The art of thinking positive
and the pleasure of staying home

After all, it’s not that bad to spend these days at home. We can definitely find some positive aspects in the invitation to remain home for stopping the health emergency related to Coronavirus. Bars and shops closed, offices turned their activities into smart working, streets became empty and silent. The daily frenzy is quickly forgotten, so it’s time to rediscover the pleasure of spending days at home and brushing up on those activities that you never find time for. Let’s keep a positive attitude!

To start a day on the right foot, why not to choose a good healthy and slow breakfast? What for many is a pleasure on Sundays only can become a daily joy over this period. A good freshly squeezed orange juice, toasted and buttered bread or a slice of cake baked by yourself and your children… Isn’t your mouth already watering?

In the kitchen we can devote ourselves to all those recipes that satisfy the taste but require time and patience, or experiment by letting ourselves be inspired by blogs and magazines. Let’s whet our appetite with pictures, let’s put ourselves in the kitchen and don’t neglect the mise en place, so we’ll give a special flavour to every meal enjoyed at home. We can also keep the rituals of our social life by translating them into the domestic reality: we prepare a delicious aperitif and chat with friends over a video call, we prepare Sunday lunches and we share photos of our recipes in the family chat.

Now that we can put aside the daily frenzy, it’s time to let our imagination run wild and maybe do some thinking. We can feed our thoughts with good readings: we can pick up all those books that have been waiting for us on the bedside table for months (if we really want to read them) or have fun with something lighter. To find inspiration, we could also take advantage of free time to tide up our bookcases: there are those grouping books by genre and those doing it in strict alphabetical order by title or author, but also those who arrange them by colour … What suits you best?

Mens sana in corpore sano, the Latins used to say, and we should not forget it. Without going to the gym, we can keep working out in our living room. On Youtube there are many video tutorials with simple exercises to do at home even without specific tools, perhaps using a chair or the sofa (try and type “train on the sofa”, you will see). This can become a good habit to mark the days without getting bored.

Another nice activity is tiding up the closets and preparing them for a seasonal change. We follow the advice of famous Marie Kondo or other experts, and we try to arrange clothes and accessories in the drawers of our sideboards in a different way: we could discover new ways to optimize space and refresh our wardrobe. Do you also see the first buds on the tree branches outside your windows? Spring is coming, let’s get ready!