Over the last several months the world as we know it has changed indefinitely. This is an unprecedented time and living through it has been jarring for everyone, it feels as though our lives have been put on hold and it can be hard not to feel depressed and despondent in the face of such suffering and an uncertain future.
To help you get through these times it’s important that you plan things that will help you get excited about the future and life after lockdown. So, here are some simple things you can do right now that will help improve your life after quarantine.
Tackle Your Personal Finances
Quite often, tackling our personal finances is something that we may not always feel qualified to do. The reality is that we often make financial decisions based on arbitrary factors. How many of us are with a specific bank simply because it was the bank our parents had accounts with? How many of us actually know why we actually have the specific credit card we have? We often think that a credit card is just a credit card but there are actually many different types of cards that are designed to suit our specific needs. To learn more about which credit card might be right for you, check out this informative article.
Practice New Recipes
If there’s one thing we’re all missing right now, it’s eating delicious restaurant quality food surrounded by family and friends. So, while you may not be able to have a dinner party just yet, you can prep to have the best dinner party of all time to celebrate reuniting with all your loved ones once quarantine restrictions have been lifted. So whether you consider yourself a bit of an amateur chef or if you’re strictly a pasta and take out kind of diner you can take this time to perfect a few new recipes. Consider checking out Jamie Oliver’s massive range of recipes for home chefs of all levels or, for something a little bit more adventurous, the recipes from the team at Bon Appétit.
You’re likely spending a lot of time in your house but, doing that without being surrounded by the people that make your house feel like home, can feel a little disconcerting. So start getting excited about a home filled with friends and delicious food and your first post-lockdown birthday party.
Declutter Your House
Whether you’ve transitioned into working from home or if you’re just spending more time at home on the weekends, you’ve probably started to notice the sheer amount of ‘stuff’ that just piles up around your house. Most of the time, it’s stuff you never even knew you had, a second-grade yearbook, an old high school essay, four marginally different red sweatshirts – regardless on your stance on Marie Kondo (personally we think she’s a pretty sweet lady but we’ve never found actual joy in tidying up), there’s no denying that your space would feel markedly less overwhelmed by clutter if you engaged in a decent weekend of spring cleaning. A key tip for clothes is that if you haven’t worn something in the last year you’re probably not going to wear it again. Once you’ve cleaned through your closet you can find a local charity to which you can donate your cleaned second-hand clothes – decluttering your house and supporting a local charity at the same time!
Learn a new skill
You know that massive list you have of things you’d like to do if only you had more time! The sort of things you’d want to do if you just had a few more hours in the day, or a hobby you think you might like to pick up when you retire. The silver lining of having a lot of free time on your hands is that you have time to nurture these skills and hobbies. So if you’ve always wanted to learn Italian and order your favourite cuisine in the local language or brush up on your French and watch your favourite Brigette Bardot films sans sous-titres – now is the time! Or if you want to finally get your first aid certification you can check out this online first aid training course.