Social Distancing and Quarantine During Coronavirus: Looking at the Bright Side

With everything going on in the world right now, it can be hard not to feel anxious and stressed out. Our normal daily routines have been turned upside down, our creature comforts are either gone or hard to come by, and it is nearly impossible to surround ourselves with our favorite people and support systems. This can be triggering and anxiety-inducing to most people, but especially with individuals who have an addiction. With so much uncertainty, it is important to try to look at the bright side of social distancing and quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic.

Quality Family Time: Social Distancing and Quarantine During Coronavirus

If you live with your family, being with them 24 hours a day can be difficult⁠—no matter how much you love them⁠—especially if you have a busy family. Between work, school, homework, and extracurricular activities, almost everything is on hold right now and everyone might be going a little stir-crazy. While this can be challenging for parents to navigate, it is important to take this time to enjoy quality family time with your loved ones rather than focus on the stress of a full house.

  • Plan out the week. Grab a whiteboard, poster board, or a calendar and start organizing some daily goals and activities for your family. Make Thursdays game night, Tuesdays cooking night, Monday cleaning day, or Sundays a movie marathon night with a theme. Set times for each bonding activity so that everyone has something to look forward to every day.
  • Get holiday crafting. Get way ahead on this year’s holiday decorations by searching Pinterest or YouTube for some cool things to make. Then, when the holidays roll around, you will be ready to go with minimal prep and stress. Plus, these crafts will hold special meaning for many years to come, with a great story behind them.
  • Create a special project. The experience of social distancing and quarantining during the coronavirus pandemic is one for the books, and you and your family members will look back and remember it for the rest of their lives. Out of this unprecedented time, find ways to create positive memories that everyone can look back on. How will you look back on this experience? Work with your family to create a video, time capsule, journal, or art piece to remember this significant time, especially once things get back to normal.

Environmental Benefits During Coronavirus

One of the silver linings of social distancing and quarantine during the coronavirus is all of the environmental benefits that have taken place. Some of these include:

  • The waters of the canals in Venice, Italy, have been empty for so long that they have turned clear enough to see the fish, and even dolphins have returned to the waters.
  • Nitrogen dioxide over China has dropped with the coronavirus quarantine
  • In San Francisco, which is under shelter-in-place orders to control the spread of the coronavirus, the average concentration of fine particulate matter—tiny particles in the air that are dangerous because they can be breathed deeply into the lungs—was almost 40% lower than the previous year.
  • In New York City, there was a 28% drop over the same period of time, and the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue saw a 32% decrease.
  • Los Angeles’s decrease of smog has made its skyline visibly clearer across the city.

Getting Things Done During Coronavirus

With so much time at home, one of the best ways to keep yourself busy is to get things done around the house. There has likely been an ongoing checklist of things to do around the home for years, and finally getting around to it all can be a great feeling.

It can be easy to take advantage of this downtime by stretching out on the couch every day and binge-watching “Tiger King,” however, make sure you carve out some time to accomplish something on your home’s to-do list—whether it’s cleaning a closet, organizing a room or hanging up some frames—so that you feel productive at the end of each day.

More Time for Yourself During Coronavirus

One of the most important things you can do while social distancing and in quarantine is to make more time for yourself. Your sobriety is still the most important thing in your life, and making time for yourself to destress may be easier these days.

Cook healthy meals, do those at-home workouts, go for walks, put on a conditioning hair mask, practice meditation, take a hot bath, or—yes!—binge-watch “Tiger King.” Whatever it is that makes you happy and makes you feel better, do it!

Staying sober during the stress of a global pandemic can take much more than just simply looking at the bright side for many people. If you are struggling during this time, or have found yourself in a relapse situation, reach out to Cliffside Malibu or another reputable recovery center. We are still open and available during the coronavirus quarantine to help you and give you the treatment you need.

About Cliffside Malibu

Because no two addictions are the same, we develop individualized treatment plans for every client at Cliffside Malibu. We are committed to providing evidence-based treatment through a continuum of care model across a range of levels of care, including medically supervised detox, residential treatment, day treatment, and outpatient services. Our program includes family therapy and holistic therapy. Whether an individual has a substance abuse and/or alcohol addiction, our programs are structured to create a supportive environment where healing can begin.

In addition to world-class treatment, Cliffside Malibu offers luxury accommodations, a serene environment, five-star dining, and plentiful amenities. We understand that addiction treatment is a rigorous process. Therefore, we provide for your comfort and relaxation at every turn, allowing you to rejuvenate, and meet the demands of treatment with your greatest energy and attention.

For more information, visit Cliffside Malibu.