The lives of billions of people remain at stake as the Corona virus pandemic is leaving whole countries dysfunctional. With stock markets crashing and businesses running into billions of dollars in losses, people are being forced to work from home and practice social distancing.
While all you can do is take necessary precautions and sit at home hoping for the best, you do realise that you now have more time in your hands, and that it can be used to do something productive and beneficial. It is always very fulfilling and often rewarding to accomplish something that you always wanted to do, and it is often something very different from what you do in your daily life. And no, you don't have to ditch your Netflix and Chill time to be able to do that.
Here are some ideas that will definitely get you on a good start. Let's have a look!
1. Read a book
Books have the lone ability to make you a better person, literally. The joy of reading a book is unparalleled, and the number of reasons to pick up a book is endless. You improve your reading and writing skills, learn new words, and ultimately end up being a bit wiser each time you finish a book.
Physical copies of books are the real deal, and an avid reader will tell you how passionate he is about the smell of a real book, the feel of it, the texture. But in case if you have had let go of your habit in recent years and haven't got one lying around, there are many ways you can get one online, and most of the time, you don't even have to spend a penny!
You can do a google search for your favourite books in e-book format and download it to read on an app like the Kindle Reader app on Android and iOS.
Here are some useful sites where you can legally read books for free online -
Project Gutenberg - The mother of all e-book sites. This is the oldest e-book site in existence and has over 60,000 e-books across different genres, so there is something for everyone. Go check it out!
Open Library - Open Library does not host books on the site itself, but what it does is display links to any e-book format you want on any of the published editions of the book of your choice. A very convenient place, especially for those who love classics.
Scribd - This is for the serious readers out there who need a place to find a book on the go. You can find millions of published materials ranging from books to comics and everything in between. Navigating the site and finding something you like is really easy ever since they switched to a much cleaner interface now. The only downside is that it is a paid subscription service, but it is worth every penny. You get a month-long trial before you actually have to make a payment, so try it out!
I'm gonna cut this list short here, but feel free to Google for more alternatives since there are a lot of websites offering the same services, and it is an only matter of preference.
2. Learn a new skill
It's 2020 and the internet is still gravely underestimated in terms of what it can do for us. With the vast amount of resources available at our fingertips, we can practically learn any skill off the internet, from pattern knitting to making bombs. Pro tip: Don't make bombs. Not cool at all.
You can find instructions, lessons, courses on anything that you can think of, and the internet is one of the most convenient ways to do so. Since you can do it any time you want, wherever you want, and often for free, there is nothing stopping you from picking up the skill you always wanted to try your hands on. You can start from these popular sites -
Youtube - The largest video hosting site in the world has everything under the roof, and we are talking about millions of high-quality videos that could teach you anything you want, for free! Go over to the site and find hours of material for any topic you are interested in.
Udemy - Udemy is an online learning platform aimed at professional adults and students. The platform has more than 50 million students and 57,000 instructors teaching courses in over 65 languages. You can sign up on the site and get access to a range of different courses at very reasonable rates. All of the free and paid courses offer certificates on completion and are provided by authorised teachers and experts.
The above two sites are the most popular learning portals right now. You can find tons of similar sites offering good learning content with a simple Google search.
3. Pick up an old hobby
I can make a thousand excuses for not being able to do something, and so can you. I'm cleaning up my guitar after a period of six months, because I've run out of excuses. Plus, deep down, I know how much I love playing my instrument, and how I went through the difficult period of the first couple of months I was learning to play it, because I was so devoted to it.
I have seen so many of my friends letting go of a hobby and moving on to different spheres in life, it actually gets disheartening at some point. Any expert will tell you that it's crucial that you have an aspect in your life that you enjoy the most, and that you should always try to squeeze in a bit of that into your everyday life.
I get it. It's okay not being able to do something because of your changing priorities in life, and each one of us can relate to that. But what about now? I'm sure you can squeeze in a bit of me (read you) time each day for the next couple of weeks to do something you probably love since you were a child. So go write your next poem, read that book, or blast the solo to Sweet Child o' Mine and burn your neighbours' ears out!
Be sure to check out this article if you need an ounce of motivation to get those juices flowing!
4. Practice basic fitness
There's absolutely no need to get intimidated by the picture above because basic fitness is not that tough, and you certainly don't need to go to a Cross-fit gym and do rope exercises for that. Basic fitness can follow a simple regimen of discipline and light physical activity and be very effective in improving your overall fitness.
Contrary to the popular belief and advice from your lazy-ass friends, a basic level of fitness is actually very easy to maintain in the long run if you follow some kind of routine in your everyday life. This can be getting up everyday at 8 AM to go to work, or dropping everything to have a perfectly-timed lunch at 1.30 PM. As long as you have a routine, you only need to squeeze in some time to take a walk or do a bit of exercise.
Now moving on to people like me who have absolutely no sense of routine in their lives, it's not the end of the world! It's still easy to attain a level of minimum fitness if you commit to it, although you may need to change a few things like your sleep schedule and mealtimes.
I'm sure a few of you are low-key freaking out because I've used the word "exercise" a couple of times and most of you are picturing sweaty, hour-long work-out times, and eating crap because you want to lose weight. Rest assured that is not the case. A religiously followed 15-min workout routine is just as beneficial if you set realistic goals for yourself. Remember, we are here for basic fitness, and not for bulging muscles to show off at a body-building competition. Body-building and fitness are two very different things.
A basic level of fitness can be attained by simple exercises like jogging. However, it is ideal to do some exercises that focus on different parts of your body.
Below are two videos for both men and women that focus on short, full-body workout routines that you can follow everyday, without any equipment. Also, feel free to browse for other such videos when you get comfortable with these.
For the gal pals -
For the dudes -
Start out with these and I'm sure you'll search for more videos and progress through longer and harder routines in the future, and you're gonna feel better than ever. Now go get 'em!
5. Eat healthier
Screwing up your nose, aren't you? It's because we have associated healthy food with boring taste all our life, and the memory of being force-fed green veggies as a kid is etched in our memories forever. But what actually constitutes as healthy? Are some foods unhealthy by default?
Generally speaking, unhealthy food is any anything that can harm your body in one way or the other. This includes food cooked in unhygienic conditions or with unhygienic ingredients, and foods without any useful nutrients (empty calories). This is the kind of food that we get in fast food stalls and most places where the food is spicy and cheap.
Most of us associate this kind of food with unhealthy weight gain, or probably an upset stomach. But the pitfalls are actually much more than that. A whole plethora of health complications root from these consumption habits, like heart diseases and high cholesterol to name a few.
A huge part of a lifestyle with basic fitness is eating healthy. You don't have to gorge on vegetables all the time while ditching your pizza. The key is moderation. Every time you are stuffing empty calories down your throat, you are depriving your body of the nutrients it needs.
So where do these extra calories go? The fat flabs! All the extra weight you have is because you are consuming useless calories, so why don't you work out a balance between the good and the bad? Try clocking in more meals at home than takeaway. Switch to healthy snacks like popcorn (without added sugar or butter) instead of samosas and pakodas everyday. Try different kinds of salad every now and then. It's that simple!
Below are some videos that will help you cook healthier at home. Check them out.
That's it. I hope you stay safe and productive throughout the next couple of weeks. Practice social-distancing and always follow what the experts say. The article is a small compilation of ideas explained in brief, and I would be happy to assist you if you wanna know more. Drop me an email, and don't worry because I do check my mail multiple times a day. Yeah, I'm one of those!
Email - rishabh.bucket@gmail.com
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