The emerging Coronavirus pandemic has forced many of us across the world to practice self-isolation and make do with the entertainment we have at home in order to keep ourselves entertained. 

While the prospect of missing out on seeing our friends and family can be tough, it doesn’t mean that we necessarily have to live without a little bit of excitement in our lives. The lockdown has had a devastating effect on many of us, and isolation can carry plenty of psychological ramifications that it’s important to keep on top of. But it has also provided many of us with the opportunity to get creative in coming up with activities that everyone can take part in. 

The circumstances may remain adverse, but technology means that we’re never too far from a chance to challenge ourselves, or connect with new people online. With this in mind, let’s take a look at some of the most surprising activities we can get up to during the Coronavirus pandemic: 

Run a marathon

(Image: Strava)

Is it surprising? Absolutely. Is it recommendable? Perhaps not. But you really can run a marathon from the comfort of your own home, and amazingly, the feat has already been achieved during the French lockdown by Elisha Nochomovitz - who ran an entire marathon course on his 7 metre balcony in Toulouse. 

Nochomovitz isn’t the only person indulging in great feats of human endurance from his own home, with other users around the world opening up their running apps and moving around small in-house circuits. 

Having completed his marathon in 6 hours and 48 minutes, you could certainly get to work on setting your own indoor marathon records, or, if you’d rather save yourself from the prospect of aches and pains, you could rather aim to achieve a 10k from the confines of your own home. 

On a more serious note, It’s vital that we maintain some form of exercise schedule while stuck indoors. Some nations are more lenient towards leaving the house to go for a run while others have more strict lockdown rules. 

Even missing out on our usual walk to catch public transport on the way to work can help to keep us in shape, so it’s vital that we find enjoyable and creative ways to stay in shape. 

Create a work of art

(Image: Mobile Art Academy)

Have you ever wanted to become an artist? Or fancied yourself as a visionary painter whose yet to realise their potential? Well, now could be the perfect time to create a masterpiece. 

It’s certainly possible to use the space in your house to set up big canvases. However, worldwide lockdowns can be limiting if you don’t already have the right equipment at your disposal. 

However, this doesn’t have to be a problem, and today more and more artists are turning their skills towards creating electronic masterpieces. There’s a massive array of apps available to download on either your smartphone or on the bigger canvas of a tablet. 

The great thing about digital art is that you don’t have to turn the house upside down to try your hand at it, and novices can easily move botched works to the trash and start again. One potentially brilliant use of your time is to look around the house and see whether any room has space for a new piece of art on the wall. You can look to see what colours would be ideal and start building a picture that can be professionally printed and delivered to your door.

Procreate is a particularly great service that even allows users to build their own portfolios. Some of the pieces created using only the app and a compatible smartphone are mind-blowing. 

Become an influencer

(Image: LivestreamFails)

Life in self-isolation can be a lonely place, but there are plenty of ways in which you can share your experiences with the world. 

While you don’t necessarily have to focus on becoming an influencer to connect with people, if you’re craving more levels of interaction it could be worth setting up your very own Twitch account, where you can record yourself playing games and other users will be free to chat with you as you play.

It’s also entirely possible to set up a YouTube channel where you can record yourself giving advice, playing games, or simply chatting to viewers. If you have a passion for entertaining people, the lockdown could be particularly difficult, but just because you’re stuck indoors, it doesn’t mean that you can’t share your downtime with others. 

It’s entirely free to set up your own Twitch or YouTube account and start recording. If you’re particularly talented at entertaining your audiences, recording your experiences could become a highly useful second revenue stream - even after reality kicks back in and life begins to get back to normal. 

You could also use your spare time to build more of a presence on places like Instagram and TikTok. For many of us, it’s not about becoming an influencer, but more about connecting with people as a means of keeping sociable and psychologically healthy during periods of isolation. 

Build a freelance dynasty

(Image: ContenaCommunity)

For many of us, a lockdown could be the start of a prolongued time of economic hardship. There are different systems in place depending on your location regarding work. While some are fine to work from home, there are plenty of people who have been left unable to go out to work and earn money. 

At a time of such uncertainty, there will be lots of us out there looking for ways to build revenue streams to keep financially afloat while we’re forced to stay at home. For others, we could be aiming to put our spare time to good use and make some extra money for ourselves. 

If you would rather use your time to make more money, there are lots of freelance platforms out there designed to put workers in touch with clients in an efficient manner. Websites like Fiverr have long been a treasure trove for people capable of doing a range of jobs. If you speak multiple languages, you can use your time to earn money translating documents, or if you have strong editing skills you could proofread whitepapers before they get published. Freelance platforms have been known to be useful if you’ve ever thought of yourself as a capable voice-over artist. 

With many freelance websites, it’s entirely free to sign up, and only pay the platform once you’ve completed a job and received payment. 

Whether you want to spend your free time making money, or improving your fitness, or simply talking to people, technology has worked wonders in helping us to realise our potential and perform amazing tasks all from the comfort of our own homes. 

In this unprecedented era in human history, it’s never been more important to look after yourself both psychologically and physically. If you find yourself feeling lonely, be sure to use your free time wisely to speak to loved ones and friends - if you’re feeling bogged down or anxious, it could be worth challenging yourself with something new and exciting. And remember, keep safe at all times!