Tips for Isolation: How to Survive New Zealand's COVID-19 Lockdown

As I’m writing this, I'm currently on day five of isolation and it's also raining. I got off the plane from Canada, straight into what I thought was going to be only a two-week isolation period. Two days later, those two weeks turned into four as our Prime Minister requested a nation-wide lockdown. I was mentally prepared for isolation but for a lot of people, this was unexpected. Before I even got on the plane, I started writing a list of things I wanted to do during isolation. That list has now expanded, and I will be sharing what I'm doing during isolation on my Instagram. Here are some of my ideas below:

Tips for Productivity

Wake up at your normal time...

Or if you’ve been wanting to start your mornings earlier for a while, now’s the time to try. This will help you start your day off productively, as you usually would if you were going to work or university. I am going to try wake up with the sun every morning ✨

Learn a new skill

If you don't have any specific work or study to do, how about learning a new skill? Websites such as Skillshare and Khan Academy have loads of different topics to learn about. I have been wanting to try Skillshare for a while because you can learn just about anything on there. There are thousands of different classes you can take such as photography, design, illustration and more. You can also get two months for free when you sign up.

Keep a to-do list

I always find it's best to write myself a to-do list at night so I know exactly what I need to do as soon as I start working in the morning. Make sure you add fun things to do in between or at the end of all your necessary tasks. Or write down something that you have to look forward to when you are done for the day.

I have this cute notepad from Kikki-K.

Fun Things #isolationcreation

Make a Korean dalgona coffee

I recently came across this Korean Coffee on Instagram and thought it looked so cool. I've never made it before but it was so fun and easy. The recipe calls for:

2 Tbsp instant coffee

2 Tbsp white granulated sugar

2 Tbsp hot water

Place these in a large bowl and whisk together with an electric whisker until it turns to a thick foam texture. Fill a glass with a few ice cubes and pour milk of your choice halfway to three quarters full. Scoop coffee foam on top and you have an Instagram-worthy coffee.

Improve your cooking skills

Now is a great time to learn to cook or get better at it. You can revisit some old cookbooks you have lying around your house, watch some Youtube videos or find some recipes online. I like Minimalist Baker, From my Bowl and Jamie Oliver's website.

Revisit some of your hobbies

Journalling - write down your current thoughts and have something to look back on in 10 years time
Sewing - if you or your mum have a sewing machine you can use, you can make a cute top to wear when you finally get out of isolation
Flower arranging - it's not quite winter here yet in NZ, so you can go for a walk around your property, or down the street and find some pretty flowers to put in your room
Reading - ebooks, magazines, articles, novels; I am planning on reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton and I'm going to start re-reading The Hunger Games trilogy. Let me know if you have any recommendations!
Scrapbooking - cut up some old magazine you have lying around and make some collages
Playing The Sims - it isn't possible to play The Sims for less than 4 hours at a time anyway, so now you have unlimited time to control your Sim's lives

Staying Active

Keep doing your favourite form of exercise

Get up early in the morning and go for a walk, do some yoga or a YouTube HIIT class. Get creative, you don't need all the fancy gym equipment. Use what you have, even if it's just bodyweight exercise! Starting Monday 30th March, Les Mills are doing classes on Channel One at 9am every day! This is such a good idea, you can do it with whoever you're isolating with and you just follow along, you don't have to create your own routine. I really like Yoga with Adrienne and MadFit on YouTube.

Take a break from work/study

How about taking a break from your work or study every 30 minutes to stretch your legs? If the sun is shining, go for a quick walk around your house or garden. It might be a bit more difficult to get our steps up during this time, but sitting down all day is so not good for us.

Play Wii tennis

SO fun.

I hope you find some inspiration during this time. Please let me know if you have any ideas of what you'll be doing in the next four weeks! You can check out my previous blog post related to my December trip to Tongariro if you haven't already.