How to Keep Sane During the 2020 Quarantine

Hola compadres. Hope you're all holding up nicely so far in the apocalypse!

I'm not here to give you a pep talk about how we are all in this together and how you should stay home (BUT YOU SHOULD BE STAYING HOME) because there are way too many messages about that right now, I simply wanted to put together a list of things I've been doing to keep myself occupied!

I know there are a million lists out there for things to do while we await the conquering of COVID-19 and I almost didn't put together this list, but you never know when ideas will spark something new for someone else!

Here's my list of things to do to keep sane during the 2020 quarantine...

WATCH TV - DUH

Hulu/Cable

• The Masked Singer (3 seasons)
• Almost Family (1 season)
• Little Fires (new show, I've heard rave reviews, only 3 episodes as of right meow)

Netflix

• The Circle (1 season)
• Love is Blind (1 season)
• Shameless (Originally HBO - 9 seasons)
• In the Dark (1 season)
• The 100 (5 seasons)
• You (2 seasons)

Oldies (with a bunch of seasons)

• Gossip Girl (6 seasons)
• Glee (6 seasons)
• Criminal Minds (12 seasons)
• Vampire Diaries (8 seasons)
• Grey's Anatomy (15 seasons + the one on TV now)

ACTIVITIES

Working out with (or without) YouTube Videos
Working out at home is not something I was excited about. I've always found it hard to get motivated to do a great workout when I was sitting at my kitchen table 3 minutes before I moved to the living room to work it out. Since we have no other real choice for workouts right now, my affinity for home workouts has grown. Running outside is still my favorite form of cardio but you never know what you're going to get

• Here's a list from Dallasites101 of local Dallas fitness studios offering free online classes!
• I've personally been following MadFit for short home workouts (that kick your butt), and by Yoga with Kassandra for yoga/stretching (this is particularly helpful while we are all sitting on couches or tables we don't normally do to work at!)
• Dallasites also shared a post on trails to walk around Dallas that aren't the typical ones (Katy Trail and White Rock) which I thought was really helpful! I walked White Rock Lake recently with my boyfriend and it was just as packed as a normal weekend. This was before the shelter-in-place mandate, please don't stone me.

Painting/crafting

• Remember the old days of Pinterest!? I've been itching to make some more paintings and this is the perfect time to get some of my creative juices out!
• Here is my design board on Pinterest if you need some inspo! I also have a more general craft board that entails using a little more items besides canvas and paint :)

Virtual Concerts

• A lot of artists are continuing their tours online; here are the ones I've been following:
• #TogetherAtHome by Global Citizen. The list I've been looking at is here and you can also search the hashtag to find a bunch of shows!
• Songkick has a list here

Play Phone Apps/Online Games

• I recently started playing Ruzzle (basically a word search game). I don't think I'm very good lolz play me and you'll probably beat me and have a great self esteem boost about your brains - @basicstacy
• Fibbage is a game that started as an online game (I think) that was played in person but a few of my friends in Atlanta decided to try it online and it was pretty fun! We played via Webex and it was definitely a fun way to pass the time with friends long distance while enjoying a glass of wine.
• 94° is an app ad I fell for on Instagram but it's actually pretty fun! I only really like playing games that get your brain cranking (as you can tell) and this is exactly what this game is. It's an assortment of random questions about everything under the sun - sports, history, geography, food, etc. They give you a blank canvas and you have to "pin" the right answer. For instance, one question asked how fast a kangaroo can go and gave you a speedometer to pin your answer to. The quicker you guess right, the more coins you get. Some questions are dumb (like "pick out the basketball from all these balls") but others are interesting and I'm learning a lot, which I love. Check if out if you're a little quizlet yourself!

Be a Bookworm 
My recent faves (all suspense/thrillers ):

• Verity by Colleen Hoover
• In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware
• The Couple Next Door by Sheri Lapena

If you have any other easy ideas to keep yourself busy during hibernation, or want to share your username for a game to play together, leave a comment below! Let's be ever better virtual friends :)

And in the great words of Ellen, be kind to one another