Most of the world is currently social distancing, self-isolating, or quarantining. That means a lot of time at home and likely a lot of time alone.
Looking for some interesting ways to pass the time? We rounded up our favorite things to listen to, watch, read and distract ourselves with. Read on for some great (okay, some may be questionable) suggestions for getting through this difficult time.
What we’re listening to
Podcasts:
- The Moth
- Imagined Life
- Dateline
- About to start S Town for the hundredth time
- Faster by Flo
- Work, Play, Love, from Jesse Thomas and Lauren Fleshman
- Work Life with Adam Grant
- The Read
- Office Ladies
Music (and here’s where it gets questionable):
- Hamilton, the musical
- Yacht Rock station, don’t judge!!
- Lots of hard rock: Breaking Benjamin, Halestorm, Godsmack, The Pretty Reckless
- The Weeknd’s new album
- The Wicked soundtrack is on repeat
- A lot of my smooth vibes playlist (apple music only sorry!)
- This 80’s Playlist on Spotify
What we’re watching
- Love is Blind (sorry, not sorry)
- Schitt’s Creek
- Veep
- High Maintenance
- West World (getting ready for season 3!)
- Criminal Minds
- Hallmark Christmas movies
- HGTV
- FBI
- Katy Keane
- Zoe’s Extraordinary Playlist
- Bull
- All Rise
- Slowly getting through the entire Harry Potter series
- Jack Ryan as well as countless movies – Dead Poet’s Society, Knives Out, World War Z
- Curb Your Enthusiasm
- 90 Day Fiancé
What we’re reading
- Seven Days by Alex Lake
- Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
- Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney
- Just Watch Me by Jeff Lindsay
- Inheritence by Dani Shapiro – a memoir about the dark side of DNA testing
- The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek also the Inheritence series by Christopher Paolini
- See Me by Nicholas Sparks
- Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow, now re-reading Watchmen . Also reading a lot of comics on my iPad. 1970s Marvel and more recent Star Wars comics mostly.
- Untamed by Glennon Doyle, Weather: A Novel by Jenny Offill
The at–home workouts we’re streaming
- We are TRYING to do P90X! Emphasis on TRYING!
- Riding my Peloton
- Spending a lot of time on my bike trainer
- Long walks with the dog, hoping to get more into yoga though!
- For workouts, chasing my son on his razor scooter. Also, we have a NordicTrack treadmill with the iFit thing where you can pretend you are running somewhere outside. Starting a program running in the alps.
- Did Arnold Schwarzenegger’s at-home body-weight workout yesterday (he posted it on Reddit). Liked it and would recommend it (it’s scalable for just about anyone).
- Resurrected/repaired my old road bike …chasing a virtual peloton on my iPad
- Slow walks with elderly dogs
Other ideas for beating the boredom
- Puzzles, The New York Times Monday crosswords, cribbage, weaving
- Baking and cooking
- Enjoying a lot of home-cooked meals!
- Virtual museum tours
- Also, we just loved this whole answer and think any parent out there can relate:
- Outside of work I’m basically a first-grade teacher with my wife, my duties include:
- Teaching 1st grade math and art
- Designated school Janitor and maintenance guy
- Nominated School Nurse (I put in my daughter’s eye drops)
- Gym Teacher – we are playing lots of 4-Square and going on long bike rides. Minimal sports involving balls since I lack sport ball skills, and my kids have inherited those skills.
- Outside of work I’m basically a first-grade teacher with my wife, my duties include:
We hope this list sparks some inspiration. – Head over to our Facebook page to let us know what you’re doing to stay sane.
