As concerts are postponed, sporting events are canceled, schools are closed and tourist hot spots are shut down, experts recommend that even those who show no sign of illness stay home during this time of global pandemic.
That’s right: It’s advised that you self-quarantine.
Although remaining inside is a good way to protect yourself and others from the coronavirus, and is an important measure to help “flatten the curve” of daily cases that put pressure on our health care system, it could lead to a lesser evil: boredom and stir craziness.
What’s there to do while stuck indoors? We’ve compiled 100 suggestions to help make your time quarantined as interesting – and perhaps even as productive – as possible.
1. Complete a puzzle: The more pieces the better! Feeling extra saucy? Take on a Rubik’s Cube. More of a word person? Crossword puzzle!
2. Start a journal or blog. Sure, it can be about the coronavirus, but it could also be about a specific interest from chess to cheese.
3. If it won’t bother your neighbors: Dust off that old instrument and practice.
4. Text all your exes just in case you have one more thing you wanted to get off your chest.
5. Write poetry. Perhaps you can craft a haiku for Mother’s Day, or something without a specific structure. Just try it!
6. Watch all the really long movies you’ve avoided until now.
7. Download Duolingo, or a similar app, and teach yourself a foreign language.
8. Finally read “Infinite Jest,” “Les Miserables” or even “The Stand.” Go all in and read “Ulysses.” You got this.
9. Meditate. Try lying down with your eyes closed, palms up and while focusing on your breath. Or spend 20 minutes sitting crosslegged and repeat a soothing word to yourself in your head. (The latter is more like transcendental meditation.)
10. Face masks, moisturizer, oh my! Treat yourself to a 10-step skin care routine you don’t have time for during a normal work week.
11. Look at pictures of puppies.
12. Put together the most attractive charcuterie board possible, but you can only use foods you already have in your fridge and cupboard.
13. Take note from “Tangled” star Rapunzel, who has an entire song about how she’s spent her days alone in a castle. Activities included in her ditty: Ventriloquy, candle-making, papier-mâché and adding a new painting to her gallery.
14. Write actual letters to family and friends. After that? Write thank-you notes to service people who you remember went out of their way for you.
15. Learn calligraphy. YouTube can help.
16. Finally read the rules to those long and intense board games you’ve never played with the family. Encourage the family to play.
17. Put on a soap opera. Mute the sound. Create your own dialogue.
18. Have a space in your home where all of the tupperware goes? Organize it and actually match lids to containers.
19. Try on all your clothes and determine whether they “spark joy” á la Marie Kondo.
20. Better yet, go through this process with your junk drawer and supply shelves.
21. Have a roommate meeting about how to be more considerate of one other, especially while you will likely be spending more time together. Bring baked goods.
22. Bake those goods.
23. Watch the films that won Oscars for best picture.
24. Watch films that won Independent Spirit Awards for best picture.
25. Watch films that critics say should have won those aforementioned awards.
26. Read all the New Yorker issues piled on your desk.
27. Will Tom Hanks into recovery from coronavirus by watching every Tom Hanks movie chronologically.
28. Knit or crochet.
29. Use Skype, FaceTime, Google Hangouts or Marco Polo to video chat with your long-distance friends.
30. Try out at-home aerobics or yoga videos. Consider downloading a fitness app with curated workout playlists.