Hi TWNer’s! I hope everyone is feeling well and hanging in there during this quarantine. Today, I’m going to share a couple things that I’ve been doing to keep busy and to keep a positive mind set while we’ve been stuck at home.
1. Go for a walk or run every day
I think it’s so important to get outside and get some fresh air every day. I’ve fallen into a routine of walking my dog once a day for at least 30 minutes, while also running four times a week. It’s important to get some sunshine as that will help your body produce Vitamin D. This in turn has some other health benefits such as improving brain function, improving sleep quality, and decreases depression. So I recommend going outside and getting some exercise every day. Even if you sit outside and read a book, that sunlight will be a huge benefit.
2. Have a game night with your family
My family tends to be big into board and card games, so over the past few weeks we’ve had a lot of game nights. Clue, Ticket to Ride, and Skip-Bo are some of our favorites right now. I think game night has been a great way for everyone in my family to connect and to take a break from any stress we’ve had. A family game night is also useful if you’ve run out of shows to binge or want a break from doing homework.
3. Zoom with your friends
One thing that I’ve started doing with my friends is having movie nights. But, since we can’t all get together in person, one of us plays the movie on our laptop, then shares their screen through zoom so we can all watch the movie together. This has helped me to stay connected with my friends and has been a fun way to be social. We’ve also used Zoom to do group workouts, and I’ve found it a lot easier to hold a plank when I’m trying to do it with friends. Whenever I’ve used Zoom with my friends, we always tried to have an activity planned so it keeps hanging out more exciting.
4. Have themed dinners
If you and your family want to change up your dining habits, try having a themed dinner. This is something that I heard about on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Falon. On the show, Tina Fey guest starred and she said that her family did an airplane themed dinner. They did everything from rearranging their dining room so it resembled the inside of a plane, to having their kids be the airline attendants and serve them their dinner. They then proceeded to eat dinner while each watching a different movie on their phones. And while you may not want to go to these extremes, you can also take some time to try out some new recipes or cuisines. I have spent a lot of time baking and making green smoothies.
5. Have a Spa Day
Treat yourself to a day full of face masks and bath-bombs as you relax and have a spa day. This is a great way to relax and de-stress if you need it, or to have fun and feel refreshed. Another great thing about a spa day is that you most likely have supplies for it already, whether that be essential oils, nail polish, or a face mask. I’ve found this to be a fun way to spend my evenings after classes.
I hope you found these ideas to be fun and helpful if you’ve been bored during quarantine! And if anyone has been feeling stressed or worried about COVID-19 and you want someone to talk to, please reach out to me or to another member of TWN!
Also please let me know what other fun things you guys have been up to to stay busy, I’d love to hear about it.
Kara Lehner
Kara is the Communications Associate in The Women’s Network. She is a freshman and is a part of the Communications Committee. Kara is also a member of Run Club, Net Impact, and CLD at IU. In her free time she loves to run, bike, hike, kayak and read.