As you may have noticed, things in the world are a bit cuckoo bananas right now. Social distancing is becoming increasingly widespread, which means that people are going to be experiencing social isolation at an unprecedented level. In this age of global connectedness, this seems really scary to some people, but I prefer to think of it as something akin to the experience of weathering a snowy winter in a log cabin on the western frontier. That is, cozy and exciting!
I live in a house with about ten people. We all have different personalities and we’re all afraid of going stir-crazy spending five months together, so I did some research on how we can avoid that. (We also have a dry-erase monthly calendar where we can plan out activities!) Below are my ideas :)
Epistemic status: these recommendations are based on a combination of (1) things that are required or recommended for astronauts, (2) recommendations for people homebound due to injuries, chronic illnesses, or old age, and (3) common sense.
Body interventions:
If at all possible, get fresh air and sunshine at least once a day.
Get at least light exercise at least once a day; ideally get heavy exercise regularly.
Get enough sleep, water, and calories.
Eat a variety of foods that you enjoy!
Brain interventions:
Regularly video chat loved ones who aren’t quarantined with you.
Talk to a therapist online, if possible.
Meditate. There are lots of guided meditations available online and via apps, some of which are free.
Stick to a basic routine that you endorse. For example, you might want to wake up and go to bed at the same time each day, or do daily exercise.
Change out of sleep clothes and into day clothes each day. If you are a newly minted remote worker, this is especially important, and you may want to set up additional “going to work”, “leaving work”, and “lunch break” routines.
Have projects to work on; set goals that feel meaningful to you.
Get around to those things you always meant to do but didn’t have time for, e.g. learning a certain skill, cleaning out a certain room, or reading a certain book.
Make sure you get real alone time, even if you’re sharing a room.
Do things that are fun for you! e.g. watch movies, make art, have sex, read, dance.
Gratitude journaling. Try to write down three or more things you’re grateful for each day, or exchange gratitudes with a friend or partner verbally.
Plan at least one thing to do each day. This will give your day structure and purpose!
Clean the house regularly so that your living environment stays fresh and nice.
Celebrate birthdays and other holidays just as you normally would; take these opportunities to dress up nice/put on makeup if it makes you happy.
And remember that everyone else is in a similarly stressful situation to you. Interpersonal conflicts are fairly likely to arise, and you need to do your best to minimize their impact on your household. For some people that might mean you need to walk away from the situation for a while rather than letting it escalate. Maybe you need to talk to a trusted friend and/or try third-party mediation. Maybe you need to let your feelings out in a dance battle. In any case, dealing with conflict in a way that minimizes negative externalities is really important. I’d love to hear additional advice on this.
How to have a happy quarantine
As you may have noticed, things in the world are a bit cuckoo bananas right now. Social distancing is becoming increasingly widespread, which means that people are going to be experiencing social isolation at an unprecedented level. In this age of global connectedness, this seems really scary to some people, but I prefer to think of it as something akin to the experience of weathering a snowy winter in a log cabin on the western frontier. That is, cozy and exciting!
I live in a house with about ten people. We all have different personalities and we’re all afraid of going stir-crazy spending five months together, so I did some research on how we can avoid that. (We also have a dry-erase monthly calendar where we can plan out activities!) Below are my ideas :)
Epistemic status: these recommendations are based on a combination of (1) things that are required or recommended for astronauts, (2) recommendations for people homebound due to injuries, chronic illnesses, or old age, and (3) common sense.
Body interventions:
If at all possible, get fresh air and sunshine at least once a day.
Get at least light exercise at least once a day; ideally get heavy exercise regularly.
Get enough sleep, water, and calories.
Eat a variety of foods that you enjoy!
Brain interventions:
Regularly video chat loved ones who aren’t quarantined with you.
Talk to a therapist online, if possible.
Meditate. There are lots of guided meditations available online and via apps, some of which are free.
Stick to a basic routine that you endorse. For example, you might want to wake up and go to bed at the same time each day, or do daily exercise.
Change out of sleep clothes and into day clothes each day. If you are a newly minted remote worker, this is especially important, and you may want to set up additional “going to work”, “leaving work”, and “lunch break” routines.
Have projects to work on; set goals that feel meaningful to you.
Get around to those things you always meant to do but didn’t have time for, e.g. learning a certain skill, cleaning out a certain room, or reading a certain book.
Make sure you get real alone time, even if you’re sharing a room.
Do things that are fun for you! e.g. watch movies, make art, have sex, read, dance.
Gratitude journaling. Try to write down three or more things you’re grateful for each day, or exchange gratitudes with a friend or partner verbally.
Plan at least one thing to do each day. This will give your day structure and purpose!
Clean the house regularly so that your living environment stays fresh and nice.
Celebrate birthdays and other holidays just as you normally would; take these opportunities to dress up nice/put on makeup if it makes you happy.
And remember that everyone else is in a similarly stressful situation to you. Interpersonal conflicts are fairly likely to arise, and you need to do your best to minimize their impact on your household. For some people that might mean you need to walk away from the situation for a while rather than letting it escalate. Maybe you need to talk to a trusted friend and/or try third-party mediation. Maybe you need to let your feelings out in a dance battle. In any case, dealing with conflict in a way that minimizes negative externalities is really important. I’d love to hear additional advice on this.
Big list of activities
Activities you can do alone
Train to do 100 consecutive pushups
Read books, fanfiction, anything you want
Color in coloring books
Online drawing lessons
Arts and crafts
Learn yoga online (I like Yoga with Adriene)
Do bodyweight exercises (I like the scientific 7-minute workout with the silly song)
Play with Legos
Make music
Write a song
Write a book
Play video games
KonMari your living space
Redecorate your living space
Make candles
Spray painting
Play Geoguessr
Online escape room
Work through a textbook
Under-desk treadmill and/or under-desk bike pedal thing
Explore the world in VR
Create content you can share, e.g. blog posts or YouTube videos
Do puzzles
Games
Board games one can play for free online:
Secret Hitler: .io, and .party (boardgamegeek)
Dominion (boardgamegeek)
Hanabi (boardgamegeek)
Android: Netrunner (boardgamegeek)
Resistance and Avalon (boardgamegeek links for Resistance and Avalon)
Codenames on a website and on slack (boardgamegeek)
Go (wikipedia)
Chess (wikipedia)
Set (boardgamegeek)
Board game arena is a website with a variety of games including Carcasonne, Puerto Rico, and 7 Wonders.
Group activities
Teach each other stuff (e.g. math, singing)
Dance parties
Morning calisthenics
Show each other cool movies
Smell identifying contest
Tasting exercises from the book Taste
Become a choir
Video game tournament
Scavenger hunt
Give each other makeovers
Contest to build the strongest structure out of something you have around the house
Learn a synchronized dance
Sleepover night: make a blanket fort and eat popcorn and watch movies in your PJs
Karaoke
Cook-off
Picnic (can be indoors or in a yard, if you have one)
Truth or dare
Hide and seek
Easter egg hunt (didn’t stock up on eggs? that’s okay! hide something else!)
Photo shoot
Shadow puppet show
Shakespeare read-throughs
Improv exercises from Impro
Play banal card games like kids do
Paper airplane contest
Board games
Wrestling
Badminton
Quidditch
The floor is lava
Collaborative online games
Heads Up!
Jeopardy
Opt-in mandatory daily exercise
Shared meals
Watch a long TV show together, one or two episodes per day
Set up passive Skype calls with other houses so it’s kind of like we’re hanging out in each other’s living rooms
Spelling bee
Build a Rube Goldberg machine
I welcome other ideas and will add them to the post if you want!