With the end of pandemic status nowhere in sight, most of us have much more free time. The downside is that most of it is going to be spent at home. But if you’ve had to entertain yourself without the options of restaurants, movie theaters, bars, or non-essential stores, you’ve probably started to delve into some other forms of entertainment that previously weren’t on the radar. Maybe you’re doing what I’m doing and finally getting around to doing stuff you didn’t have the time to invest in. Here’s my list of what hobbies, skills, and lifestyles are going to see a boom in the next few months.
Baking & Cooking
This one had to be the first one I mentioned. Eating out is basically non-existent as to-go, pick-up, and drive thrus are the only options for eating food that wasn’t made in your home. And no matter what, you gotta eat it at home anyways (unless you plan a picnic!). Every store trip I’ve made in the last month has revealed that a LOT of people are using more flour than anyone thought possible. We did a casual stroll through the baking aisle and overheard a guy trying to tell someone over the phone that “yes, there is literally no flour. This is the second store I’ve been to.” We ourselves were looking for unbleached flour for our very first sourdough starter. We fortunately have regular bleached all-purpose flour that we can use for the cookies we’ll be making this week.
Planning meals and grocery store trips has become a necessity since quick trips into the store a few times a week are something to be avoided. My social media feeds have been filled with people baking cakes, cookies, bread, as well as various meals and recipes they’ve yet to try. It’s been exciting sorting through all the stuff we have in our pantry and finally use some of it!
“Old-fashioned” Hobbies
Alright, this one is entirely based on my desire to start a kite collection after seeing one flying in the park near our house. My partner has been more motivated to use his longboard. I’ve seen more people on their bikes this week than in my entire life. A few of my friends have started gardening – something I’d love to do if I wasn’t renting and also didn’t kill every plant I touched. While not all of this is too “old-fashioned”, I imagine more people are investing time in more analog entertainment. My partner has always had an interest in birding, so I’m sure in a few weeks (or days, who knows!) that will be on our list of things to do – and I’m excited about it!
Crafting
This should be an obvious one. Every person I know has accumulated stuff that they insist they have a plan for. Whether that’s a canvas bought years ago, a cool set of paints, macrame, jewelry-making, knitting…the list is endless and so are the crafts I’ve seen this last month. Not only is it getting into something obviously intended for use, but now we have the time to invest in learning how to use those supplies. With tons of online resources to teach us how to get better (YouTube, SkillShare, and tons of specialized online resources) there’s no reason to not investigate that hobby you’ve been thinking about for years.
Fitness
This is a little bit less of a hobby and more of a lifestyle change, but it’s a pretty big one that I expect to see a drastic change in. For me, I was already working out occasionally but I also worked a retail job that clocked in over 12,000 steps even on slow days. That’s almost 6 miles! So while I wasn’t pumping iron, I was still getting some physical exercise. Now that I’m not on my feet for 40 hours a week, I’ve noticed my mood is much more dependent on whether I’ve exercised recently. My previously gym-regular partner has started jumping in with me on some of my home workouts (thanks, Beachbody!) since his gym is closed for the time being. It’s an excellent time to research your own health and fitness and figure out what you can do to make changes for the future.
Reading
The great thing about reading is that it offers the perfect escape. being stuck at home is a little bit more bearable when you can use that time to escape to tropical islands, far-off planets, solve a murder, and go on exciting adventures. With the plethora of digital reading aids available it’s even easier to pick up a few books to read while you’re still social distancing. If you’re a library card holder, lots of libraries offer digital check-outs as well!
Reading isn’t limited to just novels, either. News, scientific journals, blogs, educational books, short stories, poetry, comics, and self-publishing writing sites are even more ways you can expand your library while staying safe at home. Learning more about yourself, your community, and the world is something most of us have plenty of time to do.
Self-Produced Entertainment
Podcasting, streaming, and content-creation was already surging through all-time highs leading up to the pandemic. With more time to devote to passion projects, I expect to see a notable number of content creators turning to this during their downtime in the following weeks. Learning the skills to produce the content we’ve always wanted (like I’m doing with this blog!) is a skill and hobby that can be carried back into our lives once it returns to “normal”, whatever that may be. It’s also a potential source of income, something many people are relying on now that we’ve seen a demonstration of the volatility of the economy and job security.
Home-Making, Self-Sufficiency, and Sustainability
Home-making and self-sufficiency are seeing a resurgence in recent years due to inflation and a generational change, so using this time to learn things that will benefit you in the long run can help you down the road. While most categories in this list can fall under this one as well, I’m talking about concerted effort to change your lifestyle to something more directly controllable. Setting yourself up for future self-sufficiency with things like gardening, bread-making, canning, clothes-making and repair, and other basic skills like cooking and baking will be an incredible skill set if anything like this happens again or if you decide to be less reliant on mass-produced products. Making your own soaps, detergents, cleaners, reusable paper towel alternatives, and other household products that usually are purchased at the grocery store can help in a situation where there may be limited availability in your area. Not only do these skills prepare you for the future, you can also become greener in your own household to help combat climate change in small ways!
So what fun hobbies are you going to get into during this downtime? What big categories did I miss that you’re getting into? Let me know what you’re filling your time with during these interesting times and I’ll write a follow-up including all your ideas! Are you casually learning new skills when they come up or are you studying tons of new things like you’re leveling up in a video game? Maybe a little bit of both? Or are you using this time for other things – relaxing, cleaning, catching up with people via social media? Learning to balance all of this in your life is also a skill!
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