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Today, as the month of April comes to an end, I am sharing with all of you 51 ways of self-care and self-love that will give you a much needed boost a this time. We all have our bad days and good days and these self-care ideas are sure to help you cope whenever you are having a tough time.
2020 is proving to be quite a challenging year and the year of upheavals. So it is quite natural to have bad days and feel low during such a time.
Before I share with all of you these easy and fun ways of self love & care, I want to write something on this topic.
What is Self-Love/Self-Care?
Self- love means doing what is best for yourself. It does NOT mean being too proud or having a superiority complex. Infact, it’s the opposite.
Self-love keeps you humble because you know your own pluses and minuses and acknowledge that you are imperfect. Those who are vain do not love themselves since they seek validation from others & have not yet come to terms with their own imperfections. Those who are self-assured and love themselves, don’t really need any external validation.
The most important thing I have realized is that self love doesn’t mean having no self-accountability and making excuses for yourself. Making excuses also means you don’t love yourself enough to do what is needed. While it is very important to be kind to yourself and compassionate with yourself, it is also important to differentiate between being kind to yourself and making excuses Examples: I’m gonna skip my class/session/work/ meditation/workout today because I don’t feel like it. I’m going to buy myself those expensive shoes even though I know I should save that money, etc. Guys, this is not self- love. I learnt this after making some mistakes, but I have realized that self-love means inclusion of self-accountability as well.
Self love & self accountability go together. Self love and self care mean doing what you NEED and NOT just doing what you WANT. Self love & care mean knowing and doing what is best for yourself, even when it may seem tough to do at the moment. In order to know what is best for you, you need to start self-introspecting. You have to become your own best friend.
For me, self love means being honest with yourself, acknowledging the fact that you are not perfect and striving to improve yourself.
On that note, I am sharing with all of you 51 Simple Ways of Self-Care, to help you during a bad day at home.
Here’sthe list:
Brew and drink a cup of your favourite beverage
Refresh your morning routine
Wake up early
Watch the sunrise
Have a healthy & satisfying breakfast
Write down or say a few positive affirmations.
Write 10 things you are grateful for
Take a detox bath
Try a new face mask
Breathe deeply
Do Yoga
Sleep well
Exercise often
Stretch yourself to relieve tension
Meditate daily
Order/make your favorite dessert
Write 5 things you love about yourself
Make a bucket list or vision board
De-clutter 10 items
Read a personal growth book
Skip watching & reading the news
Do something that makes you laugh
Do a kind deed for others/ help someone/donate to charity
Stop comparing yourself with others
Watch your favorite show
Have a video chat with family & friends
Give yourself (or get) a manicure or pedicure at home
Give yourself a head massage
Light your favorite candle
Listen to your favorite podcast
Cook your favorite meal
Do a digital detox
Watch funny YouTube Clips
Draw, paint, colour or doodle something
Take regular small interval breaks from work
Don’t criticise or belittle yourself
Dress up as if you are going outside
Click some pretty photos of yourself
Listen to your favorite music
Hug someone/ Tell someone you love them
Drink a full glass of water & stay hydrated
Read inspirational quotes
Watch a motivational Ted Talk
Wear your favourite perfume
Turn your phone off for a few hours
Do a Brain Dump
Plan your upcoming week
Leave some room for imperfection in your life.
Dance like crazy
Block/ unfollow people and social media accounts who bring down your self-confidence/ make you feel negative
Set an attainable challenge for yourself for the next day
So here was my list of 51 self-careideas. Do let me know if you try any of these and feel better!
Take Care of yourself everyone and focus on loving yourself and taking care of your mental and physical health during these crazy Coronavirus Pandemic times.
Are you missing traveling as much as I do? The stay at home situation is teaching me not to take things for granted, including travel.
I have always loved traveling for as long as I can remember and I find that the best way to learn and grow yourself is to travel.
Photo clicked by me – Hong Islands- Krabi, Thailand.
Travel is something which helps you get out of your comfort zone and many a times I have had positive as well as negative experiences which have brought me out of my comfort zone, encouraged me to travel more and helped me to understand more about life.
“Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” -Gustav Flaubert
So here are 8 things I miss about travel:
The Anticipation
The feeling of anticipation I get, when I visit a new place for the first time, is something I am currently missing. It makes me hopeful and happy when I know I am going to visit a new place!
2. Last Minute Packing
This one is strange, since I NEVER have liked packing. Whether it is moving homes or countries or traveling, all of which I have done often, the one thing I absolutely don’t like is packing my stuff. Whenever I do travel, my packing is almost always done last minute, since I cannot make up my mind completely before that 😀 So I always am rushing to pack my bags, last moment, every single time, which annoys my husband very much since he is quite a meticulous planner. 😀
Strangely enough, ever since I am at home, I am missing packing my bags and going to discover some place new. I miss the last minute rush and craziness of it all!
3. The Culture & People
I am a people’s person and I love discovering new places and different cultures and I like to interact with the local people and observe them. I find each travel experience teaches me something new and helps me broaden my horizons. This is one of the primary reasons I love traveling, since it teaches me so much about the world!
4. Airports
I love airports and the sense of being in transit and the vibe of it all. I really enjoy having a cup of tea/coffee before I board the plane and I love to observe people as they rush through to different destinations.
In fact, I am one of the few people who loves a longer transit time in between flights. Of course, not all airports are that interesting or well developed, so it also depends on the airport whether I enjoy my time there or not.
My favourite airport is of course Singapore Airport. There is absolutely no competition there! I haven’t heard of or seen a more creative and interesting airport than Singapore Airport! The next one which I like is Mumbai International Airport!
5. Nature
Whenever I travel, I make it a point to visit some scenic place. I love connecting with nature. The lush green trees, the chirping birds and the ache I get when I walk too much. I feel calm and refreshed and energetic connecting with nature. I miss that feeling right now.
Also, I am a sea person and like they say, I need a dose of ‘vitamin sea’ when I travel. Watching the waves, feeling the sun and wind on your skin and the sand underneath my feet, is an incomparable feeling.
I miss my dose of nature & sea!
6. The excitement of being in a place for the first time
The thrill of going to a new place for the first time, being amazed at the new things I tumble upon and the feeling of wonder on discovering something new, I miss that.
7. Photos
How obvious is this one!! Every girl likes getting clicked and so do I. For me though, my love for photos extends beyond myself. I love to capture the food, the place, the people, nature and everything else that I can, in my photos. I love capturing photos since photos are memories for me. Memories I cherish and I wish to treasure.
I also love sorting out the unwanted photos on my phone and keeping the good ones. For me, travel and photography go hand in hand and any place I travel to, is incomplete without photos!
8. Coming Home
Although, I love traveling much more than an average person, I also love the feeling of coming back home. Home is like a safe space for most of us, isn’t it? I love coming back home enriched with wonderful experiences and a new perspective on life. Unwinding at home after travel is a great feeling and I miss it.
No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” – Lin Yutang
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These are a few things I miss about traveling. As I write this, I feel the urge to travel again!
I hope that we all overcome the Coronavirus Pandemic and are able to travel, make new friends, collect more memories and learn more about each other!
“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.” – Anthony Bourdain
The lockdown/stay at home situation is starting to get to me, just like it is getting to all of you I presume. There are days when I am genuinely happy and productive at home and there days when I am not.
The only saviour through all of this for me has been reading.
Too much of social media, too much of news about COVID-19, too much of watching Netflix/ Amazon Prime shows and movies makes me feel unproductive and I seriously can’t view shows/movies all the time.
Reading makes me feel alive & activates my imagination. It helps me go into another world & I forget the worries of the current world for a while. It also makes my memory sharper as I grasp one story after another and read one line after another.
The added benefits of vocabulary expansion, cognitive stimulation & brain exercising make reading the best stay at home activity during these times.
Today, I am sharing with all of you 13 Classic Fiction Novels which aren’t boring. Infact, these books are so good that they have been adapted into movies & television shows and you must have seen the adapted versions of atleast one of these.
Even if you have seen any of the movies/TV shows, I would suggest you all to read these books. Books give you the real story and movies/shows although entertaining, lack the depth and intensity of books. Books are layered and have more complex plot build ups & describe the minutest things in detail.
If you love the vintage vibe & the amazing culture, costumes & dialogues of the previous era like I do, you should definitely read these classic novels. As a bibliophile, I find that the books of today lack the depth of character & detailing that the books of the previous generation had. There is just so much richness, finesse & character to these books, that it’s hard to beat such good writing. Hence, they are rightly the most popular books of all time.
I am a huge vintage, retro and classic fan. From vintage clocks, to vintage home decor, to vintage clothing and vintage cars, I love it all! In fact, one of my favourite cafes in Singapore is vintage themed! I guess I am probably just an old soul….
Anyway, the classic novels mentioned below are from different genres & they have a great plot/story line, irrespective of their genre.
Depending on your favourite genre, you can start reading any of these!
Here’s the list:
1. HERCULE POIROT SERIES- AGATHA CHRISTIE
The Hercule Poirot series is dated back to the 1920s and is a legendary series written by Agatha Christie. Hercule Poriot is a Belgian Detective and the stories revolve around him solving many cases through detective work. He is known to be extremely intelligent & observant. The books are available as both, short stories and novels.
Genre: Mystery/ Detective Fiction/Suspense
2. JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH- JULES VERNE
This is an 1864 science fiction novel. The story involves German professor Otto Lidenbrock who believes there are volcanic tubes going toward the centre of the Earth. He, his nephew Axel, and their guide Hans descend into an Icelandic volcano and encounter many adventures, including prehistoric animals and natural hazards & somehow manage to resurface to the earth again.
Other Jules Verne novels like Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea & Around The World in Eighty Days are also very popular and worth a read.
Genre: Science Fiction
3. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD- HARPER LEE
This book was published in 1960 & soon became extremely popular & won the Pulitzer Prize as well. It deals with sensitive topics like racial discrimination, etc in an extremely subtle manner. In fact, it has lots of humour & warmth as well and the story is told innocently through the point of view of a six year old girl.
Genre: Southern Gothic/Coming of age fiction
4. PERRY MASON BOOK SERIES- ERLE STANLEY GARDNER
The first book in this hugely popular law detective series was written in 1933. The Perry Mason Book series ranks 3rd in top selling book series of all time. Perry Mason is a criminal defense lawyer and the stories involve a client’s law murder trial. The American author & lawyer E.S Gardner depicts Perry Mason as a lawyer who fights hard on behalf of his clients and who enjoys unusual, difficult or nearly-hopeless cases. He frequently accepts clients on a whim based on his curiosity about their problem, sometimes for a minimal retainer, and finances the investigation of their cases himself if necessary, to get to the bottom of the crime & ensure justice.
A still from the Perry Mason TV series adaptation
The series include a large list of 82 novels plus 4 short stories. The dialogues and courtroom scenes definitely make this series a great read!
This book dates back to 1844 and is written by french writer Alexandre Dumas who also wrote the famous novel – The Three Musketeers. The story takes place in France, Italy, and islands in the Mediterranean during the historical events of 1815–1839 (when Napoleon returned to power after his exile). The historical setting is a fundamental element of the book, an adventure story primarily concerned with hope, justice, vengeance, mercy, and forgiveness. It centres on a man who is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes from jail & plans revenge.
The saying ‘Revenge is a dish best served cold’ is apt for this book and this book has lots of thrill, drama and characters with deep layers and stories. Today, this book is a literary classic.
Genre: Historical Fiction/Adventure Fiction
6. THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK- ANNE FRANK
This book is also called as the ‘Diary of a Young Girl’. This is a book of the writings from the Dutch language diary kept by a young girl calledAnne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The family was apprehended in 1944, and Anne Frank died of typhus in a concentration camp in 1945.
The diary was retrieved by Miep Gies, who gave it to Anne’s father, Otto Frank, the family’s only known survivor, just after the war was over. The diary has since been published in more than 60 languages. The diary entries where published soon after in the 1945s to 1950’s & the popularity of the book was such that it was translated from Dutch to 60 other languages.
It is a heart- wrenching yet warm & gripping book and one can see the world from Anne Frank’s eyes.
Genre: Autobiography
7. SHERLOCK HOLMES- SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
This is a vastly popular series and needs no introduction. Sherlock Holmes is a fictional private detective created by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Sherlock Holmes is a private detective and refers to himself as a “consulting detective” in the stories. The series date back to the year 1887 and gained popularity in the early 1891.
Adaptation- Sherlock TV series
Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science, and logical reasoning that borders on the fantastic, which he employs when investigating cases for a wide variety of clients, including Scotland Yard.
Genre: Detective Fiction/Mystery/Crime Fiction
8. LORD OF THE RINGS- J.R.R TOLKIEN
This is an epic high fantasy novel written by English author & scholar J.R. R Tolkien. Most of you must have watched the films. Did you know that it is originally a book series? The story intially began as a sequel to Tolkein’s 1937 fantasy novel The Hobbit, but eventually developed into a much larger work. Written in stages between 1937 and 1949, The Lord of the Rings is one of the best-selling novels ever written, with over 150 million copies sold.
Genre:Fantasy/ Adventure Fiction
9. LITTLE WOMEN- LOUISA MARY ALCOTT
Little Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott which was originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869. The story follows the lives of the four March sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—and details their passage from childhood to womanhood. It is loosely based on the lives of the author and her three sisters. Scholars classify it as an autobiographical or semi-autobiographical novel.
Little Women was an immediate commercial and critical success, with readers demanding to know more about the characters. The two volumes were issued in 1880 as a single novel titled Little Women. The women’s characters and the sisterhood bond is amazing in this book, with the character of the tomboy girl Jo adding the much required spark to the story. It depects the life of women in that era and makes a great read.
Written in 1813, this classical fiction written by British author Jane Austen is romantic fiction set in that era. The novel follows the character development of Elizabeth Bennet, the dynamic protagonist of the book who learns about the repercussions of judgments formed in haste and comes to appreciate the difference between superficial goodness and actual goodness.
Its appeal lies in it’s humorously honest depiction of manners, education, marriage, and money during the Regency era in Great Britain. It is the perfect book depecting the fact that appearances can be deceptive. The iconic characters of Flitzwilliam Darcy & Elizabeth Bennet and the hot & cold relationship between the two, make the book very interesting. Each of them learn their lessons and Elizabeth learns not to have a prejudiced mindset.
Still from the movie Pride & Prejudice 2005
Pride and Prejudice has consistently appeared near the top of lists of “most-loved books” among literary scholars and the reading public. It has become one of the most popular novels in English literature, with over 20 million copies sold, and has inspired many derivatives in modern literature
Genre: Romance Fiction/Satire/ Domestic Fiction
11. COMA- ROBIN COOK
The Robin Cook book series are not literary classics in true sense of the word, but they are one of the best book series on medical fiction from the years 1972 to 2019. Many of the books have been bestsellers on The New York Times Best Seller List. Several of the author’s books have also been featured in Reader’s Digest. His books have sold nearly 400 million copies worldwide.
Coma is one of the most famous of the books written by American physician & author Robin Cook. The book’s protagonist is young 3rd year medical student Susan Wheeler who stumbles upon mysterious deaths in the hospital & decides to investigate.
Genre: Medical Fiction/ Medical Thriller/Suspense
12. JANE EYRE- CHARLOTTE BRONTE
Jane Eyre (originally published as Jane Eyre: An Autobiography) is a novel by English writer Charlotte Brontë, published under the pen name “Currer Bell”, in the year 1847.
The book contains elements of social criticism, with a strong sense of Christian morality at its core, and is considered by many to be ahead of its time because of the character Jane Eyre’s individualistic personality and how the way the novel approaches the topics of class, sexuality, religion and feminism.
The last book in this series and the oldest, dating back to 1811, written by Jane Austen beofre Pride & Prejudice.
The story revolves around the Dashwood family & the two sisters Elinor & Marianne.
Elinor is the eldest & the ‘sensible’ one. She is reserved and has a silent & yet strong character. She places other people’s welfare and interests above her own and suppresses her own strong emotions in a way that leads others to think she is indifferent or cold-hearted.
Marianne is the younger, more romantically inclined & temperamental one. Her emotional excesses identify her as the “sensibility” half of the novel’s title. (At that time, this word meant what we now call “sensitivity”).
The relationship between the two sisters & the happenings around them and Marianne’s realisation of her behaviour makes this book an all time favourite classic.
Genre: Romance Fiction/ Domestic Fiction
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Thus, this was a list of my favourite classic fiction novels from various genres.
From romance, to suspense, to fantasy, to autobiography, to science fiction & medical thriller, this list has it all!
Do you love classics as much as I do?
Do let me know if you have read any of these and if you are inspired to read one.
Did I miss any other favourite classical novels of yours?
Go ahead, grab a cup of tea/coffee and start reading one of these classics.. I am sure you will not be disappointed!
In case you need more ideas on what to do during lockdown, read my previous post.
I usually pre-plan my blog posts but sometimes I don’t. This one is completely spontaneous.
As I reach my late twenties this year, I look back and reflect on the younger me who was a teenager & who was in her early twenties.
Truth be told, I am hoping my thirties will turn out to be better than my twenties and unlike some people who make a hue & cry about their twenties being over, I am glad I am turning older & wiser & fast approaching my thirties.
I have gained a lot of perspective in my late twenties and I am much calmer & overall just like this version of myself better than the previous one.
So today, I am writing a letter from the current version of myself to the younger version of me.
Here it goes:
Dear Mini-Manasi,
I am sharing a few things I have learnt as I have reached my late twenties.. I hope you find these points useful in dealing with your life.
It’s okay if people don’t understand your journey
You are young and you expect people to understand where you come from. Especially certain people you considered close enough.
You aren’t very vocal about it, but you expect people to understand. Life doesn’t work that way. It’s okay for people to not understand you and your problems. Even if you understand people, you cannot expect the same understanding from them in return, since they are not obliged to do so. Each individual is different & has different ways of perceiving things.
2. Ignore the body-shamers & stay confident.
While you have never been obese, you have been overweight for quite some time, especially when you were a teenager & in your early twenties. You have been healthy & have made efforts to keep yourself in shape. Yet, you have been body shamed to be a certain ‘size’ by many people including extended family & friends circle. I know that you have received lots of unsolicited advice by people who themselves are not perfect and try to portay themselves as being so. You have gone through hurt and periods of depression because of certain comments & have felt underconfident of yourself.
This is a recent realisation and although your approach towards dealing with such people has evolved through the years, it was not until recently that you had the complete realisation of all these things.
I hope you realise that just because someone calls you their ‘friend’ or is in familial relation with you, does not automatically change the basic character & nature of that person. If a certain person is spiteful, jealous or hateful, they will remain so, irrespective of how close to you they appear to be.
To be fair, you have also received a lot of good comments and many people, even strangers have complimented you and called you ‘pretty’, ‘beautiful’ and the likes..
Also, you are lucky to be surrounded by certain good friends & your parents as well, who have been your pillar of support, especially your mother.
You are someone who has never body shamed people or tried to put others down to make yourself feel better. Unfortunately, I have often come across people who are like this and I have realised there is little you can do about such people.
Dear younger self, don’t get bothered about comments from other people. Just stay confident & do your thing. Be grateful for all the positivity you have recieved till date & ignore the negative.
After all, “What people say about you is a reflection of what they are, not what you are.”
3. It is okay to say ‘No’ sometimes & have boundaries.
As a young girl, you did so much for everyone, you listened to people’s problems, became an agony aunt for your friends, gave relationship advice to your peers and in general you were the typical introverted teenager who listened to people but kept her own issues to herself.
You have been kind, caring, loving and compassionate to the point of exhausting your energy and saving none of it for yourself.
It’s good to be compassionate & the world definitely needs a lot of it, but save some of it for yourself too.
Dear younger self- Its okay to create boundaries & speak up and do things you like and stay away from toxic people & situations.
After all, an empty cup can offer nothing. A cup filled with self-care & love, will offer good things to others as well, right?
4. Don’t try to downplay & undervalue yourself
As a teenager & in your early twenties, you have always tried to downplay your talents & worth. You felt you that you were worthless and you worked on low salaries for a long period of time when you started out. You never went out and asked for more and because you tricked yourself into believing that you weren’t good enough.
You also downplayed your degrees,your education & your qualifications because if you spoke about yourself when people asked you to, they seemed intimidated by you, or acted cold towards you.
You then started downplaying yourself to win the affection of people. You did it to a point that you started believing you are a loser. You started to not be yourself and you became someone else altogether. Of course, being vain is not the answer, but having a basic belief in yourself is vital for your sanity.
Dear mini-me, it’s okay to be yourself. Just acknowledge who you are and stay self-assured. Don’t underestimate or overestimate yourself.
5. Don’t get swayed away by emotions & be more practical
You have always been someone who is extremely emotional (I know, you’ll say most women are), but you have been just too emotional in your dealings with people & you have been swinging from one emotion to the other.
I know now, that your emotional side helps you to be more sensitive towards other people and care for them. but if you don’t watch yourself, you can take certain decisions based on emotions rather than logic and it can be deterimental.
Dear younger self, while it’s okay to be emotional, you need a practical view towards life as well, in order to live a well balanced life.
6. Don’t take everything so seriously,have more fun!
I have realised that you took a lot of things too seriously in life. Every comment, every assignment, every task. Oh my goodness!
While this seriousness & sincerity has definitely helped you professionally, in your personal life, having a great sense of humour can change the way you see things.
Dear Mini-Manasi. just lighten up and take things easy. Don’t be so serious all the time! Enjoy and have fun and learn to see humour in the toughest times, it wil make things easier for you!
I hope you found this letter useful,
Yours Lovingly,
Manasi.
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To sum it all up, I would just simply wish that my younger self knew all the things I know now, that is, to be more carefree & have fun, to strive to be healthy and to ignore the haters & not let negative comments get under my skin and to set boundaries & realise everyone is wired differenly & not to expect people around me to understand me.
I still struggle with certain things that I have said above and many other things as well, but I have realised that I have come a long way in acknowledging certain things & that I am not perfect, I have my flaws & that itis absolutely fine to be imperfect as long as I am true to myself!
No one owes anything to anyone in this life, we all are free to make choices, it’s upto us to make the one’s we feel are right for us and for the poeple around us.
Also, it’s okay to make mistakes, because, otherwise, how will we learn??
Every step of life brings out a different & upgraded version of ourselves, doesn’t it?
So, I hope you enjoyed this article and maybe some points hit home for you and were applicable to you too!
What kind of letter would you write to your younger self?
With the world under no condition to travel, and people stuck in their homes, I think most of us are either glued to their phones, laptops or television sets.
As Singapore is on a ‘Circuit Breaker’ where residents are asked to stay at home, unless absolutely essential to go outside (groceries, health care etc), my feet are itching to go outside and wander. In fact, I am always bitten by the travel bug and not being able to just have a casual walk around the city is really bugging me and I know it is bugging you too, wherever you are! We all are waiting for things to return to normal, aren’t we?
Nevertheless, we all know by now, the importance of social distancing & staying at home. We can beat the virus by just staying at home and that is as easy as it gets, isn’t it?
Ever since I am spending time at home, I am doing by best to keep myself busy and do something productive or creative.
Keeping our minds busy and engaged at this time is the ultimate challenge, since our minds constantly lookout for something to do. Watching news and television or netflix, amazon prime and the likes is the easiest way, and I love to do that too! (Yes, I am watching Money Heist! :D), but after a point, it’s best to take a break from watching your favourite series, because doing the television & netflix thing for long periods of time can be damaging to our psyche and make us feel dull and after a point.
So here are a few things which you can do at home, other than TV & Netflix.
I am sure you must be already doing some of them; Here’s the list:
1. GROW A PLANT
Gardening is a great way to spend your time. You can grow few plants using seeds in your kitchen pantry. E.g.: flax seeds plant, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, ginger, turmeric, basil seeds, seet potato, carrot tops, capsicum seeds, chilli seeds etc.
2. READ A BOOK
Reading not only keeps you entertained, but helps in improving your memory power as well as enhances your vocabulary. In today’s times of technology, many people don’t read or are alien to the beauty of it. It doesn’t matter what genre of books you read, there are multiple benefits of reading. Like the famous quote goes- ” A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies.. The man who never reads lives only one. “- R. R. Martin
3. PRACTICE YOGA & MEDITATION
As the world goes through tough times and our anxiety levels are high, practicing yoga & meditation are the ultimate ways to deal with it as well as learn something new.
Whether it is taking up an online course in your profession or learning a language online, now is a good time for self-growth and learning something new.
5. REASSESS YOUR FINANCE MANAGEMENT
The best time to reflect upon your earnings, savings and financial goals is now. Are you spending too much? How much money would you need to attain a certain goal for yourself or your family? Ask yourself such questions & reassess the way you manage your finance.
6. START A BLOG
I think I don’t need to explain this one! My blog is my source of happiness in current times and I am sure it will be yours too, so go ahead and start one. Identify your niche, take the leap and start blogging!
7. COOK & BAKE
I think many people are already doing this! I see so many delicious pictures on my Instagram & Facebook feed! Now is the best time to update our culinary skills & chef in style!
If you need any ideas, take a look at the food & recipes section of this blog!
8. DECLUTTER YOUR SPACE
Now cleaning and dusting isn’t really my forte & those who know me well can testify to that. Nevertheless, I am looking forward to declutter a few things in my closet & I remember how good I felt after decluttering my dressing table. 😀
Decluttering & organizing our spaces enhances the positive vibes in our home and makes us feel light & cheerful.
9. LISTEN TO MUSIC & DANCE
Now is the time to listen to all the lastest & trending songs and go back to listening to your favourite ones as well. Dancing is another way to keep yourself busy and happy and as a Dance Movement Therapist, I can say that it definitely helps you relieve your stress and pent up emotions.
So what are you waiting for?
10. DIY ACTIVITES & ART
YouTube and Pinterest have a lot of ideas related to Do-It-Yourself Activites & art related stuff. Painting, drawing, sketching, craft, etc; so many options to choose from. So go ahead & get creative.
11. TOUR FAMOUS MUSEUMS ONLINE
Sitting at home doesn’t mean you cannot visit museums. Certain museums like the British Museum, London, Guggenheim Museum, New York, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam and many others can be toured from the comfort of your couch. A simple google search will give you a list of such museums and you can enjoy viewing them & learn more about art, history & culture!
12. FACETIME WITH FAMILY & FRIENDS
I have already mentioned this in my previous post. It is vital to stay connected with the people close to us, to reduce anxiety and feelings of loneliness & depression. Now is the time to rely on the virtual world in keeping us closer.
13. START A YOUTUBE CHANNEL
I started my own YouTube Channel & took quite a big leap of faith in doing so. Ever since I have started it, I am having a lot of fun & learning quite a few things. It’s a great way to share what you know, with the world. Give it a try & you may be surprised on how much you enjoy it!
14. WRITE A STORY OR A BOOK
If you have been contemplating on writing a story or a book, now is the best time! I wrote a fiction novel in 2015 and although I didn’t have a lot of funds at that time, I managed to self-publish it (it’s extremely easy & cheap) and it was a great feeling!
So don’t wait for the ‘right time’ to start writing something you have been wanting to. The right time is ‘Now’!
15. LEARN ABOUT THE STOCK MARKET
If you wish to invest your savings, the stock markets and mutual funds are an excellent option. The main thing is sound financial knowledge of investing your funds wisely and you can utilise this period to upgrade yourself on these topics so that you are better equipped in handling your finances.
16. MAKE A BUCKET LIST
It could be crazy whimsical list and can include bizzare things to do or places to travel to. Even though the things you wish to do may not be possible right now, it could give you perspective on what things you enjoy and what makes you happy.
17. START AGRATITUDE JOURNAL
Gratitude makes you value the things which you already have. Starting a gratitude journal is the best way to pen down the things you are grateful about and that will make you happy and feel upbeat about your life.
18. UPDATE YOUR RESUME
If you are looking for a career change, you can utilise this time to update your resume and linkedin profile and stay ahead of your peers in the job hunting game. This will help you once the world starts returning to normal. (Hope it happens soon!)
19. DECLUTTER YOUR EMAIL INBOX
Clear the spam & unwanted promotional emails & focus only on what is significant for you. A clean inbox is a productive on!
20. BE A MENTOR FOR SOMEONE
You can always share what you know with others. This helps us feel good about ourselves & also helps other people. Whether it is cooking, business, marketing, life-skills or anything else, we all have talents and can share them with the world via blogs, facebook, instagram and other social media platforms. If not, simply encouraging other people in this time of crisis is a great way to be of use to someone. Mentoring someone in the smallest of the ways is extremely satisfying.
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That’s it!
These are 20 ways in which you can spend your time at home.
There is so much to do at home, we just need to explore! If you have any more ideas, feel free to share them in the comment section below!
A Cupful Of Everything 