and monotonous but it is actually not that bad if we plan the time we have appropriately. There is so much we can do in this free time to create a better version of ourselves. To have this ample amount of time in this fast-paced world is, in fact, a very rare gift. Here are some of my ideas on how to spend this precious time wisely.

Exercise:

Obeying the instructions given by the Nepal government all the gyms and fitness clubs are closed but that does not mean you cannot exercise. There are many ways to get your body moving by staying at home even though you have no workout equipment at all. You can do yoga, or you can jump rope or you can even do the mat exercises. You can totally make use of this time to exercise. You can still invest your time in your fitness, after all, investing time in one’s health is never a bad decision.

Learn new skills:

In this era of the internet, learning new things by staying home has become so easy. You can find everything on the internet. You can learn different programming languages or you can learn how to play a musical instrument or you can even listen to different podcasts and learn and realize the value of so many things in your life. There is just so much knowledge you can acquire from the internet. So you can utilize this time to improvise yourself.

Watch movies and series:

Needless to mention, we can always laze around by binge-watching movies and series. In this free time, you can spend your time watching the movie or series you had kept on hold as you never had time for them because of your exams or classes or work. 

Learn how to cook:

Cooking is a basic life skill. So if you don't know how to cook, learn it. It may sound boring to some people now but I am sure you will not regret it later. People say cooking helps relieve stress. And I believe cooking can not only be informational, but it can also be entertaining. So you can give it a try.

Read:

We all know that “reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body”. Let us not make our minds dull just by scrolling through our phones all day long. Let’s read. There are so many books that give us so much knowledge about so many things so why not invest our time learning new things. 

Spend time with your loved ones:

We all struggled to make time for our loved ones because of our hectic work or school schedules. We all complained about not being able to spend more time with our family. This is the time to do so. We can play board games or cards together, talk, laugh and just be together and enjoy some family time.

Self reflect:

Most of the time we get so caught up in our busy lives that we forget what we want in our lives. We forget where we belong and where we want ourselves to be in the near future. Thus, we can use this time to get to know ourselves better.