Many of us are sequestered at home (some voluntarily and some not), in an effort to quell the spread of COVID-19 – nearly all of my traveler friends have cancelled their upcoming travel and are hunkered down at home. This is a tempting time to travel with the deep discounts the airlines are offering, but I have concerns that if I jumped on a plane to head somewhere fun I might get stuck there quarantined, or even worse if the airline industry decides to take a 30 day pause like the cruise industry did. Many of us are spending our time looking for something to do. I have compiled a list of ideas to direct your time toward while we wait for this all to blow over.

Learn a new skill

Many companies including Adobe are offering one or two month free subscriptions to their services while we wait for the virus to run its course. Embrace this and head over to YouTube to find a multitude of tutorials and classes to help you learn a new skill. I am taking time to hone my skills at illustrator CC, it is something I have always wanted to learn more about and that has been occupying my days. Right before the virus hit, I happened to buy a Udemy.com course on illustrator CC and I have been working my way through it. As a travel blogger and photographer, I never saw the real draw for illustrator other than making logos. It may not be a skill I use every day in my creative life, but it is something I wanted to learn to do.

Research your next trip!

Wanderlust will hit all of us sooner or later. Take some time to research your next destination on this site or others. I have been to lots of places and will be putting up new location reviews as I have time to write them during this quarantine.

Learn a Language

There are a million resources to learn a new language. Phone apps like memrise work well with screen readers and can teach you a new language in a very comprehensive way. If you always wanted to go to another country, take this time to learn the language of your destination country so you have a leg up when you get there. I have personally used and had great results with https://www.rosettastone.com/ They have a ton of different languages and like memrise teach in a very comprehensive way. If you don’t want to go the paid route, there is always YouTube. Free language tutorials are all over YouTube. The quality is hit and miss, but it is free so what do you expect?

Learn a musical instrument

Pick up that guitar or recorder that has been sitting around for years and learn to play. YouTube has a ton of comprehensive courses for free that you can take at your own pace. Many have weekly challenges and are laid out just like a class you would take in school. If you want a higher quality education option, check out Udemy.com they have a variety of classes on most instruments.

Speak to relatives

Make some calls and talk to the people you don’t talk to often. This can be a great time to catch up on the events of the day as well as keeping you both occupied for a while.

Take up yoga or meditation

YouTube or Udemy offer a ton of options on yoga and meditation. If you are anxious about the quarantine or what is going on in the world in general, meditation can be a great tool to help you get focused and find your center. Yoga can also be a wonderful way to stretch the kinks out and build that core up like you have been meaning to. Be warned, once you start, you will fall in love with the results. The only bad thing is that you will hurt in places you had no idea could hurt at first.

Be patient

This will pass and we will all get back to our normal lives. Don’t waste the time you have during this quarantine – when this is all over, look back on this time with fondness for the time you spent learning a new skill – whatever that may be.

What do you think? I would love to hear your ideas about projects or other constructive uses of your time that you are employing to keep busy during these crazy times. Drop me a message on my social media links below.

Hey! I love to hear from my readers! Feel free to contact me via my social media sites I would love to hear your thoughts on this or any of my other articles! Until then, get out and get shooting! 

My Photography site: http://www.tahquechi.com/

My Bodyscapes project: http://www.bodyscapes.photography/

My travel site: https://www.blindtravels.com/

Instagram and Twitter: @nedskee