B”H

A brief list of things to do with our time stuck at home, to make it fun and productive.

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1) Art: A lot of people think you need paint and a canvas to make art, but art can be anything.  You could take any household items and transform them into art – even popsicle sticks.

2) Cooking and baking: These are great ways to spend time, especially if you get delicious food and cookies out of it.

3) A good book and a cup of tea or coffee: There is nothing that I like to do more in my free time than find a quite spot (which might be hard since the whole family is stuck in the house together) to read a book with my favorite tea.  I find it easy to get lost in the pages of a good book.

4) Watching Jewish comedy: Getting good laugh it is very important in times like this to stay happy and have a positive outlook on things.  That is why I recommend (Jewish) comedy, especially Mendy Pellin or the Itche Kadoozy show.  Both can be easily found on YouTube.

5) Journaling:  This is an amazing way of expressing your thoughts and feeling, and it is a great way to be honest and intimate with yourself.

6) Doing puzzles and playing board games, or even making your own games: You don’t have to make your own board games but, I mean, you might get bored of the old ones (pun intended) and it is a great way to be creative and get your gears moving.  Don’t even get me started on puzzles…  You know it takes a while to finish a puzzle.  The feeling of satisfaction after completing one is short-lived, because when you step back to look at the finished product you realize something is not quite right.  You ponder this for a moment, then realization dawns on you that the last piece is missing.  Then you spend hours looking for it to only come back empty-handed and come to the conclusion that it was lost to the ether and you will never find it.  But as the saying goes, “Never say never.”

7) Appreciate nature: I am very fortunate because I live in the country, so I have plenty of nature to appreciate.  But for those who live in the city, it might be hard to find the beauty of nature in that concrete jungle.  Here is a great example: watching the pigeons walking on the sidewalks always amuses me.  They have to be some of the silliest birds the way their heads bob, when they walk especially.

8) Listen to music and sing: Whether it is a slow and soul-touching niggun, or a loud and energetic song like Yoni Z’s “Up”, it all falls in to one category: music.  No matter how different these two examples are, they both empower us and are enjoyable to sing along to and dance while listening.

9) Rearrange your room:  Since we are spending so much time at home, some of us may be in our rooms for the majority of that time.  You may look around your room and think something is amiss or out of place, e.g. “Maybe that picture doesn’t look good there, and it would look better over there” – my point being maybe your room needs a makeover.  So get creative and become your own personal interior decorator.

10) Connect with G-d: Whether it be through davening or meditation, each of us has a unique relationship with Hashem and our own special way to connect with Him.  It is amazing how diverse and intricate the world is, and how Hashem is constantly recreating it so that it may remain in existence, and how fortunate we are to be able to live in such an amazing world.

11) Spend time with your family: I am sure we all do this, but sometimes we don’t realize that we don’t spend enough time with family, because we get carried away in our normal day-to-day life and forget to just relax take a breath and catch up with our loved ones.