There’s no doubt that this worldwide pandemic has swept everyone like a storm. People could easily get caved into staying indoors and just spending a lot of time on electronic devices. However, across the entire world, people have been working together to connect with each other. There have been challenges, runs and praises. But, have you been taking part in these as well? If you haven’t, these are seven things that you could take part in as well. 

 

1. RUN 5, NOMINATE 5, DONATE 5

During this time, one thing that we know we have to do is keep active. When attending PE lessons in school, students will definitely get at least an hour of fitness guaranteed. However, when all of a sudden we are at home, we do not feel as though it is a necessity to get up and just do a workout or stretch. To help with this, Instagram has been swarmed with the ‘Run 5,     Donate 5, Nominate 5’ challenge. This entails of anyone running 5km, donating £5 to the NHS for the hard work they have been doing at the frontline. Next, you can nominate 5 others to do the same. This allows many different people to take part and lets them know about such an amazing idea. As of today, they have raised £2.6 million out of the total £3.5 million target. 

 

2. DON’T RUSH CHALLENGE 

The challenge initially involves groups of people starting off in their everyday clothes, waving a makeup brush into the camera. Then it transitions into them dressed up culturally or as if they were going out. They then throw the makeup brush down or to the side for their friends to ‘catch’ and the trail continues. This has proven to bring communities together to take part in a video. This challenge has been so successful that even nurses in Birmingham have taken part in it; however, they made theirs extra special and unique. Instead of using makeup brushes, they showed their viewers how to clean their hands properly but with hand sanitizer. 

 

3. THANK YOU NHS 

A clap that happened once, has now turned into a weekly event. Every Thursday at 8 pm, across the country people, have been clapping and making some noise through fireworks for NHS workers. Not only this, around the community many signs have been made saying thank you to the NHS with vibrant colours, rainbows and flowers. Vathani Sabaratnam, a resident in South Norwood, says, ‘Whilst I have been going on walks around the neighbourhood, it makes me happy to see all these posters stuck on people’s windows and how the driveway has been decorated with chalk and beautiful colours saying thank you to the NHS.’ This event has really shown how the littlest of things like posters and even videos could lift up one’s spirits. 

 

4. MAKING MEALS 

At a time like this, those that are working in the front line are placed in our thoughts. Some volunteers have been making and delivering hot meals to the NHS staff especially as there has been a demand for more than 15,000 meals across the UK from 20 different hospitals. Jacquie and Katie Icklow, a mother and daughter, have been able to make 200 meals a day for staff in the medical field. Now, you don’t have to make this many meals, but the littlest amount could help. You could volunteer at charities or even donate money to the charities that are trying to help those in the frontline. 

 

5. WATCH SOME MOVIES 

It is obvious that this quarantine has been a time to sit back, relax and watch movies and tv shows. But for some, it could be a trip down memory lane. On March 24th, Disney Plus which used to be only available in the USA was launched in the UK and Ireland. This is definitely a time when businesses can thrive by working systematically. It was not long before Disney Plus became the largest streaming device of 2020, but this is not the only streaming app you could use. There are many more out there for you to just sit down and watch for a couple of minutes. 

 

6. MAKE A FORT     

Quarantine is an amazing time to be creative and have some ‘me’ time. Why not get some blankets and duvets and build yourself a fort? You could use chairs to make the top of your fort stand up, make it colourful. You could even share it with your siblings and family members. A fort is an amazing place to watch movies and play games and spend some time with yourself and others. 

 

7. READ SOME CONSPIRACY THEORIES 

Conspiracy theories could be a good way to understand the modern world we live in today. They could broaden our knowledge of events that have happened and help us see the variety of views people have on one thing. They could also be seen as a way to entertain yourselves. You are finding out something you probably didn’t know and conspiracy theories are definitely a way to make your mind explode with all these different theories and thoughts. They are also good to talk to your friends about; you can have your own debates on what you think has happened about events such as 9/11 to things like why clothing brands have both high and low priced clothes. 

 

Although quarantine has been proven to be a time where levels of stress and anxiety have increased, especially as people have been out of their normal routine, there are many other things that you can do, to at least entertain yourselves for a few minutes.

by Varjitha K