1. Get creative in the kitchen

Use the spare time you have in the morning before study or work to make yourself a breakfast you’ve always wanted to try, but never thought you had time for.

This doesn’t just apply to breakfast; studying at home means no more frustration over lack of hot water and microwaves, so make the most of life in ‘luxury’ whilst you have it!

If you want some inspiration, there's a tonne online, or you can head to my (very basic - hey, we've all got to start somewhere) website which has a variety of UBER HEALTHY (plus GF/DF) and ADAPTABLE recipes for you to try.

1. A) USE your 1 opportunity to exercise outside a day

       B) Use it WISELY

Maybe you have kids, maybe pets, or maybe you’re juggling full time study with full time online work.

Whatever your life at home looks like, make sure you make the most of the opportunity to go outside to exercise once a day.

If you have kids, take them to the park and do a park workout whilst your there.

If you have a dog, head out for a run – yes you are only allowed outside once a day, but there are no restrictions on how far you can go or how long for.

1. Learn something new

Whilst this situation is definitely not a ‘good’ one, there are certainly some positives to being stuck at home.

This situation is one that we will most likely NEVER find ourselves in again, so value this time as an opportunity to learn a skill that you’ve never tried or even thought of learning before.

This could be a new language, an instrument etc.

However, if you’re someone that gets discouraged or demotivated easily when you don’t see progress, I would recommend working on improving a skill you already have a base-knowledge of.

For instance, if you can play basic piano, learn a new song, if tip 1 got you excited, try cooking a challenging new recipe, you get the jist.

If you do learn something new, we’d would LOVE to see, so send us a picture or video!

1. Organise your house/room/apartment

Just like I said in tip 3, this is a situation that will probably never swing round again, so make the most of this time at home to sort through that ‘messy drawer’.

Make a pile of clothes and items for the charity shop, maybe even download Depop, Ebay or Gumtree, and make some cash selling your unwanted items online.

If you do have a huge tidy, send us some pics.

1. Hit the books! (not physically...)

Remember that time you said you wish you had the time to read that book??

Well, now you do!

Make a short list of books you’d like to read before isolation ends.

Keep the list short, around 3-5 (obviously it depends on the length/complexity of the book) and take as little as 10 minutes each night to work your way through.

BONUS TIP: Don’t move onto the second book UNTIL you’ve finished the first!

1. Call your mates

As well as your family, it’s important to keep in touch with friends.

Many people won’t have friends or family to stay with throughout this period, and loneliness can have a severe negative effect on a person’s mental health, which can in turn impact their physical health.

If you have a friend that you know or suspect does not have a strong support base where they’re living, check in on them a couple of times a week - you could, unknowingly massively improve their wellbeing, or even save their life.

1. SMILE

Just because we can’t go near other people, that doesn’t mean we can’t smile at them.

If you are outside walking to the shop, or getting some exercise, try saying ‘hello’ or ‘afternoon!’ to anyone you pass.

For some of them, this might be the most human interaction they’ve had for a while – a smile or a simple ‘hello’ might make someone’s day.

(It might feel weird to start with, saying hello to complete strangers, where normally you'd avoid eye contact at all costs, but not only will this improve your own confidence by putting you out of your comfort zone, smiles are contageous so you could end up improving more than just that person's day, and HEY, you might even make a new friend!)

1. GIVE FEEDBACK!

Okay, this may be me being a tad cheeky here... but it's now more than ever that you need support from the University (and us!).

Just because you’re not physically at University, doesn’t mean your Course Reps have stopped doing their roles.

If you are facing any particular difficulties, or feel like anything is missing from this new way of learning (let’s be honest, it’s early days so chances are there is), then us at the Students’ Union, and your Course Reps are still available to hear your thoughts – get in touch!

If you're not sure who your Course Rep is, send myself or Meg a message, or alternatively you can find the full list here.

1. Say HELLO to your NEW Vice President!

A huge congratulations from us to Sorin-Marius Predica who is your new Vice President, but why not say congratulations or hello to him yourself?!

He has written an introductory article, introducing himself, which you can read here.

Feel free to write a comment at the bottom of the page J

1. Do some mindfulness

Now, BEFORE you skip to the next tip (or not, as this is the last one…), I’m not talking about shutting yourself away in a dark room for 30 minutes – although if that works for you then ‘yay’!

Mindfulness and meditation can be practiced in a variety of different ways, to hear some of our suggestions and different techniques, click here.

Hopefully 1 or 2 of these suggestions have stood out to you (or maybe all of them have?!).

BUT we really hope that you are all keeping healthy, positive and happy, and will be working our hardest to support you in various ways.

Please leave a comment if you do try any of these suggestions, and we'd love to see some of your pictures or videos of you doing them.

To send, please email i.miller@angliastudent.com or alternatively you can message me on Facebook.

Keep healthy and keep happy