As concerts are postponed, sporting events are cancelled, schools are closed and tourist hot spots are shut down, it’s up to all of us to use our time as wisely as we like during lockdown. With all of this free time on your hands you’ll be keen to keep your mind – and body – active, and you WILL actually reach a point when you’re tired of watching Netflix – trust us on that!

So what can you do when you finally hit your binge-watching wall? It’s the perfect time to try a new hobby and learn something while staying entertained, or to pick up a long lost love and reinvigorate your relationship with it.

You quite likely already have all of the supplies you need on hand, and while the idea is to cut down on screen-watching time, we’ll give it a pass if it’s to follow along with You Tube tutorials as you watch and learn!

Make some memories

Chances are you’ve been going through your camera roll just to fill in time, why not pick out your favourite photos from the past year and make a photo book for family and friends? You could theme it, add some artwork and get as creative as you like – and there are plenty of websites out there that can help make bring your vision to life.  Take a look at Harvey Norman and start your photo book journey!

Start a garden

Whether you have an entire backyard to dedicate to a vegetable garden, or just a small windowsill to cultivate a herb garden, digging dirt and growing something can be very therapeutic. If you’re already ahead of the curve with this one, why not re-pot some of your favourite indoor plants and give them a whole new lease on life?

Learn a new dance

Trying to convince your family (and yourself) to get up off the couch? Put on some music for motivation and start cutting some serious shapes to lift your mood and your heart rate. Join all of TikTok in attempting the Renegade dance, or brush up on something a little more traditional and you’ll be ready to hit the dance floor once all of those postponed weddings are finally rescheduled. Who knows, when all this is over you might be tempted to hit a dance class IRL!

Practice yoga

Unroll that yoga mat that’s been collecting dust in the corner of your room and embrace the OM. Because yoga combines mindful movement with breathwork and meditation, it’s the ultimate de-stressing hobby. Check out the popular yoga app GLO and try everything from yoga for complete beginners to yoga for anxiety. GLO’s online classes range from five to ninety minutes, and students can pick from super physical “body” classes or more spiritual or meditative mind and heart classes. The big plus though, is that GLO works with some of the world’s best yoga teachers, so you get access to incredible resources for a fraction of the price.

Learn a new language

If you’re anything like us, you’ve been devoting significant lockdown time to looking at dream locations on Instagram that you’ve always wanted to visit and definitely can’t right now! Get prepped for travel when we’re on the other side by learning another language. Download Duolingo, or a similar app, for free and teach yourself a foreign language while you’ve got plenty of time to practice it in the privacy of your own home.

Try a workout challenge

If you’re feeling like you need to blow off a little steam and already have pretty good fitness levels, now is the time to embrace the plethora of workout challenges that are appearing online to help fit types beat the boredom. Whether you love Pilates, weights or HIIT, there will be something available for you – or try the Nike Training app for a huge library of great online workouts.