As a young person stuck inside during lockdown I have found myself doing more things that I enjoy doing and want to do rather than things I ‘have’ to do. Despite the weeks dragging on and finding it hard to remember what I have done, I have managed to keep myself occupied and have surprisingly not been completely unproductive.
While I may not be getting school work now with GCSEs cancelled (I still haven’t quite decided how I feel about this), I have kept my brain active in other ways - this is specifically through online courses. They are an easy way to learn things that you want to learn from the comfort of your bedroom. I have specifically used www.futurelearn.com and chosen courses based around mental health, history and modern law. I also aim to start looking into learning my Driving Theory as well as researching what my A-Level courses next year will include.
Christian books are often really helpful in showing practical ways of living for and with God as well as encouraging readers to deepen their relationship with Christ.
My recommendations include:
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how to walk in day to day life with the Holy Spirit.This may not be the most effective use of time but I’m taking the opportunity to catch up on all the shows and films I’ve been wanting to watch as well as taking advantage on the newfound wonders of Disney Plus! Some of what I have been watching includes:
in a dystopian state divided by raceI’ve always enjoyed reading and my ‘to read’ pile has been steadily growing over the last year or so; I’ve finally found the time to read these books! Some of the books I’ve been reading include:
I have always enjoyed cooking and baking and over the last few weeks have.jpg)
wanted to do more. Now I have more time on my hands I thought I’d take the opportunity. Despite these efforts being hampered by the lack of condensed milk, yeast and flour, I have been creative! I’ve made salted caramel cupcakes, two cheesecakes with very different results (we don’t talk about the first one I made, but I did remind myself that it's ok to fail), a chocolate cake, cinnamon swirls and Oreo truffles.
I have been spending more time at the piano teaching myself pieces of my own choice (I’m not knocking Beethoven but High School Musical keeps me more awake!) I’ve also started to learn to play the guitar and ukulele.
Although the likes of coding, photography and juggling don’t hugely interest me I’m not one to speak for everyone my age so there are hundreds of options out there.
Over the past couple of weeks, my family and I have completed many jigsaw puzzles and played several board games. (We would recommend strategy games like Catan, Risk and 221b Baker Street.) We’ve also been watching several performances of theatre productions that have been released in the past couple of weeks – for example ‘Phantom of The Opera’ and ‘Joseph And The Technicolour Dreamcoat’.
Then with my friends, we have played games of Psych! – an app that allows you to outwit and get to know your friends – and used Netflix party to watch films and shows together.
There you have it, an insight into what a teenager in lockdown has been doing and will probably continue to do throughout this period! Alongside these I have started going for runs (very early to avoid people of course) and doing online workouts with my mum – sometimes doing PE with Joe Wicks (when we can cope with his excessive jumping). I’m also aiming to read more of the Bible and focus more on what God has planned for my future so I don’t get too caught up and lost in the unrealistic lifestyle of lockdown. I am sure you will probably have a lot more ideas but if your stuck here's some ready made choices!