5 Ways to Kick the Covid Containment Blues

1. Take a historic or mural driving tour
   Does your town or a nearby town have a mural tour or historic driving tour?  Google it or search on your local tourism site. Driving doesn’t hurt anyone and still complies with confinement guidelines. Plus, you won’t have to fight the crowds for that perfect Instagram selfie, but remember only get out if for a picture if no one else is around. Otherwise stay in your car and just enjoy the ride. 
   
   The small town of Rutherfordton is home to our NC Mackin office. It is rich with historical sites including one of our favorite drives - The Cherry Bounce Trail. This is a historic moonshine route that was used during prohibition to run Amos Owens's famous Cherry Bounce moonshine all over the south east. Here is a link to the Cherry Bounce Trail as well as some other local favorites.
2. Board Game Battle 
   We are a team of gamers. We’ve been playing a lot of virtual reality and video games but long-term that isn’t productive. Plus, we want to take a break from screen time with all this working from home. Board games area great way to do this. Pick some favorites and have a board game battle. Pick some challenging games, some funny ones, some interactive ones, some strategic ones. Board games are designed to help you think, engage your imagination and your competitive spirit. They are a great way to ignite some energy in the house and create some memories. Personally we love strategy games or mystery based games like Risk or Clue. 
3. Flip Your Junk
   If you are like us, you've spent years collecting flea market finds that you just “had to have” at the time. They all ended up sitting in a garage because we never seem to have the time to complete the projects. Now is the time to dust them off and get creative. You can even inspire the family and friends by creating a little competition for best flip like they do in the TV show Flea Market Flip. We posted one of our team member's recent flips below.
4. Take a Drive with Your Dog
   Our CMO, Leniece, is a huge dog lover and her dog Speck loves to ride, as can be seen in the photo above. It is his zen place and she admits, it is hers as well. They often don’t set a destination and just get out of the house and ride. Get out of the house, drive around town, drive out to the country or the ocean if you live near one. The simple act of getting out of the house and connecting with nature will renew your spirit and reset your frame of mind. Plus, your dog will love you for it.  If you don’t have a pet, consider fostering one while you are at home. There are tons of pets out there that are also suffering from this containment, as they aren’t getting the social interaction needed either. Just imagine if your containment area was only 4x6.
5. Spring Cleaning and Home Improvement Projects 
   How long is your “Honey Do List”?  It’s time to tackle those projects. Lowes and other stores have curbside pickup that make it easy to order the supplies needed online and pick them up while still complying with stay at home rules. Paint that room you never got around to. Power wash all the pollen off your house (in the south it is ridiculous right now). Clean out your kids’ rooms from toys or books they have outgrown and collect them to donate to a local thrift store or hold a yard sale once all this passes. Your house will be cleaner, more organized and you will feel much better about having some long-term projects knocked out.

The most important thing is to stay safe and sane. Hopefully these ideas will help!  Have a great week everyone and tag us on social if you do any of the above. We would love to see how you are beating the Covid blues.

#Mackinthingshappen  #Covidblues