As the COVID-19 situation progresses and the Government guidance continues to change, individuals may be feeling anxious, tired and fed up. Mental Health support during times like these are paramount, which is why Care first have worked tirelessly to ensure our services remain available 24/7 throughout the pandemic to provide emotional and practical support and ensure we have every aspect of your overall wellbeing covered.
This article looks at how you can keep occupied during lockdown. We are all in different situations during lockdown, it may be that you are already very busy as you may still be working, whether that be from home or as a Key Worker, or you could also be home schooling your children again. But if you are struggling to keep occupied during lockdown then this article has lots of ideas to help fill your time.
The first suggestion is to reflect on previous lockdowns and think about if there was anything you wish you had done which you did not manage to do last time. To help with this you could watch our previous webinar on “Reflecting on 2020” by following this link : https://youtu.be/SZ389ZSeGIg
Idea’s for keeping yourself occupied during lockdown
- You could look at learning a new language or a new skill
- Home baking or learning to cook new meals
- A chance to re-decorate or make home improvements
- Home workouts
- Connect with family and friends via video link
- Virtual quiz night
- Movie night
- Start to make improvements to your garden before the summer
- Clear out/re-organise your wardrobe
- Read a new book or do some puzzles
- Learn how to knit
- Spend more time with your household family and pets
Not all the ideas listed above will be applicable to you as we are all different but hopefully you can get some inspiration from the ideas listed above. During these very difficult and challenging times it is easy for us to think about all the things we don’t have, or that we cannot do currently due to the restrictions in place. However, try to focus on what you can do and what is in your control and consider if there is anything you may like to achieve whilst in lockdown that is possible under the current restrictions.
For many, just taking each day at a time is a reasonable expectation for them, so remember that it is equally important to ensure not to put yourself under too much pressure to reach a particular goal during lockdown.
Other ideas to keep you occupied during lockdown?
- January can be seen as a good time to do a financial health check. If you do have some free time then this could be a good opportunity to go through your finances and look at a budget planner for the year ahead. Please see the link below which is a previous Care first webinar that looks at “Budgeting with Care first” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6QpafdJ2Ho&feature=youtu.be
- Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic we have seen lots of amazing acts of kindness and everyone pulling together to help others. You could look at ways that you could help others such as helping local foodbanks, delivering food and essentials to people that are shielding, you could do some fund raising. There are lots of ideas to help others and you could look at the below link which is a webinar Care first provided in relation to “Kindness” which may help to give you some inspiration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClGCoBghUdw&feature=youtu.be
- Care first have been delivering webinars consistently throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and have covered a whole host of different subject areas. If you wanted to learn more about Care first or any of the topics we have covered so far during the pandemic then please visit the below link:
https://carefirst-lifestyle.co.uk/extranet/covid-19-webinars
(If you are unsure of your organisation’s login details for Lifestyle then please check with your HR or people team)
How can Care first help?
If you feel you may need some emotional or practical support, you can contact Care first on the Freephone number. Care first is a leading provider of confidential, professional counselling, information and advice services. Whilst our BACP accredited Counsellors are available 24/7 to provide support with emotional issues, our expertly trained Information Specialists are available 8am-8pm Monday-Friday to provide advice on any practical issues that may be causing you a stress or worry and help you feel more in control of a situation.
All employees are eligible to use Care first, our services include; telephone counselling, information services and online support. Call Care first on the Freephone number provided by your organisation and you can speak to a professional in confidence.
If you would like to view the Webinar on ‘How to keep occupied during lockdown” this is being delivered live on Tuesday 19th January at 12pm, please use the below link to register for this session –
https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/282251644066172429
If you are unable to join the webinar live, a recording of the session can be accessed using the same link above after the webinar has taken place.