Finding a Way to Help Stay Busy When the World Is Getting Smaller Can be a Challenge
It looks like you will not be getting together to quilt for several more weeks.
After quilting with the church ladies for more than a decade, this is the first time when your group has cancelled more than three weeks in a row. With no end in side and no real plan for when you will meet again, you can only compare it to the time when the air conditioner broke two summers ago. Even that break, however, only lasted three weeks.
You will be going to to the church next Monday to sew quilt battings together and sewing on quilt lap robes that need some work. You talked to one of the other members about going in sometime to lay out quilt tops. When that happens she will let me know and we will put them on the shelf across from the office to be picked up by the sewers who want something to do. You are advising your group members to keep checking their email for the latest update. You certainly hope they are all staying home and healthy, but you want to make sure that you can provide them a way to have a little bit of normalcy in their days.
Staying Productive Can Help Many People Avoid Anxiety and Depression
What can you do with your time when all of the activities that you have are cancelled? What can you do to make sure that you are keeping yourself busy?
If you are focusing on cleaning and organizing a room a day during the quarantine you are one of the many Americans who is working to stay busy, stay focused. Whether you are inspired by a neighbor or a friend, or you are someone who simply needs to be busy, the decision to focus on something other than the news can be healthy. As a result of all the cleaning and organizing that is being done, there are some who are posting about items that are found in the basement, bathroom, or any other space. One simple bathroom closet, for instance, can produce a wide range of both useful and non useful items: three boxes of q-tips, 36 emery boards, 37 bottles of nail polish, 31 assorted Mary Kay creams and cleansers, six toothbrushes, eight nail clippers, five bottles of hairspray, 18 lipsticks, and 20 razors. And whether you blame an amazing storage shelf with baskets that came with your house or you are just someone who collects and keeps by nature, it is important to know that at this time there are ways to be productive instead simply stressing.
Bathrooms, of course, are not the only places where Americans gather clutter. In garages and craft rooms across the nation there are CMT router bits, piles of sandpaper, and cans of furniture wood stain. And once you are satisfied with the cleanliness and organization of your home, you might find yourself using those CMT router bits, folding shelf brackets, and gel stains to improve your home. From laundry room upgrades to repurposing furniture pieces that have been neglected, these days and weeks at home may be just the time you need to drag out the CMT router bits, the sandpaper, and the door and cabinet hardware and accessories that you have meaning to install. Did you know, for instance, that home owners remodel more than 10.2 million kitchens and 14.2 million bathrooms a year? And while you may not be able to use those CMT router bits to finish an entire basement on your own, you likely have some kind of project at your house that can keep your hands busy and you mind clear. In the year 2018, 14% of home owners planned to make improvements to their kitchens. That number might change based on the current situations that Americans are facing, but your decision to be productive can help you stay healthy and calm during these most stressful of times. When was the last time that you spent days and weeks at home? What can you do to make the most of your time?