I have on my throwback playlist right now vibing out to Oui by Jeremiah and any song by The Dream and Lil Wayne. Is my age showing? It’s 5 pm and the sun is shining. I have my windows open as the sun flickers through and the wind blows gently making my sheer curtains dance around me. There’s hardly anyone on the street. A few cars are driving by. I still have to wear sunscreen because of the amount of light coming into my living room. I’m doing retinol treatments at night and I basically have to live in sunscreen even though I’m confined to my apartment. Voluntarily of course. Most of us are practicing social distancing and self isolation if we are able. In hindsight, I’m happy I redecorated my apartment last month because it’s so much easier to create content and not have to leave my space. If you need some tips on working from home without going insane, check out this post I wrote last week. I’ve been working from home for a little over a year and it was not an easy thing. To actually be productive while working from home was an uphill battle but these tips will surely help. Anywho, I’m a homebody and an introvert and although I’m flourishing and relishing these moments alone, I too get bored. Here’s how I’m passing the time while social distancing and self isolating.
CLEAN & DECLUTTER
I find great pleasure in cleaning. I actually wash the dishes to help with my anxiety. I also love cleaning my bathroom and organizing my products. I frequently do clean outs and create bags of toiletries to donate, give to family and friends or throw away. I just did a huge beauty clean out and I feel so light I could practically float away. There’s something about order that speaks to me. Perhaps it’s the Taurus in me but I cannot function at 100% in chaos. I love a tidy space and feel better when my space is organized and tidy. This is also a great time to deep clean and sanitize your space and objects you handle with your hands every day like door knobs, light switches, your phone, the refrigerator and stove handles and more. If you’re looking for beauty and makeup organizers, Amazon has some great ones.
READ A BOOK
Reading is one of my favorite things to do and I take time to do it everyday because it brings me joy. Reading it one of those things I do for self care too. There are so many amazing books out there but I’m currently reading a few self help books that I’d love to recommend:
You Are A Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero
Mindset The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck
Now if the self help books arent your jam, here is a few of my favorite books of all time.
The Book of Night Women by Marlon James
Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston
The 100 year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
TRANSITION YOUR WARDROBE
This is an excellent time to go ahead and do a massive transition of your wardrobe. Go ahead and put away those bulky Winter clothes and pull out your Spring and Summer gear, especially if you live in the Northeast. It’s already pretty warm here in New York. You can also take stock of what you didn’t really wear this past winter and go ahead and start a donate/giveaway/sell pile. I have about 4 bags of donations and 1 bag of things I may end up selling on Instagram. Poshmark is a great place to sell your gently used clothes (I no longer have an account because I hate the post office) but it’s a great option.
PLAN A VACATION
Hopefully this self isolation and social distancing will pass and when it does you’re gonna wanna get the hell outta your apartment to some place new. This is the best time to plan a trip. Now I’m not saying you have to actually book a flight but you can research a few places, find places you’d consider staying, restaurants you’d want to eat at and things you’d want to do. You can even gauge how much it’s all going to cost so you can start saving for it. So when the time comes, you’re ready! Here are a few of my tips for planning vacations. I have a trip planned in May that may or may not happen and even if it doesn’t I’m already planning for a trip after that. I also have several guides to places like Tulum, Bermuda, Barbados, Miami, Paris, Morocco and more in the travel category of this website. I also have several travel videos on my YouTube Channel.
REDECORATE YOUR SPACE
< >I’m so happy that right before this all happened I redecorated my living room space! But you don’t have to buy a bunch of new furniture to get inspired in your space. Try moving your furniture around to make it more efficient and to inspire you. You can also just plan to redecorate your space. I’m planning my bedroom decor update and have been living on Wayfair. I’m thinking of getting this chair, this artwork and this rug. Yes, I have all these things in my cart and am probably gonna pull the trigger soon. I already got a new bed! Expect a bedroom decor update soon, in the meantime check out my recent Home Decor Update.
LEARN A NEW SKILL
Hey what better time to learn something new? You can literally learn to do anything thanks to YouTube. I’m working on learning how to do my makeup better so I’ve been watching makeup tutorials. I’d also like to brush up more on my French. I took it in high school and was pretty fluent but have lost a lot of it. You can even learn to cook or dance or TikTok! Put your brains to work!
WORKOUT & DANCE
It’s so easy when working from home or being confined to your home to let your workout routines die but this is the time you really want to keep up with it. Especially since it’s so easy to sit around and barely move and eat a bunch of unhealthy snacks all day. I try to get a good 20-30 minutes of aerobic exercise in daily. You can look on instagram for a few easy at home workouts with no equipment or search a few YouTube dance workouts. Dance workouts are my favorite because it doesn’t really feel like you’re working out. And if you’d like a playlist of some of my favorite Soca and Afrobeats music to dance to or clean to you can check it out here.
GET TO KNOW SOMEONE BETTER
Put those smartphones and computers to work! This is probably the most I’ve ever FaceTimed, group messaged, Instagram Lived, text messaged and Facebook Portaled in my life! It’s hard to actually go on dates right now so having a FaceTime date is still pretty cool and gives you something to dress up for. I also think you get to know someone better by talking on the phone because you’re less worried about superficial things, like how you look. You can also spend time with family and friends who may be far away through video chats.
STIMULATE THE ECONOMY BY SHOPPING
If you have the means, why not help stimulate the economy and support small businesses by continuing to shop. Even if it means your item may take awhile getting to you, it could really help those businesses. Lot’s of businesses are donating portions of their profits from sales to help those in need during this time. The economy needs all the stimulation it can get right now, so if you have the means and are planning on buying something anyway, now is the time to do it. There are also a massive amount of sales online right now to offset the loss of business.
