Five hobbies to take up during lockdown to keep yourself busy

Try these activities to keep your mind challenged while you’re staying in.

Our Lifestyle Managers are isolated on-site and are ensuring that all homeowners are kept up to date with the latest government guidance, as well as providing suggestions on what home based retirement lifestyle activities our residents can get up to whilst indoors. They have been be providing this support and reassurance via email, telephone and video calls.

If your life in isolation so far is revolving around binging TV shows and drinking wine, it might be time to try a new approach. Getting immersed in a new hobby can be really good for mental health and reducing stress, and with most of us spending our days cooped up inside, it’s never been more important to prioritise wellbeing.

From learning new skills to flexing your creative muscles, here are a few ideas for making the most of your downtime.

1. Painting

If you fancy impressing future dinner guests with a new piece of art on the wall, YouTube has plenty of beginner tutorials for learning the basics of painting with acrylics or watercolours. You’ll need is a set of paints and brushes, a palette, a surface to paint on (canvas or paper) – all available to buy online at Art Discount, for example – and a jar of water.

If you feel really adventurous, you could even have a go at creating your own take on the contemporary abstract and line work – both of which are popular in the interiors world right now.

2. Learn a language

You may not have spoken French or Spanish since school, but there’s no reason why you can’t finally master speaking a new language this year. Babbel is a learning app that has expert-crafted courses for everyone from absolute beginners to those who simply want to fine tune their skills.

The app engages you in conversation and gives you real-time feedback, so you can learn how to start talking with confidence on lots of different topics. There are 14 languages to choose from and a lot of learning material to keep you busy.

3. Knitting

Want to take up a hobby that’s a little more old-school? Knitting is probably one of the most mindful pursuits going, thanks to its repetitive nature.

YouTube is a treasure trove of content for beginner knitters, with tutorials from how to nail the essential knit stitch to switching up your designs with different colours and patterns. By the time we come out of lockdown, you could have a brand new, one-of-a-kind jumper hanging in your wardrobe.

4. Photography

Masterclass is an online platform that gives users access to tutorials from some of the world’s leading experts in various fields. If you’ve always had an urge to give photography a go, this service a great place to start.

Acclaimed portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz, who has snapped everyone from Leonardo DiCaprio to John Lennon, heads up this 15-lesson video course. She’ll teach you how to develop concepts, work with subjects, shoot with natural light and bring images to life in post-production.

5. Creative writing

Future Learn run free online creative writing courses that are designed to get your imaginative juices flowing. The eight-week course requires three hours of study per week and will introduce you to the rituals and approaches that successful fiction writers use.

You’ll learn how to flesh out your ideas, develop your characters and you’ll get feedback on your stories from others taking part in the course too. Time to get cracking on writing that bestseller?