How are you keeping yourself busy during lockdown/quarantine/self-isolation?

I know it’s hardly the topic you’d expect to pop-up on a book/audio book review blog, but then we didn’t expect the virus to pop-up in our every day lives. Just curious how you’re all coping and what you’re all doing to keep yourselves busy whilst confined indoors.

Might be a nice way of getting ideas from other like-minded folk about how to occupy yourselves … and for those not under lock down or quarantine, some ideas for when it rears its head in a community near you.

Personally, I’m fairly alright. Most of my hobbies are indoor and I can cycle through them for a few hours at a time so I don’t really get bored of any one. Even if the below hobbies aren’t for you, I’d suggest cycling through things rather than gorging yourself on any one thing. Keeps things fresh and, in my experience, makes the day fly by.

I’ll list off my typical hobbies below:

 

1: Writing/Blogging

Every morning I treat myself a to lay in (I normally get out of bed at 06:45 so laying in until 9 is like a lottery win to me). I’ll then make myself a coffee and spend my first two hours of the day either writing my novel (currently a fantasy novel in which a world-famous barbarian is telling his life story to a bard in the hopes of his saga lasting throughout the ages) or do some blogging on here.

I’m currently 60,000 words into my novel and am hoping that the one good thing to come out of this situation for me is that I may get to finish it and start the submission process. If I get an agent out of this whole thing it would be a strange thing to look back and think a global pandemic turned my life around.

 

2: Daily exercise (outdoor)

The Prime Minister has stated that we are allowed out once a day for exercise and once (as infrequent as possible) to buy essentials. So my once a day is as follows:

Typically tends to be either a walk (30 mins-45 mins) of a half-walk and half-run to try and get the fitness level up. Hoping by the end of this lock down period I can actually manage more running than walking. My body looks like it’s fit but it appears to be make-believe fitness. If I need some minor essentials I’ll make the local shop part my walk, if I need more I’ll hop into the car and drive to the supermarket when finished my walk/run.

 

3: Video game

Ordinarily I’m not one for video games. I can go whole years at a time without using the PS4 for anything other than the WWE Network. It’s partly because I get bored quickly of them when I have limited time on my hands (always think that time could be used doing something more productive) and partly because if I don’t get bored, I could sink hours into it and lose my day. Assassin’s Creed Origins is a huge world and, due to abundance of time I have on my hands with nothing overly pressing to do, I sink far too many hours into this a day. Usually play for two or three hours at a time and do it a couple times a day.

 

4: Reading

This one is self-explanatory. The long and the short of it is that my goodreads is going to get used so much it’ll not know what happened to it. I have a few netgalley titles, a few titles waiting to be read on my book shelf and a viking trilogy that my dad is eager for me to read so he has someone to talk to about it. Should keep me busy.

I’m lucky enough to have a nice garden and love being outdoors with a cold drink in the sun reading on my deckchair.

 

5: Exercise (indoor)

I am lucky enough to have some equipment at home (a few weights, some resistance bands etc …) and I also tend to do a lot of body weight exercises (tricep dips, push ups, burpees etc …). One push up workout that is currently killing me is: 10 push ups downstairs, run upstairs and do 9. Run downstairs and do 8 then back upstairs and do 7. Work your way down to 1. I had hoped to work my way back up to 10 … but I’m usually dead when I get to 1. Something to aim for.

 

6: Audio Book/Podcasts

When busying myself around the house (cooking, cleaning or just chilling on my bed at the end of the day) having background noise is essential. Some people love music on (I don’t mind it, but music bores me quickly. I can’t listen to the same songs over and over. There’s nothing new there and it gets stale and repetitive for me). I love having audio books or podcasts on when I do these things. Unlike music, to me it is constantly different and engaging. Every episode of a podcast or every chapter of an audio book is different to the last so always something to look forward. The only down side to this that I am fast running out of my favourite podcasts. Thankfully I have about 10 audio books left to blitz through.

 

7: TV

I’m currently addicted to Elementary on Amazon Prime. So whenever I have a break from my other hobbies, I pop an episode of that one and relax. I’m spoilt for choice as I have Amazon Prime and Netflix … debating Disney + but can’t justify it when all I want to watch is the Mandalorian.

 

8: Back-up hobbies

I have several back-up hobbies that I’m not going to bother touching just yet. Gotta keep something fresh for when the others get a bit stale (warhammer models to build and paint, ancient history/crime documentaries to watch and randomly learning about new topics that I’ve never really looked into)

I also keep in touch with people via facebook, whatsapp or snap chat. Nice to have people to talk to to break the day up and help you forget that you’re actually not allowed to go within touching distance of other people.

 

What are some of the things you’re doing to keep yourself busy?