Home alone: creative social distancing

HOME ALONE: CREATIVE SOCIAL

DISTANCING

emember the days when you’d bemoan the fact that you never had enough time to do X, Y, or Z? Well, given the new normal of stay-athome and social distancing, you’ve got plenty of time on your hands. Be creative and use it productively.

Think of all those New Year’s resolu tions you failed to keep up with! Now’s the time to get back on the wagon and catch up. Stay in shape with the free app #NTC (Nike Training Club) or with the many YouTube exercise classes. Walk your dog,

By Elizabeth Morse Read

or clean out your garage or basement. Organize your financial records and legal documents. Empty out your storage box es and create albums of your children’s old school photos, report cards, and awards.

Learn how to cook healthy meals using ingredients you have on-hand. Read (or listen to) all those books you never had time for before. Floss your teeth. Start a pandemic victory garden – order plants, fertilizer, and gardening tools online, and get outside to plant flowers and veggies.

EXERCISE YOUR BRAIN

Instead of binge-watching, try binge-learning. If your kids are stuck at home, check out the free K-12 class es at khanacademy.com, or sign up ($19.99/year) for the stimulating docu mentary streaming service at curiosity. com. Let them listen to children’s books being read by celebrities on the app #SaveWithStories.

Or, why not finish that degree or professional certificate program you never had time to work on? Check out thegreatcoursesplus.com or coursera.

com. At the very least, don’t succumb to the temptation to binge-watch every episode of The Sopranos or Game of Thrones – learn something new on The History Channel, National Geographic Channel, or Discovery Channel. Check out the free coding courses offered by Amazon. Listen to the myriad podcasts, or subscribe to daily e-newsletters from reputable news sources.

Listen to more music and watch less mind-numbing TV. Learn how to do just about anything on YouTube – yoga, knit ting, scrubbing your copper-bottom pots and pans. Give yourself a homemade facial, manicure, and pedicure using ingredients you have at home. Take a bubble bath or condition your hair. Watch a YouTube video on how to give a good neck-and-shoulders massage.

WALLS ARE CLOSING IN

Okay – so you may not be able to go to theatres, concerts, or visit museums, but you can always take a virtual tour of museums, zoos, and world-wide sites online (Google “arts and culture”) or watch live-streamed concerts – if you’re a Willie Nelson fan, for instance, check out luckreunion.com. Check out apps like #TogetheratHome to watch con certs performed by top-notch musicians. Attend a “distance disco” in your pajamas with DJs streaming live sets on Instagram. Even the movie industry is turning a prof it by offering “home premieres” of the newest films – check out what’s showing on Prime Video, Hulu, Sling, DisneyPlus, Starz, and HBO.

We are social creatures and actual ly suffer “skin hunger” when denied the comfort of a human touch, so reach out and “touch” someone on FaceTime, Zoom, or Skype! Spend some time email ing old friends, distant family members, and work colleagues, or even try sending old-fashioned snail-mail letters or post cards to let people know you’re thinking of them. Or just pick up the phone and check in with friends and loved ones ev ery day to assure them that they’re not alone in these frightening times.

Reach out (from a distance) to help your community! Shop for a senior, check up on elderly neighbors with a daily phone call, drop off non-perishable foods at the local food bank, and thank the unsung heroes who keep the wheels of daily life turning – a first responder, a trash collec tor, your mail deliverer, a grocery store cashier.

SPRING CLEANING

Necessity is the mother of invention – now you have a higher purpose other than tidying up for nonexistent dinner guests. Sanitize your remotes, game controls, light switches, door knobs and cabinet/ appliance/faucet handles, railings and banisters, electric can opener, and tele phones. Clean the bottom of handbags, shopping bags and backpacks, keys and

WE ARE SOCIAL CREATURES AND ACTUALLY SUFFER “SKIN HUNGER” WHEN DENIED THE COMFORT OF A HUMAN TOUCH, SO REACH OUT AND “TOUCH” SOMEONE ON FACETIME, ZOOM,

OR SKYPE!

fobs, steering wheels and gear sticks, credit cards, and zipper tabs. Replace everyone’s toothbrushes, especially after a cold or infection. Clean children’s toys regularly, and throw stuffed toys in the washing machine.

Wash your windows inside and out. Use a nail brush and some white vinegar or diluted bleach to clean the grout in your shower stall. Grab all the hairbrushes and combs around the house and soak them in hot water with a little bleach to sanitize them. Take all the plastic trash cans, ham pers and waste-paper baskets outside and hose them down (when was the last time you did that?)

SHOPPING TIPS

Don’t turn into an actual couch potato! No matter how bored or anxious you may be, avoid the impulse to snack on junk foods and carb-heavy “comfort foods.” If you need to nibble, try oven-roasting root veggies and snack on them throughout the day.

If you need to run errands or go grocery shopping, wear a bandanna or home made face mask, and minimize your risk by leaving behind your cell phone and pocketbook – they’re germ magnets. All you need to carry is your driver’s license, bank/credit card, some hand sanitizer/ alcohol wipes and your own ballpoint pen for signatures (or to use as a stylus). Wear washable cotton gardening gloves or dis posable gloves (or even those flimsy plastic bags from the produce section, if need be). Pull your hair back in a ponytail or clip it up to avoid touching your face and cover it with a cap, scarf, or hoodie. If you wear contact lenses, switch over to your spare eyeglasses for extra protection. Wear gloves when pumping gas, using ATM touchscreens, elevator buttons, or public bathrooms – and wash your hands thoroughly afterward.

Minimize your outdoor shopping trips by keeping a detailed running list of essen tials and don’t forget to check for irregular items that would necessitate an extra trip to the store if you were to suddenly run out – batteries, coffee filters, postage stamps, mouthwash, flea collars, dispos able razors, etc.

LAUGHTER IS MEDICINE

It may be hard to see anything funny about life these days, but finding a way to chuckle about the absurdity of our situa tions can alleviate a lot of that anxiety and boredom we’re all experiencing. Dance naked in your bedroom to loud music. Watch old Monty Python episodes. Send corny jokes or cartoons to your friends. Memorialize your boredom-busters by taking selfies while you clean the lint out of your clothes dryer or alphabetize your canned goods.

Stay safe – stay indoors as much as pos sible! But make the most of your newfound time home alone.