Hey, all. How are you doing? Wish we could see you. No, we really wish we could see you. As stay-at-home orders get extended and our social distancing stretches out into the distance, the initial fear and anxiety about the pandemic have morphed to include...boredom. Real, real boredom. You feel us?
Fortunately, our residents (and our staff members) have been making a silk purse out of this sow’s ear of a situation. It helps that everyone here is 100% healthy (hooray!) and remaining optimistic, positive and happy. It also helps that, as a small community, we’re able to visit within our community, even though we have a lockdown on visitors and non-essential personnel. Our residents appreciate that even though we’re wearing masks and social distancing, we’re social distancing together.
As you can imagine, we’ve been doing our best to come up with activities to help beat the boredom of COVID-19. Here at Melrose, we're practicing safety with social distancing and wearing appropriate PPE while having patio dance parties, hallway happy hour and doorway BINGO. But not everyone is lucky enough to live in a community like ours right now, so we thought we’d share some of our solo-activity ideas in the hope that it will help you, too, make the most of your "me" time.
Take a virtual trip. Sure, you can’t physically travel, but right now, there have never been more options to tour the world without leaving your couch. Take a virtual walk through a world-famous museum, attend a film festival or a concert, or see how the animals in zoos are enjoying their people-free time.
Do a puzzle. Who could have anticipated that doing puzzles would be an Instagram-worthy activity? Pull out an old favorite or order a new one, make some snacks, grab a beverage and you’ve got entertainment for hours on end.
Exercise. This is more of a reminder than a favorite activity, but getting enough physical exercise boosts your mood, energizes you and helps stave off the “COVID 19” (which, apparently, is what people are calling quarantine weight gain). Sites like The Body Project offer free subscriptions, or check out YouTube for countless workouts, tutorials and more.
Hold a virtual happy hour. Or a virtual hangout, lunch, coffee – whatever strikes your fancy. Video chatting services like Zoom, GoToMeeting or the old favorites Skype or FaceTime are allowing people and groups to “meet up” even if they can’t be in the same area. Sure, it’s not perfect, but it’s a great way to connect with friends and loved ones.
Work through your reading list. Do you have large stack of books on your bedside table (or queue in your Kindle) that you’ve been meaning to work through when you have the time? Well – there’s no better time than now to crack open a good read. Enjoy your literary adventures solo, or put together a book club (and meet via video) to have a lively discussion with others.
Enjoy your solo time. Prior to coronavirus, it seems that our lives were jam packed with activities, events and running around. While that can be fun, there’s also a certain level of stress associated with. Now, our lives are a lot quieter...so why not take advantage of it? Get out among nature (just stay 6 feet away of anyone on the path). Meditate. Sit on the porch and drink a cup of coffee. Enjoy just being for a moment...you may be surprised at how relaxing and fulfilling it can be!
We’re crossing our fingers that all of us will soon be able to get out and about and resume some sense of normalcy to our lives. Until that point, however, we’re hunkering down, staying positive and staying happy together. For all you out there: stay safe, stay healthy and wash your hands!
Virtual tours are available, and we're here to chat over the phone too! Call us at 319-341-7893.