How to Keep Yourself from Going Insane while Social Distancing

I GET IT. YOU’RE BORED.

Honestly, same. But we’re all in this together,

and being quarantined only helps the greater good.

John and I have been social distancing for about two weeks now, so we’ve come up with quite a few ways to keep ourselves entertained. Some of these things can be purchased on Amazon while others require a trip to Walmart. HOWEVER, if you go to the store right when they open and on a weekday, it’s significantly less busy than on a Saturday at 1 p.m.

Here are the ways we’ve been keeping ourselves busy while social distancing at home:

Puzzles

Yep. The classic. Puzzles remind me of the holidays as a kid, and even now, there’s almost always a puzzle going when we visit family during Christmas. We have quite a few stocked up from the years, but John just bought me my new favorite puzzle – a 1000 piece / 1000 color gradient puzzle. I’ve wanted this one since like, 2015, so I’m stoked that we finally own it.

Date Night

Yes! Date night! We got fancied up and pretended like we were anywhere but home. John wore a suit, I wore high heels, and we turned our dining room into a fancy restaurant for two. We truly can’t wait to dine out again IRL haha.

Video Games

Thank God we bought a Switch before all of this happened. John’s been supporting indie video game developers, and I’ve been playing the heck out of Zelda. But don’t be afraid to switch (ha) it up a little! Don’t forget about the thousands of computer-based games. I recently figured out that the Nancy Drew computer games from my childhood are all available to download from Amazon. Oh the nostalgia.

At-Home Projects

Even if you don’t own your home and you just rent (like us), there are plenty of ways to spruce up your space to enjoy it more. Other ideas not on this list are printing and hanging up photos to decorate your home, changing those lightbulbs you swore you were gonna fix when they burnt out, or the dreaded… dusting.

Gardening

Like I mentioned, we don’t own our house, but weeding our yard and planting seeds has been an incredible way for us to physically get out of the house and be productive without endangering others. We’ve planted multiple different kinds of flowers and some vegetables both in the ground and in pots. Here are some tools I ordered to help get you started:

• Starter tool and tote set

• 50ft expandable hose with sprayer

• Long-sleeve gardening gloves

Battle Jacket

This is John’s thing, but he’s creating a battle jacket for punk shows he plans to go to after the social distancing era is over. He ordered a vintage denim jacket from eBay and has collected patches that he wants to attach to it. I think the coolest part of all of this is I get to teach him how to sew, so I no longer have to fix his clothes when he rips them 😂

Re-Seasoning Cast Iron

Again, John’s thing, and maybe only applicable if you have strong ties to the South. But you’ve probably used and abused that cast iron so many times that it needs a little love. Grab some cooking oil and some steel wool and get to work! I’m pretty sure John was born knowing how to do this, so if you’re not like him, here’s a handy page from Lodge Cast Iron on how to take care of your cast iron.

Cooking

Learn something new!!! Try new recipes and don’t be afraid to fail! We’ve been experimenting with chili, stuffed peppers, roasted beef, tortillas, and allllll the desserts. Don’t feel like you have to resort to frozen foods here! Now’s the time to practice and hone in on your chef skills. See you on the next season of Master Chef!

Got more ideas of how to stay busy during social distancing? Drop them here!

---

---