What to Do When You’re Social Distancing

How’s everyone doing with social distancing so far? Depending on where you live, you’ve been social distancing for a few days, like us in NYC, or several weeks, like those in Italy. It feels really important right now to do what we can to slow the spread of COVID-19, flatten the curve, and ultimately save lives. So we chilled in our apartment for most of the weekend, going out only for groceries and a run in the park where we knew we could keep a few feet from other runners.

It seems like we’re just at the beginning of what’s likely to be a month or more of social distancing and potentially stricter guidelines, which is an odd feeling. But this also feels like an opportunity to embrace the downtime and dive into projects we’ve been meaning to do or explore new activities.

Here are some ways we came up with to spend this time…

Create a trip itinerary.

With so many flights canceled and border restrictions in order, it’s totally understandable if you feel bummed about traveling right now. But this won’t last forever, so why not use the downtime to create an itinerary for your dream vacation? You could create a Pinterest board for your trip, use a planning tool like Inspirock, or set up a simple spreadsheet.

Make a photo book.

Speaking of traveling, have you ever made a vacation photo book? One year, I made one for my mom with a bunch of photos and little details about a week we spent in York Beach, Maine together. Photo books are a wonderful way to relive the fun memories from trips.

I love this scrapbook album that allows you to store memorable objects in the book, like dried flowers or a seashell.

Repot your plants.

I’ve been putting off repotting some of our house plants, so I’ll be doing that one afternoon this week. Since houseplants eventually outgrow their pots, causing their roots to become crowded and compacted, it’s important to repot them in larger containers so they can continue to grow.

Clean your jewelry.

How often do you clean your jewelry? Be honest. I used to be good about cleaning mine every few weeks, but I’ve slacked over the last couple years. It really doesn’t take long to clean jewelry, especially if you don’t have a lot (like me), so I’ll be lining up all my pieces one night this week for a quick bath. (Here are my tips for cleaning jewelry.)

Rearrange your furniture.

Do you like to rearrange furniture? Growing up, we would rearrange our living room furniture every couple of months, and I remember pushing the couch from one end of the room to the other with my sister and swapping out coffee tables to find the perfect fit. I loved it!

We can’t really move the bigger pieces in our apartment without moving wall-mounted shelves and the TV, but we can play around with smaller pieces, like side tables, storage baskets, and plants. So I’ll give that a try this week. (If you want to see all of the possible layouts for your space before you start moving everything around, check out the Home Design 3D app.)

Mend a sock or shirt or anything else that needs mending.

One of my favorite Instagram accounts is rudyjude by Julie O’Rourke. Julie is the owner of the garment company Rudy Jude and overall super creative human. She shares tutorials for mending socks, jeans, tops — everything. I’d love to try mending something of my own — wish me luck!

Thoughts? Would you try any of these social distancing activities? How are you using your extra at-home time? I’d love to hear. Of course, we’ll be doing the obvious things reading, catching up on our favorite shows, and just embracing this slower pace.

P.S. The first time I repotted plants in our NYC apartment, and my grandmother’s handmade dishcloths.

(Top photo by Alessandro Grassani for The New York Times.)