By Kathleen Clementir
As we continue to adapt to the impacts of this COVID-19 pandemic and we are required to stay at the safety of our homes, a lot of us experiences psychological challenges. Our homes became offices and schools to keep our distance from other people to reduce the risks of infecting ourselves and unintentionally infecting others. Here in Camella, we have various house and lot selections where you have ample space that you can convert as your workstation or is conducive for learning.
With all the community lockdowns happening all over the country, many of our daily routines and habits were suddenly cut off. They are no longer feasible to do as they require us to go out and be with people.
Staying at home could quickly turn into a psychological challenge making us restless and stressed. This, in turn, also affects our mental well-being. We have to redesign our entire days to meet our financial and materials needs and our psychological and emotional ones while maintaining distance.
Most of us, if not all, crave that human connection as it is one of our deepest desires, directly being a core of our being. The COVID-19 pandemic made us realize the things we take for granted way back when everything was normal but has a big contribution to our well-being, and that revolves around being connected.
Research shows that lack of connection could disrupt psychological and emotional well-being. Being safe is about physical distance but not social distance. Even if we have to stay at home, we need to rise to the challenge and learn to be more socially close than ever. We have here a list of various virtual activities that you can do to stay close to family and friends amidst the lockdown.
Make a “Good News” Channel
Keeping a hopeful mindset is very helpful during this challenging and unpredictable time. Highlight joyful news or share inspiring quotes and stories by starting a “good-news” channel via chat or group pages. Round up your family and friends and start a themed chat or group page where you can interact and share positive insights. Make it a habit of allotting time with each other—share hopeful articles, stories, and videos that could help to keep everyone motivated and productive.
Virtual Fitness Group
When working from home, regular exercise can improve overall wellness. It is also beneficial to both your mental and physical health to schedule daily exercise time. Work out with your family, friends, or even your colleagues by sharing each of your favorite in-home workout routines.
You can talk over your most recommended home workout routines thru chat, or even you could be doing them all together via online video calls. You may also organize webinar-style video calls with everyone or sign up, together with everyone, for virtual Zumba and Yoga classes.
Host a Watch Party
There’s an upcoming movie or new TV Series? Watch it together with family, friends, or with your work friends by hosting a virtual watch party for a movie night and the likes. It can be a great activity to bond and talk about some new other topics. Download a movie or connect to a streaming platform and take turns in sharing your screens in Zoom calls, whichever movie you feel like watching.
Hold Virtual Games or Competitions
There are many free virtual games now available for everyone to enjoy within your house and lot. Make time for a happy hour where you could schedule weekly. Get together with everyone by playing games with your family or work friends online. You may keep it simple with playing, such as trivia games via chat, interactive games like Hangman, or solve mystery games together via online video calls.
Set Virtual Dates
They say eating is best enjoyed by eating together — with friends, family, work colleagues, or acquaintances. However, with the current COVID-19 pandemic where self-isolation measures are being implemented, it is impossible. Let’s just add a bit of creativity to make things still possible to enjoy eating. Switch up the regular breakfast, lunch, or dinner dates by hosting a virtual get-together. You could invite family, friends, or even colleagues whom you regularly eat with. With the less moving around, you could all enjoy your food and have a more focused discussion and catching-ups.
Karaoke Nights
We Filipinos just really love singing and get-togethers; thus, having karaoke in every gathering and party is already a staple for us while celebrating. On the other hand, with the karaoke bars closed and prohibited social gatherings, physical karaoke bar hopping and big celebrations aren’t possible anytime soon.
But COVID-19 could not stop us from engaging in one of our favorite past times, with virtual karaoke nights. Have a blast as you belt out the lyrics of your favorite music jams with your friends and colleagues via Google Meet or Zoom. Indeed, one of the fun ways to check-in and release stress for the week.
Throw a Virtual Party
Virtual Party? Yes, a virtual party is exactly what it sounds like – a celebration that you host virtually or online. You can host virtual parties for all kinds of reasons, even simply for a get-together, and make it as creative as you can be. Set up a theme, dress codes, matching invitations, and don’t forget to add the fun parts such as the classic party games, Tiktok with everyone, or even have a cocktail hour which is now popularized as “ZoomInuman.”
By creating such opportunities for your family, friends, and even colleagues to connect through these online social activities, you can help ensure everyone remains optimistic and productive as there are a lot of social platforms that we can maximize and utilize to stay connected and bond over with.
Remember, you just need to be creative as you can be. COVID-19 and lockdowns may not end anytime soon, but we should rise from the challenge and acknowledge the importance of our psychological and mental well-being. Who knows, you might find your new best buddies or even grow closer with each other with these virtual activities. Bond, have fun, create new memories and stay connected.
Find the home where you can spend your lockdown days without worries in Camella. For more information, you may check out our catalog of house and lot for sale or visit our projects nationwide.
