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People are spending more time at home than ever before, and this can present some challenges in terms of keeping busy, healthy and motivated. However, it is also an opportunity for some incredible family bonding, or, if you live alone, personal growth.
Create a Schedule
At first, having to stay home all day may seem like a welcome opportunity to stay in pajamas all day binging your favorite TV shows. But this gets old fast, and it is easy to fall into an unhealthy and unmotivated rut. A schedule can be a great help in keeping motivated and energized throughout the days and weeks of being at home. You should of course make this schedule work for you. Allow it to be flexible and manageable to where it breaks up the day for you and your family but doesn’t create a rushed or stressed feeling. Make the morning and bedtime routines at times that work for your family. A sample schedule for a family with children might include breakfast, getting dressed, morning learning time, lunch, art or music, exercise, dinner, TV time and bedtime. For someone living alone it could include breakfast and getting dressed, work from home, lunch time walk outside, more work from home, home workout, dinner and TV time. Whatever your schedule looks like, a loose schedule creates some accountability and motivation for yourself and your children.
Creative Fun
One silver lining of the current events right now is that everyone is spending more time with their household members. This may be a challenge but can also be a great opportunity for some quality family time that will be remembered for years to come. Young kids love the chance to be active and physical. Creating an indoor obstacle course or scavenger hunt is great to get them moving. There are also great collapsible crawl tunnels, tents and ball pits that fold up and can be stored in a closet with not in use. This is a great way for them to burn some energy and have fun while staying indoors. For older kids, family game nights can be a great idea. After the kids and the parents are done with their work/school for the day, have a game night with some snacks, treats and fun and harmless wagers. Some examples could be a lesser number of chores the next day, the chance to choose the dinner menu one night, or extra TV/online time one night.
Remember your Pets
Pets may be loving all the extra time with their humans at home, but they may be missing out on important exercise that they used to get on long daily walks or visits to the dog parks. In most areas, neighborhood walks are still okay and are very important for our furry friends. Perhaps you want to limit yourself to one good walk each day. Make it a point to then set aside at least one or two other times in the day for an indoor exercise session with our pet. Dedicate 15-30 minutes to playing with your pet. This could be a good game of fetch, chase, tug of war, or whatever their favorite games include. Be sure to include plenty of praise and happy energy to keep them feeling their best.
Even though the news right now may be unsettling, scary and our future uncertain, this is a rare opportunity to make some lasting changes to our daily routines. From more quality time being spent with your loved ones each day to more consistent home workouts to more frequent home cooked meals, the small glimmers of positivity during this time can be immensely empowering. Try each day to think about the positive things that happened each day within your home. Eventually, this too shall pass and we may even have some fond memories to look back upon.
