Whether you broke your leg or dislocated your hip, suffering any debilitating injury that forces you to stay at home to recover can be difficult. On the plus side, you wouldn’t have to go to work or school and you can rest all you want. On the other hand, your injury would limit the activities you’ll be able to do, which can make even a month’s worth of recovery feel like an entire year. There’s also the guilt or frustration of not being able to work or at least do something productive due to your injury, which can take a toll on your mental and emotional health.
If you’re tired of just laying down in bed and binge-watching movies and shows, there are some other things you can do. These will keep you busy and productive while you recover
#1 Work/Study
If you’ve got an office-based job, or if you’re currently a student, there’s that lingering anxiety that when you’ve recovered enough to finish all your sessions at your physiotherapy clinic to restore movement, that you’d be greeted with an overwhelming amount of backlogs to catch up on. This may not be applicable to everyone, but if you can try to find to telecommute and work/study from home. The rising popularity of telecommuting has made it so that some companies and organizations have allowed employees (whether they’re injured or in good shape) who insist on working from home to do so but with certain restrictions, and legal arrangements. And some schools can accommodate students who are forced to stay at home to study through modules and online materials.
#2 Learn Something New
There are hundreds of short online courses, as well as free tutorials on streaming sites on almost any topic you can think of. If you’re going to be stuck at home for the next few weeks, why not download an app, or take a free or paid online course for you to learn a new language? Or you can make use of this recovery period to brush up on your piano lessons or crocheting, or maybe even invest some time and money to master the basics of stock trading. Or you can try to learn something that you can actually apply to your job, like advanced spreadsheets functions and database management the options are endless.
#3 Socialize and Reconnect
Have you ever wondered what happened to that childhood friend of yours? Missing a friend/relative that you haven’t talked to in ages? Well, you have all the time in the world to answer those questions by reconnecting with them through social media or giving them a call. You’ll be able to catch up on each other’s lives, talk about a movie or a game you’ve watched, and before you know it, hours have passed. You can even try to invite some friends or relatives over to chat or just watch a movie/show with. Sure, you may start to think that this isn’t ‘productive’ as compared to the previous two, but rebuilding and strengthening relationships is productive and beneficial in its own way especially if the alternative is getting frustrated, bored, and lonely.
#4 Sell Items Online
Now that you’re spending a lot of time at home, you may have noticed a few things that you no longer use, such an old cabinet that’s too big to fit into your bedroom, a pair of shoes you’ve only worn once, or some outdated or rarely-used gadgets that are in still in working condition. If you have a friend or family member to help you out, you may want to take advantage of various e-commerce and garage sale websites and social media trading groups to sell any unwanted item at home not only are you earning money, but you’d end up de-cluttering your house. You may even earn enough cash to cover your expenses once you start your treatment at the clinic.
These are just some of the many productive things you can do while you’re recovering from an injury. Hopefully, this list has also inspired you to think of other ways you can make the most out of your recovery period.
