Thinking about activities inside the home is quite new to many people. The question keeps popping up inside their head, “What hobbies should I try?” Don’t worry I’ve got you covered! I have compiled a list of 5 fun hobbies to pick up during quarantine.
Confining yourself or having to quarantine is not everybody’s cup of tea. The mandatory social isolation decreed since March aims to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and has certainly altered our daily routines Many of us are used to activities such as going out for ice cream, taking a walk, going to the gym or meeting friends. But in certain situations we are often forced to do things we do not like, especially if it is for a cause like this: Protecting your life and that of your loved ones from COVID-19. In the months that followed we saw a new movement start on Twitter: Quarantine and Chill. People started creating songs and selling merchandise that resonated with everyone’s current situation as this was the new ‘normal’ now.
Why This Is The Best Time To Pick A Hobby
Studies conducted in Chile regarding the psychological effects of social distancing showed that isolation is having an effect on our mental health. Antonio Rivera, a psychologist in the Advisory and Counselling Department at Tec de Monterrey, says having a hobby is the best form of escape.
“Having a hobby you’re passionate about is a good thing from a mental health point of view. It’s a way of de-stressing from the accelerated lifestyle we’ve been leading that involves something you’re passionate about.”
Specialists have shared that this is the best time to get started with a new hobby as you can eventually become an expert with the time you have right now. I know that despair and boredom can reach you at any time, so I leave for you some hobbies that you can pick up during quarantine in the best possible way.
New Hobbies To Pick Up During Quarantine:
1. Start Reading:
Reading books can become an excellent activity during periods of confinement. This has been one of my favorite hobbies to pick up during quarantine. Being at home without being able to take to the streets is a complex situation that most people are experiencing for the first time. All the complexity of work, relationships and activities is reduced to four walls whose main escape routes are the Internet, radio and television. But there is another escape route that favors our mental health: reading books.
Stress and tension flourish in people as they are not able to carry out a personal and professional activity as they had planned a long time ago. It’s not right, but it’s time to keep your mind clear and ready for tomorrow when all of this is over. And that’s why we recommend reading books. To put aside informational saturation, reset our minds and be able to leave home to other worlds and times through our imagination.
What Do I Read?!
Every day that dawns, the dilemma that strikes us is which book to start or which to keep reading. So reading now, today, serves as relief or comfort in the frightening and disturbing images we see on television and in the face of a virus that is wreaking havoc. In this forced period of quarantine, I have dedicated myself—and I suppose every regular reader—to searching for and dusting in my library forgotten books that I had left unfinished. Or to discover books and authors that we can read again because we forgot we had them.
My favorite book during this quarantine has been New York Times Bestseller: Can’t Hurt Me(By David Goggins) incase you were wondering what I enjoyed reading. The book shares David Goggins’s astonishing life story and reveals that most of us tap into only 40% of our capabilities.
2. Learn How To Cook
Just as from any experience we can get learn something positive, quarantine has provided us the opportunity to learn new things and develop other skills such as culinary art. Another fun hobby to pick up during quarantine is learning how to cook. Eating is an act of survival, we know it’s easier to call “delivery on duty” but learning to cook gives you a lot more experience as you can prepare recipes with your special touch.
Cooking is a perfect therapy to cope with quarantine because the feeling of control helps stress. Increasing time at home offers us the opportunity to reinvent ourselves. In the media and social networks we keep seeing families take out of the closet the most traditional board games and how they take advantage of technologies to play online. Similarly we see them dust off paintings, read books and yes, try new recipes. Among these activities, nutrition experts propose cooking as one of the easiest to integrate into the home routine.
Why You Should Start Cooking:
Cooking as a family has its positive effects on a physical, mental and social level. Children develop social skills along with their family by making a recipe as they work on their communication skills simultaneously. They need to know how to understand the steps and translate them into actions. This will improve self-confidence, as even though they are supervised by an adult, they will be proud of what they have cooked.
Secondly, using healthy foods we will be able to get children to associate this good experience with healthy food. This, in the long term, would ensure positive effects on their physical health. Learning from this global health event, start your new chapter in the kitchen and feel the satisfaction of making your own meals!
3. Physical Exercise
Physical Exercise is another hobby to pick up. There are studies that indicate that regular exercise contributes to improving the immune system, improving the body’s ability to fight common diseases. For example, in flu season a temporary increase in body temperature from physical activity can inhibit the growth of certain bacteria. However, if you are sick while exercising, your immune system is being forced to work at full capacity. One should be careful about the duration, intensity, frequency, and type of exercise, or you will be at risk of a temporary decrease in immune function.
The psychological factor of the pandemic contributes to the desire of many to stay active in their homes. News on the television in addition to not being able to get out, can cause panic, stress, anxiety or depression. The natural generation of endorphins that occurs in your body increases when performing physical activities. This helps to improve the mood and reduce your stress and anxiety. Physical reactions caused by exercise have been shown to be effective in improving cardiovascular health, bone density, and muscle strength.
You Don’t Need Expensive Equipment!
Isolation does not mean disruption of physical activity, but is an opportunity to continue with it, maintain a sense of normalcy and protect mental health. Ample space is not required, if the right exercises are chosen, the body weight itself is sufficient. Quarantine has meant the closure of all non-essential shops, such as gyms, an important focus of spread because the virus can survive up to three days on surfaces and machines are constantly shared. Exercising at home is a good way to stay in shape for regular customers. Similarly people who didn’t exercise previously can do so at home and reap its benefits.
4. Art Therapy
During times of uncertainty and health crises, it is best to follow the recommendations of the authorities and stay home. To make this period of isolation more bearable, there are different options of what to do: watch Netflix, enjoy ballet or opera in the comfort of your home, and why not, enter Art Therapy.
Art is a very effective therapeutic tool for the treatment of pathologies associated with health and mental well-being. Something much needed when the coronavirus forces us to lock ourselves up as much as possible.
What Art Therapy?
Art therapy is a new discipline that aims to promote certain healthy habits, both psychologically and socially, through artistic expression. However, beyond purely therapeutic purposes, Art therapy is a technique of personal development, self-knowingness and emotional expression. So, you don’t need to have any psychological disorder, but rather feel the need to explore us through art. That is why I included this as one of the fun hobbies a person can pick up during quarantine.
How To Implement Art Therapy?
Through the different artistic manifestations: painting, music, dance, DIY or drawing. Through these expressions, we reflect our fears, anxieties, needs, desires, or dreams, which ultimately serves as a method of liberation. In times like these, this might be one of the most creative one in everybody’s hobbies list.
Art, music or painting benefit health. Did you know that listening to music helps control blood glucose level? On the other hand making music improves the immune system and stress management. Dancing provides benefits throughout the body and mind and painting or sculpting helps lift the mood in depressive states. This is said by the World Health Organization, which for the first time has conducted a large-scale study on the ties between art and health and well-being and for the first time calls on governments and authorities to implement policies that improve collaboration between the health and artistic sectors.
The report highlights that the arts can play a crucial role in well-being from birth to death. It also highlights the benefits of theatre in adolescents or the effects of music on mental health and dementia. The report also mentions that some artistic interventions can eventually be more effective than the most common biomedical treatments.
Children’s painting and development
Painting is one of the most fun activities for the little ones. Just provide them with the necessary material, sheets of paper or a notebook and let them unleash their fantasy. The best thing about this is that painting sets are not that expensive. In addition to enhancing their creativity, painting brings them other benefits in their development at different levels:
- It helps to develop their fine motor skills and manipulate small objects.
- They provokes great satisfaction, which contributes to increase their self-esteem.
- It gives them the space to express their feelings and concerns, such as insecurity, trust, or concerns.
- They learn to appreciate effort and work.
5. Writing
I recently did a survey among our Instagram followers about the use of stationery, and I was surprised how few (I included) write about how we feel, what we want and how to plan our projects. So I started researching the benefits of writing, which are so many, to encourage us to start that new habit. Many of them can help us process this situation we are experiencing and get the best out of it.
Writing reduces stress, and helps you express and process situations and see them from new perspectives to find different solutions. Likewise it improves memory as you’re more likely to remember what you write. Writing helps you become self-aware and promotes mindfulness, the ability to put all your attention on the here and now.
Writing a journal of gratitude helps you take a more optimistic view of your reality. Similarly this hobby helps you understand complex topics, perceive patterns, and gives you the opportunity to reflect or find solutions. Writing increases creativity, providing you the opportunity of expressing yourself creatively. A person’s self discipline also increases as he continues to write. The more you exercise it, the more your ability to get what you want grows. Writing what you feel and think can also alleviate the psychological effects of isolation, which in our case, is quite beneficial.
Conclusion
You may already come listening too many times to ignore it, but its no less true. Choosing one of the above mentioned hobbies that one can easily pick up during quarantine will avoid, among other things, remove your anxiety and help you reduce the stress of social isolation time. While at the same time – and this is the best part – you will see an increase in your productivity, your mental health will benefit from this.
Similarly, having a hobby means that you will learn some skill that you did not possess. Simultaneously we would be keeping our brain active, which is effective for our growth. We know that we live in times when anxiety is reaching its top, and that is precisely why my recommendation is to devote a few minutes to these activities. Doing so will help you manage stress a little bit.
Remember that there may even be hobbies that you may pick up during quarantine online. You don’t need to have an important element, tool or supply to develop a particular hobby. The idea is to find and try something new or different and to get out of the routine. Stay safe and keep your spirits up!
