Maintaining old and new friendships is so important especially during lockdown. In fact i think its the best time to get to know what makes them them…..i remember learning something about one of my friends and thought wow i would have never guessed it and vice versa. I won’t disclose any details sorry! but today its made our bond even stronger, i can laugh for days! I put together my own twist on how to enjoy the company of your friends during these unprecedented times. You’ll mainly need a device that you can make phone/video calls on.
The biggest changes during lockdown is the closing of all our major retail stores, which means no walking around the high street or in shopping centres to purchase those nice pair of jeans or that sexy lingerie you spotted in Victoria secret. Thankfully most of these stores provide a home delivery service. Why not video call your friend and have an online shopping experience, exchange messages and photos over a cup of tea and have a session where you rule whats in and whats out and find the latest discounts and vouchers after all two heads are better than one. The next part is my favourite once its all been ordered and delivered have a try on session over the camera. Useful applications to use: Hangouts, zoom, face-time, Whatsapp and Skype). There’s no real time limit here so spend the time to try on everything you’ve ordered and have a giggle with a friend(s) all in the comfort of your own home. Companies like Ralph Lauren,amazon, other small fashion fashion brands are also trialling a virtual shopping experience, so give it a try. you can have the same experience with furniture shopping too, so many apps out there that can show you what the room can look like before you make any purchase so share it with your friends
Gaming. I’m not that tech savvy when it comes to gaming, Xbox, Ps4/5 you name it but from what I’ve heard its a great time killer and fun experience to enjoy with your friends, so if you’ve got the time why not learn how to use the controls and see if you can team up and have a cussing match over the living room coffee table. More than two players can join and i believe you can interact with total strangers too if they have your gaming ID. If you are so into it why not make it interesting and set challenges for each other.
Aside from clothes/home shopping..grocery is pretty much the only way we can see our friends and family in person, even though these large supermarkets offer home delivery it can sometimes be nice just to pop out to pick up a few essential items and get some fresh air at the same time. One of the ideas i had was to schedule a day that you and your friend need to purchase essential items that way you can say hello in the isles and keep a 2 metre distance from each other so it doesn’t feel like your totally disconnected from each other. This could also work for your daily 1 hour exercise. don’t make this a habit though only when its really needed.
The real outcome of this blog post is to emphasise the need for communication. its so important to stay in touch with your friends and not only the family. As they are the people you also have fun with can speak to about anything when you can’t talk to someone at home. Over the first lockdown period the silence and four walls became very noticeable, i felt boxed in but the only thing keeping me going was the conversations over the phone with a few of my friends. Over this time i developed a mild case of anxiety which did funny things to my muscles, i just couldn’t relax them! despite having my mum around it wasn’t enough, so i can only imagine what the people who live solo are going through, so remember to check in on each other at all times to motivate, inspire and encourage you for what the next few months hold! Let me know whats going on with you in the comments..lets talk.
