15 Ways to Boost Your Mood at Home

But you know what? You’ve got this. And as you stay the course and keep social distancing, look for creative ways you can boost your mood at home. Don’t know where to start? Get inspired with these 15 ways to have fun and keep your spirits up.

15 Mood Boosters

1. Plan your next vacation down to the very last detail. We can’t know when our next vacation will happen, but we can at least envision how it will take place and what we want to see when we’re there. Studies have shown that even planning and anticipating a vacation can boost your happiness. 
2. Discover the wonderful world of YouTube tutorials. Lessons on hairstyling, card making, cooking, yoga, self-defense, painting, guitar playing – the possibilities are endless. Tutorials are a fun way to spend time and can help you learn a new skill. 
3. Research volunteer opportunities in your community. Mark down the opportunities that speak to you, and get involved once it’s safe to do so. Some organizations have longer application processes, so get started now. In the meantime, you can show you care by finding ways to help virtually or making a personal contribution. 
4. Create a shared playlist on a music streaming service. Ask your friends from high school or college to add their favorite dance songs from when you were in school together. Once the playlist is complete, throw a Zoom dance party! 
5. Keep a quarantine diary. It could be enlightening to read it again in a few years. Have your kids keep a diary, too. Journaling is a healthy outlet for their feelings, and they’ll have a record of this historic time. Some research even suggests that journaling has positive effects on physical health. 
6. Watch a movie that’s not in your comfort zone. Pick a movie you’ve been avoiding because it’s “too demanding” or not really your “thing.” You might discover a genre you didn’t even know you liked. If you don’t know where to start, the American Film Institute has several lists of top movies. 
7. Organize your photos. Sort through those photos from trips or family events you’ve been meaning organize. Create backups of digital photos on an external hard drive or photo sharing site. Share your albums with family and friends, and design and order scrapbooks through photo sites or make one the old-fashioned way.
8. Communicate with loved ones across the country. Send them an email or handwritten message to tell them what everyday life is like where you live. Social distancing and quarantining looks different all over the country, so share what your experience has been like in your community and have them share theirs. 
9. Call a relative. Instead of wondering how your cousin is doing, pick up the phone and call. Especially your older family members – they’re particularly isolated during this time. Have questions about your grandma’s life experiences that you’ve always wanted to ask? Now’s the time. And you’ll both welcome talking about something other than the pandemic.
10. Choose five people you haven’t heard from in more than a month. Send them an email or a text to find out how they’re doing. Keep it positive and share some of the healthy ways you’ve been coping during the pandemic – like walking, meditating or reading. Hearing from you could brighten their day, and you might inspire them to try something new.   
11. Start a 19th century correspondence with your partner. Yes, this means writing in cursive and using proper salutations. This could be fun even if you’re both working at home but in different parts of the house. And who doesn’t love a touch of romance in their day? 
12. Create a Google Doc, and share it with your friends. Turn it into a logbook where you can share articles, recipes, videos, songs or thousands of feelings. Friends are lifelines right now, and there are so many creative ways to communicate.
13. Clean. Yes, even cleaning can be a mood booster. Do you have a pile of papers, newspapers and magazines that have been building up in a corner for months? Tackle that and any other areas of clutter in your home. Maybe even take a walk down memory lane and sort through old high school and college memory boxes.
14. Do a digital cleanse. Organize your apps on all your devices and delete the ones you no longer use. Purge people on your social media accounts that you don’t have relationships with anymore (especially if you forget how you even know each other). And for the ultimate good feeling, get that email inbox down to zero! 
15. Make a time capsule. Whether you’re living alone, with kids or with other family members, create a time capsule to mark this once-in-a-lifetime event. You can bury or store it. Include items that commemorate this time, and document your feelings. Include your fears and what you’re grateful for. Agree on a date you’ll open it again. For more inspiration, here are handy guides.