Hobbies you can pick up while physical distancing due to COVID-19

It’s hard to avoid getting stir-crazy and anxious during our collective self-isolation. While physical distancing is necessary to stop the spread of COVID-19, it’s difficult to stay in one place. It helps to feel productive when you have so much time on your hands. Trying out or reviving a hobby can help with that. To learn more, read our brief guide to hobbies you can pick up while social distancing.

Painting

One of your most relaxing hobby options is painting. This is great for those artistically inclined. It’s also open to anyone who wants to express themselves without using words. There are several methods for making your own paint that help you create something before you even put brush to canvas. You can watch videos explaining various techniques and then put them into practice. As you learn more, you can feel the satisfaction of your progress. Also, when you complete a piece, you have a nice new decoration for your office or home. Feel free to motivate and involve the kids, too, to give them a productive and fun task.

Wood carving

A second, even more, hands-on hobby is wood carving. The wood carving process isn’t necessarily universal, but there are a few tips and pieces of equipment that can help you get started. Starting whittlers can buy a whittling knife and get a soft piece of wood. For more refined carving, a couple of straight, skewed, and curved carving knives will do. Like painting, the wood carving process not only occupies your head and your hands during physical distancing. Additionally, it also leaves you with a finished product. Creating something lends your hobby time some intrinsic value as you wait for social distancing policies to end.

Reading and writing

Some other hobbies you can try while social distancing are reading and writing. Both are something you likely have experience in but have gone away from to some degree. While reading is its own creative project because of the active interplay between reader and writer, writing is more directly productive. Revive your old play, novel, short story, or blog project, and see where you can take it. If you don’t have anything to pick back up, you have the freedom to start a writing project. You can either use writing as a means of fun expression or serious reflection on our current situation. Either could help you cope and redeem your time.