21 ideas for entertaining yourself while social distancing

This fun idea came to me while out walking this Wednesday morning. We also have a joke in our family that its ok to have an alcoholic drink on a Wednesday as its winey Wednesday. That got me thinking about what could we do that would help us adapt to the new way of living.  Could I come up with 3 ideas a day that start with the same letter as the day of the week. To be far I didn’t manage it all by myself I enlisted the support of my 19 year son Will, who I have to say really got into the swing of it. We did have a few random ones, but generally his ideas were great and have made it to the final list. We hope they bring a smile to your face and also help give you a focus for each day of the week. You can bring it out every week and keep adding new ideas to the things we’ve suggested. 

Monday 

• Meditate, try an app, calm / head space / buddify to name a few, just take a moment to tune and allow yourself some time free from everything else. My video guides you through a check in routine which is helpful too https://youtu.be/j53wGVFnIZY
• Me time – do something just for you that you enjoy, I like to read a good thriller, or do some home beauty treatment or paint
• Make something – get crafty, or bake or paint, or DIY, make memories new ones in different ways and make a note of them, capture them with photographs 

Tuesday 

• Tunes – design your own playlist that reminds you of happy  times and sing along, get involved in the recent Tik Tok dances, tune into a new radio station 
• Talk – it’s really important that you keep connecting with family and friends, pick up the phone and have a chat see how they are doing, share ideas and check in with how your feeling 
• Treats – what treats could you make, baking cakes has been a weekly thing in our house, make a nice meal, what else would you normally do to treat yourself and how can you adapt it to fit with life now. 

Wednesday 

• Walk – go for a walk, if you’re lucky enough to be able to connect with nature even better, notice the things you wouldn’t normally notice on your walk when life was too busy, speak others you see even from a distance.  
• Write – spending time journaling and writing down your thoughts and feelings, is a really helpful strategy to help you though challenging times. I did it a lot when I was struggling living with an alcoholic husband, now I do it as a way of taking time to notice what’s going on with me. Write articles and share, start that book that you’ve had an idea about, write a letter to a friend. 
• Wine – yes it made it to the list. Appreciate the wine explore the smell and flavour, savour it and really appreciate it. Try new wines. Just enjoy. 

Thursday  

• Thankful – notice what you can be thankful for in your life, having an appreciative approach to life really helps shift our focus and supports our wellbeing. Take time to send a note to those you are thankful for having in your life, send a card write a letter. 
• Thumb wrestling – yes you guessed it one of Will’s ideas, it’s a simple thing that adds a bit of humour and will make you laugh. 
• Thoughts – take time to consider your thoughts, if we can catch ourselves and notice our thoughts we can notice what’s going on for us. We aren’t our thoughts and can change them, we need to acknowledge and make sure they aren’t negatively impacting on how we are feeling 

Friday 

• Fitness – do some fitness routines, my son has set up his own outside gym, my daughter has tapped into all the great free fitness routines, I’m a Joe Wicks or yoga person. 
• Face a fear – do something new, develop yourself think about how you can use this time to grow as a person. Great book about this ‘Face the fear and do it anyway’ by Susan Jefferies. 
• Fun – purposely have some fun time, share funny things with others, watch your favourite comedian, funny film, share a funny story with others, read a funny book, something that makes you laugh out loud. 

Saturday 

• Sorting – Stacey Solomon and Marie Kondo style, my daughter is a big fan of both. It’s all about taking an area of your home and getting rid of those things that you don’t need or doesn’t bring you joy and being organised in the way you then store things. My parents have definitely got into this and have set themselves a list to get through over the 12 weeks they have been advised to stay at home. 
• Something new – learn a new skill, language, knitting, painting, playing an  instrument, I’ve had a few clients have reconnected with instruments that they’ve not played for a while and are now re learning them. When we learn something new we need time to master it, we’ve now got time. 
• Socialise – spending time virtually with friends and family this helps is connect and enjoy being with those we love. How? We were meant to be away this weekend with friends, so I’ve sent them a zoom meeting request for a set time and instructions that they’ve got to join with a cocktail and nibbles. Facetime, what’s app video applications set things up with others make it happen. 

Sunday 

• Sunday league – lots of us have spend time watching our children or playing in Sunday league sports. Set up a new imaginative way of connecting or doing Sunday league to generate new competitions. 
• Sunday sing song – having a good sing helps lift your spirits, I often get a favourite tune on while I’m cooking and have sing and a dance in my kitchen. There are lots of virtual choirs cropping up, Gareth Malone has done one, or posting songs on line that talented people have done. My daughter is a trained singer and has challenged herself each week to post a new song she’s recorded, take a listen https://www.facebook.com/150740415633329/posts/517113312329369/?vh=e&d=n
• Sunbathe – we need vitamin D, so getting outside is important, if it’s not quite sunbathing weather then wrap up and sit with a coffee, or do the gardening, outdoor DIY. Whatever it is that gets you outside.

Will and I hope you enjoy these ideas, let us know what you think and share with others your ideas for the 7 days.