What I Have Been Doing During Quaratine
-By Daryl Remley-
To be honest, this quarantine is brutal. I can’t see my friends, my grandparents, my uncles, and aunts.
I am currently writing at my desk in my room in northern California. It is currently raining outside.
Usually I hate the rain (the reason for going to school down in LA), but right now it is quite calming.
I am like most current college students.
I was sent back home, my classes are on Zoom, and I have been watching a lot of TikTok.
I have learned that being stuck at home makes it very difficult to be productive.
I am sure all of you have had to come to terms with meeting online. It is difficult.
I am so used to seeing my teachers and my friends in person.
Now I see them every Friday at 5pm for happy hour on zoom.
Yeah these are tough times but now you have no excuse to not grow yourself.
Here are some things that I have been doing during these times.
Read A Book
This is kind of an obvious one.
This is the best time to read something that can help you improve yourself.
I read at least 30 minutes a day.
Sometimes I read 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes at night.
It is nothing crazy and it is really easy for me to find the time to read.
Most of us probably stay awake around 16 hours for a day.
I cannot imagine somebody being fully busy during those 16 hours, so you should be able to find at least 30 minutes a day to read.
I think that this is a great time to start building the habits of reading every day.
Plus, if it is sunny where you are right now, go outside and read a book.
If you have the luxury of owning a beach house, read outside on the balcony while listening to the waves crash along the beach (Don’t go on the beach or put your feet in the water because supposedly COVID-19 is in the ocean as well).
Just to add, if you live in LA, stay away from the beaches and LA Times posted an article here talking about why.
Anyways, sorry for the sidetrack.
Read a book that really interests you.
This is the time to hone in a skill that you have always wanted to to be able to do.
Granted, ordering a book off of Amazon may take a couple of weeks to reach you.
There are plenty of E-books out there with great information.
If you have a Kindle, then you have already been set for the quarantine.
Work Out
Because the gyms are closed, the gains and the weight loss programs now have to stop right?
Well the easy answer is no.
There are plenty of ways to still lose weight and workout.
Some great bodyweight exercises can be found here and here! Also, for losing weight, this HIIT workout is brutal.
There are great yoga channels out there on youtube as well like this one here!
There are a lot of great ways to stay in shape.
It is hard because now it might be scary to be running miles outside, but using a jump rope or doing HIIT exercises are still a great way to get your cardio in.
You can still seriously increase your strength with bodyweight exercises.
Take advantage of this time to workout and get healthier.
Imagine coming out of quarantine and people can’t recognize you because of how in shape you look.
Baking
Yeah it does sort of go against what I said earlier about exercising and staying healthy.
But baking is fun.
Granted I don’t usually do it but my sister and mother have been baking cookies and they love it.
My neighbors said that they just made this new brownies recipe that they found online.
We need to find some time to have fun and splurge a little bit.
The quarantine shouldn’t make you forget about the sweet taste of melting chocolate.
However, I have had a hard time finding flour in the grocery store recently so we have not been baking that much.
I do know that once they are back in stock, there is no doubt in my mind that there will be dozens of cookies coming out of the oven waiting to be devoured.
Board Games/Card Games/Video Games/Any Games
Yeah I have been playing video games.
I have also been playing board games with the family.
There are tons of games that you can play to get your mind off of everything happening out there.
Sometimes it is nice to escape.
Grab your family members and beat their asses in Monopoly.
We have been playing this game called Code Names.
I actually quite enjoy that game so if you have it and have not played it yet, I recommend taking off the plastic wrapping and getting to it.
Drink Lots of Water
Drink a lot a lot. Water is so important when it comes to your immune system.
Replenish yourself so your body can be more efficient in getting rid of the toxins in your body.
During times like this, we need to really make sure that we have glasses of water in front of us.
Stay hydrated, and your immune system will really thank you for it.
Stay Safe and Pay Attention to the Experts
Rules are changing all the time with the Coronavirus.
We used to use our reusable bags and now we cannot.
They are saying that gloves now actually might actually help spread the virus.
Basically, experts are finding new ways to prevent this virus from spreading.
Do your duty and listen to what they are saying because if we all work together, we can really help drop the amount of new COVID-19 cases.
I also know that I have been getting a lot of emails from officials in my county talking about the news of COVID-19.
If you are getting those emails, pay attention to those too because they might have a lot of information about COVID-19 for your specific community.
We just need to be very aware of the information being thrown our way.
It gets hard because we hear a lot of different things from the news outlets.
These are tough times but we are tough people and we will get through this.
Wash your hands and do not touch your face.
Stay inside and only go out for necessities.
Sadly, hanging out with your friends is not a necessity.
We will get through this. Stay safe all!