Blog Post 6: There’s No Place like Home

The title says it all, there truly is no place like home. As I’m sure you know by now, self quarantining has become less of a suggestion and more of an order or demand in some counties, cities, and even states. I am currently in one of the states that has implemented a “stay at home” order throughout state. With this being the case, I’m working to find things to occupy my time, seeing that I have a whole lot more of it to myself with a limited environment. As a 20 year old native Coloradan, this isn’t the easiest task. I grew up being constantly on the move. My childhood consisted of sailing, hiking, swimming, camping, and summer camps all summer and skiing and snowboarding in the winter. I’ve carried these activities with me through my adolescence and early adulthood. Needless to say, I prefer being outdoors and with people.

Unfortunately, we’re probably all home right now wishing we were a million other places. Trust me, I totally understand. In pervious blog posts, I have given you all tips, tricks, personal stories, and ideas that I have already tried and ones that truly do work for me, ones that I love sharing with you. However, this is going to be a little different, seeing as though I’m not one to just sit and stay. I’m going to talk about some things that I have been wanting to spend more time on and devote more of my energy towards, seeing that there is indeed much more of it in quarantined captivity. Hopefully, these will spark some ideas in your own mind that can be implemented in your time of quarantine as well!

First things first, puppy. As I’ve talked about in my previous blog post (linked here), I’m adopting a puppy at the end of April/beginning of May. As you can imagine or have experienced yourself, my life is quickly changing as the idea of a brand new puppy entering my life is becoming more of a reality by the day. Reading puppy books, blogs, and articles has become my greatest hobby in life. My Youtube has been overrun by dog videos. As embarrassing as it sounds, I have actually completely filled an entire notebook of notes from every book, video, article, etc. that I have come across surrounding the topic of puppies. Needless to say, I have already dedicated much of my time to this topic. You may think I’m crazy for admitting this, but honestly, I would love to make a little more time every day for this! It’s surprisingly very soothing, like a project I am eagerly ready to keep working on every chance that I get. The more I learn, the more excited I get and the more prepared I feel for the future of owning my own dog. Like I stated in my last blog post, I’m not advocating going out and spontaneously adopting a dog because of the global pandemic. I would advocate for finding your own joy-filled project that puts a smile on your face daily. In some fashion, I feel more grounded when I am reading and researching all things puppy, so I would honestly like to spend some more time doing so!

Second, I not only want, but need to be more active. Being trapped in my house has proven to make me not want to workout. There is something about knowing I shouldn’t leave my house that has made me believe I don’t really need to leave my room for anything other than the occasional trip to the kitchen, maybe and I mean maybe socialize with my folks for a little a few times a day when they aren’t working as well; this is clearly not the healthiest lifestyle. So, beside my puppy project, I want to start becoming more active, even if it means running on my treadmill for 30 minutes daily or yoga on the back patio in the mornings. Regardless of what it is that I choose to do everyday, I’m setting a goal here and now that I will jump back into my workout routine and become more active daily. A slight side note off of this, my Diet Coke obsession has taken my life hostage (again) in the past week. In complete honesty, I had a pretty gnarly Diet Coke problem through the later years of high school and beginning of college. Being home has totally sparked this back up because both of my parents are also addicted to Diet Coke as well, so it’s constantly around. Now, this doesn’t sound like much of an issue, and granted it probably isn’t, but let me tell you, I seriously need to drop that habit as well. So, in addition to being more active during this time, I’m going to break up with Diet Coke as well.

Lastly, I want to organize my room. I know I’m not alone in this, specifically if you’re a college student that just moved back home. My room has become a sort of battle zone that has a strange mixture of high school memorabilia and college storage bins literally everywhere. Because I just moved back home less than a week ago, there hasn’t been much time in the middle of the chaos to truly unpack and organize in a proper fashion. This, maybe above all other things, is something that I am going to be setting aside time for each day in order to make my room feel more like home again. There is defiantly something about being more productive in an organized environment, so, I’m going to channel my inner HGTV self to create the best environment in my room for myself.

Whew! Lot’s to do and plenty of time to do it! I hope that by reading my own goals you can create some of your own in this time. Despite the fact that we are all in some type of physical isolation right now, know that we are all still together-ish. You are not alone in this. Let’s make the best out of what is going on in this crazy world of ours. As always, you’re strong, you’re capable, and you’re amazing. Till next time! Wish me luck!