Social distancing has hit many of us hard, myself included. I have been home for over a month now, and during this month I have gone through a range of emotions. I started excited to be home and disappointed about having to leave my campus so soon. I also felt disappointed as many things I was looking forward to are canceled. However, this is something I rely on to help flatten the curve in my community, and I know that even though I live the five activities below, I want to remind everyone that I am here for you as well. Please enjoy the Disney princesses we admire being true quarantine queens.
Sleeping in late...and taking one (or more) naps during the day
As I spend more time social distancing, I find myself seeming to wake up later and later every day, which is a little bit frustrating when I realize how much I am unable to get done while I sleep in. However, the rest is nice when I consider how little rest I actually get during the school year at school. Even though I enjoy getting to sleep in and have a good time at home, I consistently have to remind myself to finish my work before taking another nap. As important as school work is, remind yourself that your emotional health still matters, so if you can take a nap to feel better and get your work done, do it for your head and emotional life. Online school is stressful, and I don't necessarily have specific times I need to do things, rather a range, and that has greatly decreased my productivity, but I am hoping to get all my work done before I take a much-needed nap.
Baking and cooking all day long
In my house, sweets have been coming out of my kitchen like crazy, and dinner has tasted just like homemade. Purdue has pretty good food as far as dining hall food goes, but it still isn't that great when compared to my homemade food. I have filled my days with pasta and bread and cookies and cakes and whatever else I can make in a kitchen that isn't just a coffee maker and microwave.
Snacking all day long
Much like Belle, I can't stop snacking, not just on the food I make, but on whatever I can find. I am one of those people who often eat when I am bored or when my emotions change, so I tend to eat a lot at home in our social distancing situation. However, I often try not to snack to keep the food home so that way we don't have to go out to the store very often because there are many people who don't follow the protocol or need the food and pickup times a lot more than I, a healthy young adult, need to.
Taking a lot of walks
One of the few activities you can do outside of the house during social distancing is going for a walk, something many of us probably do in a different way than suggested. I know many dogs that are extremely well exercised because their owner wants to leave the house. In my house, we go for walks so that way we can get out of the house, but we live in such a small town that it doesn't really always make a difference in feeling less trapped.
Working out
For a lot of people, social distancing has provided a lot of time to do some running, and for those of us lucky enough to have some workout equipment in our living space, we have been taking advantage of the free time. I recommend looking into many different bodyweight exercises and not dropping the routine many of us worked very hard to build up at school.
