Coronavirus self-isolation: How to pass the time at home in style
The prospect of indefinite home-time may be terrifying to some, but there are many ways to do it right long after Netflix has lost its charm, writes Katy Hall.
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Oh how we started the year so optimistic and full of hope! And oh how quickly that optimism and hope has come crashing down.
Between the devastating bushfires, a near miss of World War III kicked off by the US and Iran, Meghan and Harry ditching the Royal Family, and the now rampant spread of a global pandemic, it’s become hard for many to see the forest for the trees.
But as coronavirus rages on across the world, and more and more of us begin to engage in the art of self-distancing or self-isolating, the question of how to pass the hours remains. Naturally, a lot of people are not rapped about the prospect of being indoors 24/7. And while that’s understandable to a degree, the irony of this complaint is that it’s mostly coming from people who, when not legitimately fearing for the future of humanity, complain about not having enough hours in the day.
Now, for better or worse, the hours are coming. And the truth is that there’s never been a better time to have isolation forced upon us. We live in the era of FaceTime! Of YouTube tutorials and free yoga classes! Of Netflix! Stan! Foxtel! Spotify! Podcasts!
More than that, though, this enforced time at home gives us the opportunity for some next level life admin that you may or may not have been putting off for the entirety of your adulthood.
Read your saved articles: Finally, the time has come to spend an hour / morning / day catching up on all of those articles you’ve been meaning to get to but just haven’t found the time for. Use the COVID lockdown wisely, friend. When you’re done with those, why not move onto your bookshelf and work your way through the unread pile. And seeing as you’ve got 14 days ahead of you, go crazy and alphabetise the whole thing while you’re at it. Or, better yet, alphabetise the whole thing – but by genre! Because organising by colour gradient is so, like, Pinterest 2018.
Learn to make pasta: If you’re one of the few people who managed to source flour from your grocery store, please don’t squander it. Learn to make beautiful, fresh, ribbony pasta via one of the many YoutTube tutorials available to you. Or, if you’re one of the few unicorns out there who has a bag of flour AND tinned tomatoes, make a pizza! Alternatively, give your bags of flour to me. I’m six store visits down, no bags the richer and feeling the true depression that comes from not being able to stress cook meals from scratch.
Undertake a mass unsubscribe: If like me, you wake up most mornings only to find countless emails clogging your inbox from companies you have no memory of ever showing an interest in, let alone signing up for a newsletter, now is the time to Get. On. It and unsubscribe. Post-coronavirus you is better off without this weight in your life.
Get dressed up: Yes, you may not be able to leave the house. And yes, there may be nowhere to go. But that’s no excuse to not get out of your pyjamas and sweats and don your favourite attire. Nothing says chic confinement like baked beans on toast served with a side of evening wear.
Bring up that one fight from years ago that was never resolved: There’s no time like mandatory confinement to get into the nitty gritty of your relationship and rehash that fight from many moons ago that no one can clearly remember the finer points of anymore. Then again, given how many couples have filed for divorce in China following the lifting its mandatory lockdown, maybe you shouldn’t do that.
Clean out your bathroom cupboards: Say what you will about this seemingly very boring task, it’s terrifying to learn how many out of date products you’ve been slathering on your face and body without realising it. Purge well (the consumption of alcohol amid said purge is encouraged) and order new products online plentifully.
Do a house-wide spring clean: Yes, this is boring. But given coronavirus is largely spread by hanging around on surfaces, cleaning every last one within your house isn’t a terrible idea. Spring cleans are one of those things many of us plan to do but never get around to because we’re busy doing other important things like leaving the house. But there’s nothing like a global pandemic to bring that avoidance to an end! Wipe everything, scrub everything, vacuum everywhere, and if you’re feeling lucky, go through your cupboards and find some things to toss. (The consumption of alcohol amid this purge is heavily discouraged).
Get a new hobby: Maybe you’ve always wanted to learn yoga. Perhaps model cars or painting or piano are all harboured ambitions you never knew you had. Thanks to having limitless mountains of time ahead of us, this is THE time to give it a go. I’m opting for puzzles, which should be interesting given I’ve got the patience of a toddler overdue for a snack. But these are brave new times in which we live.
Learn to meditate: Two weeks of confinement with only your partner, flat mates or children to keep you company will really test a person. You’re going to need all the Zen and positive thinking you can muster to make it through this unscathed.