As the world spins madly on in a post-pandemic landscape, we cannot live our lives as if COVID-19 wasn’t a reality. Indeed, we shouldn’t shake in our boots and live from a place of paranoia, but we also cannot live exactly the way we did before 2020. Now that we have gotten over the initial shock of this public health crisis and its effects, it’s time to create home and lifestyle habits that will help reduce the spread of the virus, which will be beneficial for us in the long run.
Studies show that Americans are spending more time at home due to the stay-at-home orders in various states. If we are to remain healthy as we wait out this pandemic, we need to start building habits that improve our overall health, and we need to make our homes conducive to health and safety.
Here are some ways to create a safe home and build healthy lifestyle habits.
Create a healthy environment and routine for your pets.
While you can and must still walk your dogs outside, you also need to create a healthy living environment for them, especially if your state enforces stricter quarantine guidelines in the future. If human beings can experience cabin fever, you can be sure our pets can experience it too. Some symptoms of cabin fever for dogs include pillow mutilation and extreme fur shedding. If you want to combat your pets’ cabin fever, these are some things you can do:
- Keep your pets on a heavily regimented diet. Our pets are incredibly savvy; they can tell when there are changes in their humans’ daily routines and activities, which can also disrupt their own health. Ensure that their digestive systems acclimate to a healthy diet. Make sure they have access to fresh water all day, too.
- Dogs need regular hikes, walks, and runs, but doing this in a pandemic can be challenging. You can still help your furry friend exercise by playing some home games like hide-and-seek or by blowing bubbles that it can follow around the house. Playing catch is also a classic. If you can’t walk your dog for whatever reason, make sure it still has enough exercise. You can also invest in a canine obstacle course for your backyard.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that there have been cases where pet dogs and cats contracted COVID-19, so pet owners who are sick are advised to limit contact with their pets until we know more about the virus. Minimize petting, kissing, snuggling, or being licked or kissed by your pets for now. There are ways to show affection without being too close.
Choose a home that addresses today’s needs.
Experts predict that properties for sale will adjust to design and architectural trends in a post-pandemic world. When your home needs to be an office, school, gym, and house rolled into one. You need to make sure that you choose a home design that’s able to accommodate every need that might arise while we’re in a post-quarantine world. Here are some factors to consider when looking for a new residence:
- Location. You might want to consider moving to locations with closer proximity to hospitals, supermarkets, and other essential amenities. There has also been a great suburb migration in 2020, as people avoid denser and more crowded cities to live in neighborhoods with better social distancing. Location matters now more than ever.
- With remote work as the new normal, interior designers and architects might intentionally carve out larger areas for workspaces and homework stations for kids. If this will be our normal for the foreseeable future, our homes need to be conducive to productivity. Our workspaces also need to double as a background for Zoom meetings, with an adequate degree of soundproofing and isolation.
- Modern homes also need to be a place for flexible play and work. As we spend more hours at home, we need to be able to maximize and improve the use of every square inch of our houses.
Explore sustainability.
Living sustainably simply means living in a way that reduces a society or an individual’s use of the planet’s natural resources, and one’s individual resources. If the idea sounds intimidating, you can start simple—reduce your household’s energy use, buy and consume from local vendors, do away with single-use utensils, razors, bags, and containers, reuse and recycle, resell and donate old items, rely less on your vehicle, and conserve water. Then you can move on to more challenging practices like growing your own produce by having your own garden.
We Must Adapt
We need to find new ways of living to adapt to our new normal. If we do, we won’t just survive this pandemic; we can also thrive in it.
