Quarantine Bucket List

Being stuck in quarantine/social isolation/shelter in place majorly sucks. There’s no getting around it. Even if you’re a hardcore introvert like me, the prospect of spending weeks or months stuck in my apartment has me feeling trapped. As a woman of action, the idea of just waiting out the misery with the hope of someday getting to go outside again makes me want to pull my hair out. I’ve always lived by the philosophy that if something in your life is making you miserable, you should take action to fix it. Hence, my creation of “The Quarantine Bucket List”. This is adapted from “The Breakup Bucket List” that I wrote several years ago which was designed to give people a sense of control over their recovery from breakups.

Below are a ton of bucket list items organized into different categories. I’ve grouped ideas into categories that I believe are important for wellbeing. I encourage you to select items fairly evenly from each category so that you have a well-rounded list of fun things to help you wait out the interminable hell that is being stuck inside in the era of COVID-19. Then, print out that list and put it up somewhere visible so you’re ready to take ownership of your recovery at any time. 

Basic Self-Care 

This category is a great place to start your list. In the initial stages of being stuck in your home, it’s easy to get out of a routine and forget to take good care of yourself. Neglecting these things only makes you feel more miserable, so it’s important to make them a priority, even if it feels silly to write something like “Take a shower” on a to-do list. Here are a few ideas for basic self-care: 

• Take a long, hot shower 
• Do an epsom salt soak in the tub 
• Paint your nails 
• Put on a nice outfit 
• Set out your outfits for the week 
• Moisturize with a pleasant smelling lotion 
• Eat a healthy snack 
• Do a body scrub 
• Make a home-cooked meal 
• Shave your legs (just for you!) 
• Spend an afternoon in cozy pajamas 
• Put a fuzzy blanket in the dryer and cuddle up under it 
• Bake cookies
• Make extra food and freeze it so you can warm it up on a day you don’t feel like cooking 
• Make a recipe book of meals you can make with little effort 
• Order takeout if you just can’t bring yourself to cook 
• Make yourself a lavish breakfast
• Have a day without sugar
• Learn how to make a food that you usually order out (for me, it was Thai Iced Tea) 
• Cut your hair. Let it transform you. Or maybe don’t do that… since all the hairdressers are shut right now and you probably still have to be on zoom meetings through all this. 

Exercise 

While these items could be grouped under basic self-care, I think that exercise deserves it’s own category. Exercise produces endorphins, which can serve as a replacement for the happy chemicals like oxytocin and dopamine that you may be getting in lower amounts since your gym shut and you have limited exposure to sunlight. A great workout can also help you feel accomplished and strong and provide new social connections as well if you exercise with friends over video chat. Everyone has different exercise styles, so feel free to pick and choose the most fun/motivating options from the list below. 

• Pick a fitness goal to work towards (examples: 8-minute mile, 3-minute plank, do a pull-up). Be amazed by how strong you become. 
• Virtual yoga (I personally love “Yoga with Adriene” on Youtube)
• If you’re a fitness buff, consider hosting an exercise class from home for your friends
• Learn some new dance moves from youtube
• Go on a hike (if you’re not under shelter in place or quarantine
• Go for a walk around your neighborhood (making sure you keep 6 feet away from others)
• Develop a basic at-home exercise routine (pushups, planks, dips, etc. are easy to do at home) 

Be Social 

Good friendships and family make crises like these more bearable. However, it can be difficult to socialize when the government just made it illegal to be in the same room as anyone you don’t live with.  Here are some ways to reconnect with long-time friends and maybe make some new ones too.

• Watch a movie or TV show with friends via screen share
• Have an iron chef cooking competition with friends over video to see who can cook the best dish from the ingredients they managed to scramble together during panic induced pandemic shopping. 
• Have tea with a friend over skype
• Reach out to family members who you’ve been meaning to call, but “life got in the way”. You literally have no excuse now. 
• Play a video game with friends
• Make a list of friends that you want to reconnect with and call them
• Take an online class together with a friend 
• Start an online book club
• Stare into the void and take a look at what you’re missing most. Make a list of all the things you want to do with people when this is all over. 

Get out of the House 

Assuming you’re not on mandatory quarantine during this time (in which case you should not be leaving your place of residence at all), there are a few things that you’re allowed to do while keeping social isolation and even shelter in place front of mind. 

• Walk to a park nearby your house 
• Walk your dog or cat or tortoise or whatever you may have
• Go to the grocery store and make sure you maintain 6 feet of distance between yourself and the nearest person. Bring a 3 foot stick if necessary and smack anyone who gets in smacking distance of you. You can’t be too careful. 
• Well… that’s pretty much it… 

Revamp your space 

We’re all stuck in our apartments/houses for the next who knows how long, so you might as well nest. 

• Buy plants (probably online right now)–succulents are easiest, fresh herbs are the most rewarding because you can put them in the 40 packs of pasta you just panic bought at the grocery store
• Declutter your entire apartment or just a closet 
• Rearrange a room in your apartment
• Paint a room/ a wall 
• Buy or make a piece of art and hang it in your living room 
• Print out your favorite pictures of your friends and places you’ve been. Hang them on the wall and remember the good old days when you could leave your house. 
• Create a new routine for getting ready in the morning and in the evening. Make your time in your space a little more enjoyable.
• Get in the habit of making your bed
• Start a cleaning routine. My partner and I do a mandatory 20 minute clean a day to make sure our apartment doesn’t descend into a slovenly mess. 

Indulgent Self-Care 

This category is meant as a “sometimes snack”. These are the things to do if you’re worried you’re gonna absolutely lose it during this time period. 

• Eat an entire pint of ice cream without guilt (It is literally illegal for you to be sharing this with friends right now.)
• Take a nap
• Spend an entire day in your pajamas (Getting dressed is probably a good idea on the day to day, but sometimes you gotta have a PJ day) 
• Bake brownies, eat them while watching The Notebook, and have a good cry (This also works with any movie where the characters are allowed outdoors). 
• Buy expensive bath products (online) and use them to your heart’s content 
• Buy the expensive shoes you’ve been eyeing for months (online)
• Binge watch a series online (Who am I kidding? This isn’t even indulgent self-care at this point. It’s your civic duty. Watch away.)

Personal Growth 

I recommend setting at least one BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) for yourself during this time, particularly if you’re like me and you’re not able to work from home. This will give some purpose to your forced solitude and you can pretend like you chose to take time off to work on a personal project. My goals include starting an etsy shop, writing a cookbook, coding out features for a startup I help run, and blogging about things parents can do at home with their kids. Included in this category are also things that will enrich you intellectually, but may not be related to a BHAG. 

• Watch a TED talk 
• Take an art class (online)
• Learn to program (I personally love freecodecamp and teamtreehouse)
• Listen to podcasts
• Take a break from the 97th episode of mindless TV that you’ve watched and watch a documentary instead. 
• Become an expert(ish) in something you’ve always been interested in. Check out a bunch of ebooks or audiobooks from your library or buy an ebook or two from amazon. 
• Get into the habit of reading again. It’s going to be incredibly tempting to spend hours and hours and HOURS of time mindlessly surfing online. This is a huge habit of mine I’ve been trying to break and replacing mindless social media use with books has been a huge help. 
• Learn a new language (I like duolingo and Rosetta Stone. If you’re lucky and have a Santa Clara County Library card you can get Rosetta Stone for free)
• Break a bad habit
• Learn to play an instrument 
• Set a goal that you’ll do X everyday. For me this is yoga. 
• Write a book. This could be fiction, it could be a cookbook, it could even be erotica. I’m very excited to see the literature/recipes/pornography that comes out of this time.

Reflection and Creativity 

There are abundant quotes about the benefits of solitude especially as it relates to creativity. You can find 380 of them here. I’ve fantasized for quite some time about taking time off work to pursue creativity and self-reflection. These fantasies involved being out in the wilderness about 10 years from now after I’d amassed some savings. Instead, I’m a year into my career in a 450 square foot apartment in San Francisco, but c’est la vie. 

• Fill a journal
• Meditate
• Write a list of things you’re grateful for
• Watch a sunset or sunrise from your rooftop or balcony
• Make art, even if it’s not “good” 
• Make a list of the things you would want to tell your children/grandchildren someday.  
• Disconnect from social media for awhile 
• Make a list of things you want in life, especially things that might be impacted by the forced solitude we’re experiencing right now
• Write a letter to yourself 
• Write a song and sing it from your balcony or window
• Write a poem. Here’s a haiku I just wrote: 

Coronavirus

I have to stay inside now

I will make weird art 

• Make a playlist of songs that you love and just listen 

Humor 

My parents always told me, “As long as you can keep your sense of humor, everything will be okay.” This is a huge area to focus on for mental health. I highly recommend a daily dose of humor of some sort while we’re in this… and also once we’re out of this. 

• Watch a comedy show
• Watch standup
• Video chat with your funniest friend
• Write that stand-up routine you’ve laid awake thinking about at night
• Keep a log of everything ridiculous you or your partner say throughout the forced isolation. Ours is in a notebook titled “The Captain’s Log”. Hopefully, we’ll be able to look back on this time with more positive emotions than we’re feeling right now. 

Other Ideas 

Remember, this is a small sacrifice to all of us to prevent serious harm to the more vulnerable around us. Do what you need to to stay sane during this time and keep it all in perspective. What have you been doing in quarantine? Leave a comment below or submit your ideas here.

Here’s a link to a handy worksheet to get you started on your road to a happy(ish) forced isolation. Quarantine Bucket List Worksheet