Wanting to have a long vacation like this is something that gave me an excuse for not doing new things.As i was surfing the web,scrolling through instagram i came across a lot of ways to use this quarantine time wisely.There were a lot that were very useful.But i can't do them all right? But what I can do is share it with you so that me coming across those would not become waste of time.
In this article, I have collected many different things people are learning to do in this quarantine .No, I am not talking about people learning academic subjects or a new programming language. This is a list of stuff which anyone can learn to do and would be far more interesting and beneficial than what you learn for school or college or workplace.
1) Growing the Instagram following
Instagram is the best way for anyone to gather and grow an audience or be a part of a like-minded community. Many suggestions on how one can start to provide value to people (give people reason to remember them for their content) is to have an Instagram handle for their product / service .
Apart from providing value through their area of expertise, people who run businesses either product based or service based, use Instagram to advertise their company.
Now that everybody has started to use Instagram often, many have invested their time and money to learn how to grow business on Instagram. Or in general how to grow Instagram account organically in order to get more exposure in this pandemic so that when the crisis is over, they would have built a wider audience.
Building an audience is the key factor for anyone who wants to make profits through their passion.
2) Speaking a new language.
So you must have been someone who likes money heist .No? Not a fan? Haven’t seen it? O Bella ciao, Bella ciao, Bella, ciao, ciao, ciao! Now you heard that in your head cause that got widely popular.
The popularity that it got has created an interest among people to try learning to speak Spanish . and other spoken languages that can provide people with better opportunities post lock down. Some of these include stuff like learning to speak German, Italian and Arabic.
And it’s not surprising that people are taking up spoken English classes to get better at it because of the fact that all these stuff can be done with the most privacy.
3) Eradicating the Glossophobia/Fear of public speaking.
In America, 4 out of 10 people suffer from glossophobia. Even though it is not a chronic disease or illness,having it not sorted can deprive you of things you deserve to have.
People who weren’t that great in giving a presentation in-front of people, who haven’t did their first presentation so far but know that even thinking about it would give them goose bumps, can utilize this time to either start from scratch or there is always room to improvise.
4)Mastering Time management.
Many people, in this time of isolation don’t know how to spend their time or to put in more productive language, manage their time well as they have been used to going out often and staying at home locked down could be a totally new experience.
One golden skill, the skill or more like the art which when mastered can drastically improve the overall efficiency of all the current skills and the way of life is time management .Now that you are all by yourself, it’s the best time to learn it to earn the most out of it.
Time management is basically the need of the hour.
5) Giving into dressing and grooming oneself.
The way you show up, the attention you give to yourself when showing up to college or your workspace at times becomes more important than showing up regularly.
Just kidding ..but dressing up correctly ,grooming correctly, knowing how much of makeup is professional and which is not and stuff like these create an identity of you. People identify you with that when you dress more professionally.
“Alex? You can find him in the lab ,the dude with neat ironed formals” would be what people will say when asked “who is Alex in your peers?”
So people have started to invest their time in how they can groom themselves better, dress better and make up professionally something their busy life never gave the time for .
6) Training their Pets.
Pets are a great source of stress busting living beings whose benefits of owning them never came to light until now. True fact, at least in the case of very new pet owners who had just got one recently.
Apart from taking your dog for a walk (which most of you won’t be able to do due to the lock down) there are ways in which you can train them to make the bond between you both, stronger.
Dog lovers who hardly had the time to do anything other than kiss their dogs goodbye, have started to train their dogs to listen to commands and other pet owners who own cats , hamsters and other pets have started to do this as well.
7) Exploring gardening.
Gardening can be such a rejuvenating activity for the mind. From the smell of fresh mud to the washing of hands after messing it up, it is much of a blessing to do. Gardeners know why I call it a blessing.
One may learn one of many gardening techniques and for the ones who have a fish tank, aqua phonic gardening is one interesting thing you shouldn’t miss trying during this lock down period.
8) Detoxifying the Body & Mind.
Yoga and meditation is an overlooked way of detoxing the body and mind. The ones who loved themselves, never had an excuse for not to spare time for it and the ones who didn’t love themselves enough in the past have started to feel the benefits and that’s why yoga products are blowing up in the market now.
9) Filming / Photography stuff.
Quarantine has given people the time to do almost anything like stuff which is usually to be done while one is on a vacation. One may not be able to travel and film exciting stuff now but learning the art doesn’t necessarily require that and the filming I mean here is not of that type.
Things like photography, self- filming for YouTube and Instagram, and even stuff like how to professionally edit the footage are skills which require more time and experience to get recognized enough for the skill.
The Tik tok fames who want to take their acting skills to the next level can invest their time in acting courses where one may recognize lip syncing and transitions are just a portion of what it takes to act in films.
And you don’t even need a high –end or dedicated camera. You can cover the basics through a smartphone
10) Brewing some talent
Quarantine's got talent is what we can describe the happening around in Instagram. Just look at instagram now.it has started to flood with posts by new things people are doing after learning them the right away.
Things like rapping, singing, beat boxing and all the self- discovery people are doing not only helps them expose, but also keeps their followers entertained.
11) Building Portfolios.
Off screen skills like graphic design, VFX editing, creative writing,3D modeling and animation and other stuff are mostly the "Freelancing type". The better the portfolio, the greater the chance of landing clients. These skills take quite a long time to cultivate, but as time goes, one can only get better with it
It is to be noted that these skills can be learnt by anyone and building a portfolio is more like the only way to get started. I’d recommend learning it and doing some free work for friends / family so that you can add it because no one pays you even the minimum you ask as people want to know whether you're capable of producing their intended result.
12) Taking care of health & fitness.
All of a sudden there are a lot of people buying into fitness equipment, making the fitness industry to go up in a time like now where industries considered evergreen, like auto mobile are going down.
Taking the most care of oneself is entirely dependent on the time one makes for him/her. In this case, the time available so what’s the excuse? Not all the muscle goals you want to achieve need gym equipment.
People have started to learn things like yoga, calisthenics for physical fitness and now would be the apt time for you to try out all those diet plans you said you’d do only if you had enough time for it. Remember?
There may be a lot of hard to follow diet plans. But I’d recommend you try intermittent fasting as it is very much beginner friendly.
13) Learning about the stock market game.
The difference between the rich and poor is more of how one spends their money than how much one earns.
You could earn minimal wages, invest wisely and grow the money eventually with time or earn comfortably and go broke in no time.
Even in this tough time of financial crisis, there are many opportunities to grow your money. but don’t risk until you’ve learnt it.
Replying to an interesting criticism I come across often
Many, (whom I assume to be the people who want to stay nonproductive) demotivate people around them through hate comments on posts which motivate people to learn something new during this time.
”This is a Pandemic bruh..not a productivity contest ,Don’t pressure people into believing that they missed on something if they don’t have a new skill post lock down!” they say. Pressuring people into productivity is something that will never work. and, there can be no significant growth that can take place under external pressure.
The way I see it is that, If you are reading this, you are probably blessed enough to have a comfortable place to live, food and an internet connection.
And if you are spending time which you think you’re going to probably regret ,Remember ,this lock-down time you have is the result of a once in a century Pandemic. This is the best time you’ve got to make the best investment you can make, on yourself.
Stay Safe & Wash Hands Often.