50 Things I Can Do (At Home) to Survive the Pandemic: Miranda’s menu of coping ideas

As concerns over the covid pandemic intensified and my work as a Licensed Psychologist and therapist in Austin, TX moved to telehealth from home, I realized that I needed a set of easy ways to help myself cope with my worlds colliding. I spent a Saturday morning writing the below list of 50 ideas for how I would mentally survive the covid pandemic, quarantine after quarantine, coping the best I could. Here are 50 of the activities I am using to cope with this whopper of an age. Perhaps my list will inspire you to create your own menu of coping ideas for this endless pandemic.

1. journal – my journaling led me to write about 5 life lessons I learned during the early days of the covid pandemic
2. meditate
3. write a gratitude journal entry
4. practice yoga
5. color in a coloring book
6. work on a jigsaw puzzle
7. do a crossword
8. read a physical book
9. mix essential oils and diffuse them
10. cleanse my space with palo santo
11. donate to people in need
12. write to a stranger in a nursing home (https://lovefortheelderly.org/letters)
13. call a friend for an impromptu chat
14. schedule a video hangout
15. look up baking recipes
16. admire each of my plants
17. go for an aimless drive
18. listen to music in the car
19. go for a walk in my neighborhood
20. sit outside on the patio
21. put on a face mask
22. take a bubble bath
23. play Super Mario Galaxy
24. cull my jewelry collection and choose pieces to donate
25. listen to a record
26. light a candle
27. go for a bike ride
28. drive to the lake and take a walk
29. look at my 2020 vision board
30. read poetry
31. write a hard-copy letter to a friend
32. write PostCrossing postcards to people around the world (https://www.postcrossing.com/)
33. soak my feet in an epsom salt bath
34. stretch in my favorite yoga poses
35. play a board game
36. develop advanced knowledge of something new
37. steep some tea and enjoy
38. make food and deliver it to someone who may be in more need
39. test out all of my pens and winnow the supply
40. drink some water
41. paint my nails
42. paint something with acrylics
43. take a virtual tour of a museum
44. tell a friend something I love about them
45. make a wishlist of new plants
46. organize my books by genre, author, or color
47. go outside and find a bug or bird I haven’t seen before
48. pick my favorite crayon color and draw a picture just with that color
49. learn to say “Hello” and “I love you” in a new language
50. brainstorm what I would talk about if I had a podcast