Dealing with the monotony of quarantine?

Actually, surprisingly, this really hasn't been too bad for me.  Have you tried just shaking up the routine of things you normally do within the parameters of what you normally do?  Like trying a new recipe at dinner.  Walking a different route.  Trying a new form of exercise.  Starting a new craft project or two so you can switch back and forth as you please.  Reading something completely different.  Reading something in a different part of your home (outdoors, the bath tub, etc.)  Sitting around a fire. Listening to new music.  Trying out a new podcast.   

I have spent many years trying to make my home an oasis.  Little rituals which feel indulgent to me.  It might sound silly, but I've actually been playing with a tighter schedule.  And allowing myself freedoms within that schedule.  But having a schedule makes me realize just how much time I actually get to refresh myself and do activities which are a positive in my life.  

I think the people that are struggling the most with staying home are those that don't have a rich collection of activities to do while in their house.  

For me, I have to take things one day at a time. Except for a few chores or my monthly shopping, I don't think about tomorrow. I think I would lose my mind, because I don't expect us to get out for months or more, due to DH's extreme risk.

Maybe for you, think of one new thing to do every week?

I'd love to see suggestions from others.

I'm doing fine most days.  I have 3-4 good days and then one meh or bad day.  Time has spend up.  I can't believe it is the 6th already.  Ds finishes his college semester in 9 days.  

I'm not as afraid anymore, that helps.  Restrictions have been lifted a bit that also helps.  I am going to go get the car washed today and go play bocci ball and have a picnic with my family tomorrow.  Two things I couldn't do last week.

Having a job selling stuff on ebay to help support the family helps a lot.  Other than that I clean, cook, bike ride, read, knit/crochet, watch TV, do puzzles, talk to friends, help in the garden, home improvements, make sure the house is running in general.  Still want to scrapbook again.

I will get crabby when the weather gets hot and I'm guessing our community pool will stay closed.

I find a lot of comfort in routines so this works for me. One thing I've enjoyed a lot during this time is seeing which birds come to my feeders during the day. I put a new feeder next to the window in my office to see if I could get them to come to this side of the house. And we have been getting ducks too since I've been putting dried mealworms out with the food. Do you have a bird feeder? Maybe that could provide some excitement?

I'm having an extended autoimmune flare, so things are weird anyway from the fatigue and brain fog. It's not so much monotony as I just feel disassociated a lot of the time.

So I can't say we're doing this fully, but we're playing with having something a bit different every day. It might be a different meal type or activity.

For example, one day each week could be dedicated to learning a new thing. It doesn't have to be anything big, but a new cooking technique, how to use chopsticks, a dance (learn the thriller dance), massage tutorials, whatever you are interested in. You can do a lot of things just from YouTube.

We have a movie night where we pick a movie, and get dressed like we're going on a date, make popcorn and go down to the Family room and treat it like a date. Similarly, I'm planning a pub night this weekend. I'm making a new wings recipe and we'll play pool or darts in our basement (obviously this doesn't work for everyone). One night we play videogames together (or boardgames), or sometimes puzzles. Alternatively, maybe a trivia night. If you have a video game console there will be party and trivia games you can download. You can probably do that for your computer too.

We're starting to bike as its just barely getting warm enough and that's adding variety to the walking.

I love cooking so we plan different meal themes, or order in and treat it like a date night.

You could try learning yoga or meditation together, I've taken the opportunity to do a 30 day yoga series and its been great. You could subscribe to Master Class - they have lots of cool stuff. You could listen to an audiobook together, learn drawing or painting, or maybe learn more about a subject like political science, sociology or philosophy (my dream is DH's nightmare lol). To be fair, these are things I have on my list but haven't got the ambition up to do them yet.

Anything you can do to demarcate the days and turn your home into a haven instead of a prison sentence feel will help.

I guess I would have to ask myself just what exactly I feel like outside activities are an escape from. And then address the problem. I don't need to escape from my life because I like it. Turning off outside activities is just that. Turning off outside activities. And when that happens, I ramp up inside activities. There's a ton of creative things that can be done without having to have outside activities to entertain you. There's new things to try and learn. There's excitement if you create it. But describing outside activities as an escape is quite a choice of words. I would look further at that idea.

It's one thing to be bored and in need some new activities. It's even understandable to be missing the humans that make up our larger circle. And surely we feel some disappointment if we have to miss out on a huge event. But to be driven to the point of crazy? There's just a lack of imagination in that and I wonder if there's some discomfort with actually having to sit with yourself a bit and self reflect.

I wish I could help, but I'm not handling this well. My anxiety has been creeping up so I know I need to get out of this rut. I was already working from home, but planning on job hunting this summer for something new and since that is probably not going to happen I feel trapped. Ugh.

I need to make a list of things to accomplish I think.

I feel like activities and events are my whole life.

They are what makes life exciting and worth living.

They are what make the days different from each other.

This is how I feel too. There’s always been a lot of sameness to my everyday anyway so this really isn’t a whole lot different, but in general I like my life too. The main change is that I don’t go out to shop for things unless they’re really, truly needed right now and there isn’t a lot of real, true need in my life other than groceries or the occasional Target run for stuff Costco doesn’t sell. The other thing is that we can’t really visit with friends the way we’d like to and that is something I miss, but we have been trying to stay in touch with people in other ways.

So for that simple fact I feel very grateful. We like being together. We’re not lacking for food. We’re not lacking for clothing. We have a nice house and yard. We can pay all of our bills comfortably. We have plenty of things here to entertain us at home. We have stuff for our hobbies. No one here is sick. Things could be much, much worse. For the most part we’re pretty content. The outside stuff we did was just an extension of our lives and not an escape from it.

ETA: I think the people in my life, and especially the people in my own house, ARE my life. They are the most important thing.

Truly you guys, at this point it’s pretty obvious that we’re being trolled today. Maybe we just allow Shelley to wallow in her “whatevertheheckitis?”

She sounds exhausting - not physically, but mentally.

Mary K

I would describe it as not ideal but a necessary evil in the short term.

Look, there aren't many of us who are thoroughly thrilled at this but we have to make the best of it, not sulk and stamp our feet. None of us have the life we want at the moment. But you're not struggling alone, you have your Dh and children with you, you don't have to worry about paying your bills from what you say, you are all heathy it seems so you aren't living with the extra anxiety of having someone who is already ill. I haven't seen my kids or grandson for weeks and weeks, both Dh and I are self employed so there's no income for us currently, my 85 year old father is sole carer for my 80 year old mother who has Alzheimers and they haven't left their house for 7 weeks - imagine for a second how lonely that is. And I know I am in a far, far better situation than many. You're lucky - incredibly lucky - in what you have and this petulant tone sounds ridiculous in the face of what some people are going through quite frankly. Br grateful for what you have, truly.