7 things to do make the most of your time in Lockdown

We all wished for more time in our hands, more time with the family. Now that we have what we had wished for during the lock down, most seem to be struggling with it.  This could be a great opportunity for us to do things that we had always wanted to do. I would like to list a few high quality ways to use our time:

Learn a new skill

Our home and internet gives us plenty of opportunities to learn a brand new skill – a new human language, a software language, Excel shortcuts, Udemy or Coursera courses on any skill that you always had your eyes on but never got around to it. A lockdown gives you the ability to put in atleast your otherwise commute hours to use in learning something.

Practice a forgotten hobby

Take your Veena or Keyboard from the attic, dust it out and play one song or just the notes. Feel the joy of the music again, even if it annoys the hell out of everyone around you :D.(On a serious note, promise to get them a noise cancellation head phone when the quarantine is over)

Write

May be you wanted to write a book or start a blog. Or may be just write a blog post in Medium. Write a letter to a friend or relative. May be just put your your thoughts in a dairy. Writing can be a great way to organize our thoughts, express our feelings and establish connections.

Read

Pull out that list of books you wanted to read, some of which are even lying in your book shelves unopened. To be able to read without getting distracted itself has become a great skill and a practice for focus. Devices like Kindle give you the advantage of reading online books without the digital distraction. If you are looking for inspiration, here is a list of books that have inspired us and a list of books that we think everyone should read. You can also review our book summaries to make a pick. But don’t get into a analysis paralysis mode, start somewhere.

Memorize

Memorizing facts may look very old school in the age of Google. But Memorizing is a simple way to exercise your grey cells. You can memorize a pack of cards, Spell bee, Bhagvad Gita, Thirukural, Shakespeare Sonnet or your favourite Slogas. Sharpen your memory skills in this lockdown.

Solve Puzzles

Puzzled about what to do with you time? Why don’t you solve some mathematics puzzles in the likes of Shakuntala Devi, Sudoku. You may also play board games with your family like Scrabble, Risk, Scotland Yard or put together a 500 piece puzzle. Isn’t that a great way to have family fun during a lockdown?

Meditate

“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” – Pascal

Learn the incredibly rare skill of doing nothing. Not responding to the numerous stimuli in our environment can help us conserve our energy and apply it with focus. We all have the same units of focus in a day, but when we scatter it – we dissipate the energy. When we can focus we can achieve great things. Headspace and Calm are a couple of apps that help with guided meditation. I personally recommend Isha Kriya by Sadhuguru as a great place to start meditating at home.

Conclusion

Instead of spending your time and energy on social media during the lockdown, trying to fix blame and announce your opinion on things that you have no control over, spend it on yourself and use this time to become stronger and better in every way. I am only reminded of the wise sage’s advice to the king in an Indian Fable, “This too shall pass”. This too shall pass and we’ll come back the other side stronger and better for having been through it.