No matter where you live, it’s safe to say that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has affected your life in a wide variety of different ways. Although government responses have varied in scope and scale from region to region, you’ve probably been subjected to changes in just about every area of your daily life.
Out of all the changes you may have been forced to make due to the pandemic, perhaps the most drastic are those concerning your home life. The home is, after all, the center of much of what we do on a day-to-day basis. Home is where we gather with friends and family. Home is where we eat, sleep and bathe. Home is the center of the intricately interwoven web of intersectionality that we call life.
During these difficult times, the importance of the home has been substantially increased. However, if you’ve been spending more and more time at home, you’ve probably noticed that a lot has changed. You’ve most likely stopped inviting your friends over. You’re bored, likely spending more time online than ever. In short, you’ve probably already restructured your daily life in light of the pandemic.
Restructuring, the responsible way
Now, chances are you didn’t plan on how you would restructure your home life during the pandemic. For most of us, the developments regarding the pandemic came out of left field, leaving us little or no time to think about how our lives would look during self-isolation.
As we head into what will likely be another period of stringent COVID-19 restrictions, an important question must be answered. How can you reshape your home life in a healthy way, preserving some semblance of normalcy while still being responsible?
In light of how things may have gone for you during the last quarantine period, you might be wondering how to avert the problems you ran into last time. If you’re going to be spending increasing amounts of time at home under circumstances similar to those you encountered the last time around, you’re going to need a plan on how to restructure your home life.
That’s where we come in. In this article, we’ll be sharing some helpful tips that will be useful in keeping COVID-19 out of your home, as well as staying happy, healthy, and well rested during your time at home. We’re not going to mince words here; reshaping your life responsibly will be challenging. Nevertheless, with a bit of determination you’ll be able to pull through and create a better home life that will last the duration of the pandemic!
Dealing with boredom
One of the most challenging obstacles facing those forced to stay at home is boredom. Regardless of whether you’re working from home or simply not working at all, boredom can be tremendously disruptive in your home life, often causing serious problems such as irregular sleep schedules, chronic apathy and a general feeling of dissatisfaction.
There are a lot of ways to deal with stress and boredom, but the most important thing is to stay active mentally and physically. When you’re bored, it’s easy to engage in passive activities such as browsing social media, watching excessive amounts of TV or playing video games for extended periods of time. While all of these are perfectly acceptable in moderation, spending too much time engaged in these passive activities is sure to have negative consequences.
To avoid falling prey to these passive time wasters, focus on finding meaningful and rewarding ways of engaging your mind and body within the confines of your home. Adopt an exercise regimen such as pilates or yoga. Pick up a new hobby, like guitar, photography or chess. Read a few books, learn to cook; the options are endless. It’s as simple as finding productive and edifying ways to spend your time!
Being productive at home
While we’re on the topic of productivity, let’s talk about working from home. If your job allows you to work remotely, there’s a good chance that you’re currently doing the bulk of your workload online, from the comfort of your home. While this may seem like a dream come true for some, for others it’s far from ideal.
If you’re the kind of person that struggles with discipline and self motivation, the most important thing to focus on is a healthy sleep schedule. Without a sufficient amount of rest, maintaining a healthy and productive work life from home is a near impossible challenge that will leave you spending your days tired, stressed and unfulfilled.
To avoid these problems, focus on going to bed early and waking up at a reasonable hour. If you aren’t tired when your self-appointed bedtime rolls around, try meditating to clear your mind and relax you. You can also try exercising before bed, which will help release some pent up energy and decompress before you hit the hay.
Once you’ve adopted a healthy sleep regimen, you’ll need to work on your time management. Although you may find this challenging (we all do at times), there really isn’t that much to it; simply focus on getting your work done before you engage in leisure activities. You may also find it helpful to thoroughly organize your home or apartment so that your workspace is free of any distractions.
Maintaining a COVID-free home
Finally, one of the most important things to focus on during this pandemic is keeping the virus out of your home. Whether you’re single, dating or married, observing your regional and national safety guidelines is crucial to keeping yourself and your loved ones healthy. What’s more, it will also help in bringing the pandemic to an end as soon as possible.
Even if you live in a region with less stringent restrictions, there are a few basic safety precautions you should observe anyway. First and foremost, when going out in public you should always wear a mask and maintain a distance of at least 6 ft. (2 m.) between yourself and others. This may be somewhat of an inconvenience, but it has been proven to drastically reduce your risk of infection as well as that of the people around you.
Furthermore, you should always wash your hands thoroughly after reentering your home. This will help eliminate any viral particles you may have unwittingly brought in with you, as well as any other malicious bacteria that could weaken your immune system. According to the World Health Organization, the virus can survive on surfaces for several hours depending on the conditions, so it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Last but not least, you should get used to disinfecting your home as regularly as possible, using antiviral disinfectants. As we mentioned above, the virus can survive on surfaces for a period of several hours under certain circumstances, so it’s best to adopt a regular disinfection regimen to eliminate any possibility of harboring viral particles.
Conclusion
With the imposition of new restrictions that force us to stay at home for extended periods of time, reshaping our homelives is something that we must do one way or the other. This being the case, the only thing to do is to take as much control of this restructuring as possible, making the best out of a less-than-ideal situation. We hope these words of advice will be of help to you, and we wish you all the best!