The coronavirus pandemic has already passed its one-year mark and shows no signs of slowing down. With the alarmingly high number of cases in large countries such as India, where COVID-19 patients are desperately
pleading for oxygen to survive
, it’s truly easy to get overwhelmed by the effect of the pandemic.
Among the impacts of the ongoing crisis are the restrictions in people’s movements and travel, as well as the scare that people are feeling due to potential transmission. Many are required by their companies to work remotely while students for their part are forced to attend online classes as part of educational institutions’ pandemic response.
By being stuck at home, people are finding different ways to make themselves busy and productive during their free time. If you want some great options, here are five crafty ways to use your time productively amid the pandemic:
Take music lessons
If you’re musically inclined or you just want to learn a skill that you can share with others or potentially use as a means of employment in the future, then music lessons would be perfect.
You only have to find a local school that offers professional piano lessons at affordable rates. But aside from just having a low rate, you should also check if the school has appropriate COVID-19 safety protocols in place if the classes are done in person. This is to safeguard your health while you learn the basics of piano music, particularly the fundamentals and advanced techniques in musicianship through the instrument.
Learn how to paint
Do you strongly feel like you have what it takes to be the next Picasso or Monet? Or perhaps a modern-day DaVinci or Michelangelo? Maybe you just want to draw something and express your creative side without any illusion of achieving what the Masters have achieved?
Whether you belong to the truly gifted or you simply have a burning desire to express your emotions and ideas through art, learning how to paint is an excellent way to use your pandemic spare time.
You only have to invest in different art supplies such as sketchbooks, pencils, colouring materials (acrylic, watercolour, or oil), easels, and canvases. These are pretty easy to source, so you can quickly start to paint landscapes, still life, portraits, and other artworks.
Online videos are showing the basics of painting but you can always search for a mentor to give you more thorough instruction and guidance on the intricacies of painting.
Create handicrafts
Handcrafted products such as bags, purses, shawls, and table runners are highly coveted because of the craftsmanship and labour of love that the creators exerted to finish every piece. If you want to pursue a hobby that you can do with your family during the pandemic, then consider creating handicrafts soon.
You can do a quick internet search to find hundreds of videos showing the step-by-step tricks in making different handcrafted items. Most of the materials required for these items are pretty easy to get from hobby stores both online and physical. With your family in tow, you can turn your spare time into a family bonding with practical benefits.
The finished products would be great for the personal use of family members, as decorative items inside your home, as gifts for friends and relatives, or even as items for sale. In short, you’ll surely find great uses for handicrafts, thus making your time and investment truly worth it.
Act
Can you make people laugh on cue or work your way to touch their emotions and make them cry through body language and dialogues? If so, enrolling in acting classes would be a great way to improve your skills whether to entertain your family and friends or pursue a career.
Just like in music and painting, there is also a large cache of online resources for people who aim to finetune their acting prowess. There are also professional acting coaches who offer their services to interested students, so be sure to check them out.
You can do it as a solo endeavour or bring your family members with you to make things more fun and bond-forming.
Learn a new language
People who can speak another language won’t just be the life of the party, but they can also make a career out of it. Whether as a translator or as a teacher, your knowledge of a second language would be an outstanding way of using your spare time amid the coronavirus crisis.
Just search for online tutorials or enrol in a foreign language class to ramp up your linguistic arsenal. Among the most popular languages, people study are French, Mandarin, Spanish, German, Arabic, Russian, and Japanese.
The COVID-19 pandemic would not stop you from being productive with these five excellent activities.
Want to learn more?
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We’re here to help you to take action just like we’ve helped thousands of other entrepreneurs, business owners and creative professionals all around the globe.
Now is the time to let your passion SHINE.
Now is the time to Make Tomorrow Today!
To your success,
Vinh Van Lam & Stuart Horrex
Your Coaches ArtSHINE industries
