21 enriching ways to spend your time when you’re self-isolating

Every day, you’re given a certain number of hours to live your life. These hours are like funds in a bank account that reduce to zero after the day is over. If you don’t use your time wisely, it’s gone;  there are no carryovers or refunds.

So, when I read about social isolation and how people are going insane cleaning the same cupboards each day, I feel the urge to remind everyone how precious time is. There is so much to learn, discover and enjoy within the comfort of your own home and mind. Here’s my personal list of how to enrich your time when you’re self-isolating.

1. Learn (or re-learn) an instrument. 
2. Call a friend or family member that you haven’t spoken to in over 2 weeks (don’t text). 
3. Go for a walk and leave your phone at home 
4. Go for a walk and listen to a great podcast (they’re free!) 
5. Go for a walk and take a different route. Look at the houses, trees and cracks in the sidewalk. Take a turn without knowing where you’re going, and then see if you can find your way home. Try not to use Google maps. 
6. Take up running. Add your friends on popular apps like Runkeeper or MapMyRun to track and share progress. 
7. Learn a new recipe. 
8. Become a minimalist and Marie Kondo your life. 
9. Pick your favourite musician/artist. Listen to their entire discography from start to finish, and listen to the songs in their original order. See how their music style evolves over the years. 
10. Create Art. Write poems, draw, paint, or record yourself singing or creating music. Whatever you fancy. 
11. If you don’t have personal and professional goals for 2020, make them. 
12. Reflect on how far you’ve come in your personal and professional life compared to March 2019. Make a list of the top 10 people who helped you get there. Call those people and tell them what they mean to you. 
13. Forgive others. Let it go, let it go, let it go. 
14. Take care of your body. Do an entire spa-day overhaul if you need to: scrub, oil, and moisturize. And cut those nails! 
15. Create your perfect morning routine so that you can hit the ground running when COVID-19 is over. Now’s the best time to experiment. 
16. Go through Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook. Unfollow or unfriend people who don’t serve you, grow you or make you happy. You are the product of your five closest relationships. 
17. Spring clean (it’s the right time of the year, anyway!) *But seriously, why are you cleaning the same cupboards each day? Surely there’s something more interesting to do?
18. If you’re single (and feeling lonely), listen to my good friend Nick Jamkhou’s podcast on being single and feeling lonely. 
19. Take the free Yale course entitled “The Science of Well-Being.”
20. Support local restaurants by buying their gift cards
21. Teach a skill to someone in your network who needs it. 

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