original writing

Sometimes, people simply aren\’t equipped with the resources they need to raise a child.  That\’s less normal, but it does happen.  In that case, the correct response is to contact an agency that\’s experienced in handling these things…  not to hand your child off to some random people on the Internet.

This is apparently horrifyingly easy to accomplish, thanks to the convenience of the Internet.  And naturally, the folks often looking to receive children this way aren\’t… exactly… star parent material. 

Here\’s a summary of an investigation into one child\’s experience with \”rehoming\” from Reuters, plus significantly more data from one online marketplace.  While the article mainly focuses on children adopted from overseas, the majority of the children \”rehomed\” like unwanted dogs and cats had some form of listed special needs… and the vast majority of the rest didn\’t come with any data on the subject.  Personally, I\’d bet at least half of the \”unlisted\” children had some form of neurological difference or mental illness. 

I don\’t think I should have to say this, but: children are not pets.  They are not ornaments to boost your status.  There\’s a word for treating children like this, and that word is \”monstrous.\” 

There are reasons for the laws and red tape that guard the process of giving a child up for adoption, and it\’s to prevent those children from becoming trafficked into the sex industry, abused by people unfit to care for even animals, or even being murdered and simply disappearing. 

If you, or someone you know, is overwhelmed by the task of parenting someone with autism, special needs, etc, that\’s okay.  There are options available to you. 

In Michigan, you can get help through your local Community Mental Health.  They can provide respite care and help you get support services for yourself and your child.  If you adopted, the agency that helped you adopt will likely have some supports to help.  For example, Adoptions From The Heart has this page and Adopt US Kids has this one.  Michigan also has an organization called MARE that provides resources as well as arranging for adoptions.

MARE also has links to resources in other US states here, and for traveling military members.  You may also receive assistance here.

Please remember that needing help raising a child is not failure, it is life.  The saying is \”it takes a village to raise a child,\” and most of us these days don\’t have social circles as wide as a whole village.  Seek these resources to support yourself and your child(ren), and recommend them to people who are struggling.  

As you read this, please keep in mind that autism is not a white-only phenomenon.  Black and brown autistic people are just as human as I am.  Additionally, the police are typically untrained to handle autistic people of any skin color, so it doesn\’t take much time on Google to find cases of autistic people needlessly shot by the police because the latter misunderstood the situation.  Reducing police violence against black people will bring measures that also save autistic people.

Please also keep in mind that the police are not a monolithic organization.  Each department will be somewhat different, and each member is a human being.  There are some very evil, hideous humans counted among the police (some of whom are in positions of power), but the majority didn\’t join the police for petty, power-seeking reasons.  However, the systems they live and work in have skewed their actions, and even their perspectives.

In the spirit of understanding and building a safer world for us all, I present to you what I found:

1. The police pay a massively disproportionate amount of attention to black people, and this results in more incarcerations and more deaths.  You can find proof of this in both scientific research and simply in the statistics of the dead.  Racism does, in fact, exist in the system.
2. The police, especially in cities, are unionized, and their contracts renew every 4-6 years.  These contracts can include things like erasing officers\’ past misconduct from their files, limiting civilian oversight, and disqualifying misconduct complaints that are submitted too many days after an incident occurs.  Here\’s a good website about this subject, and a study that shows \”bad apple\” cops tend to stay \”bad apple\” cops.  Ever wonder why \”bad apple\” cops get to stay cops?  This is part of why.
3. Police policies often do not require officers to de-escalate situations, intervene if other officers are using excessive force, give a report each time they use force, or even give a verbal warning before opening fire. Here\’s a particularly good website about this subject.  If you thought, like I did, that all of these things would be in every police department\’s policies… well, I\’m very sorry to say they\’re not.  Which is a pity, because these restrictions save lives.  The police are not required to exercise even basic protections against excessive force.
4. Police forces are being handed military weapons, and the results, predictably, are more dead people and less safe areas.  Here\’s a publicly available study on the subject.  The police do not need military-grade weapons to do their jobs.
5. When dealing with mental illnesses and developmental disabilities, the police are almost inevitably out of their depth.  They don\’t receive the kind of training needed to resolve those situations.  There is another option,  though, and it\’s to have a separate agency to handle those crises.  Deaths by police could be reduced by a quarter or more. Here\’s an article about just such an agency in Oregon.  The police are neither prepared nor necessarily needed for crises involving mental health or autism. 

At the time, I developed an audit template sheet.  It\’s very much a work in progress, and I\’m sure actual auditors would be able to improve it.  I tried to make my criteria reasonable for a business, but this isn\’t the kind of audit sheet most commercial businesses could score 100% on, even if they\’re dedicated to being accessible.

The sheet is here, and should be publicly available.  Rather than rehash what I\’ve already written on the subject, I thought it might be worthwhile to discuss how these criteria could apply to a home.  We\’re stuck at home during this quarantine, it makes sense to make your home as comfortable and accessible as possible for the autistics in your life.  After all, a supportive environment means fewer meltdowns and less tension and unpleasantness.

Lighting

Lighting is complicated issue in the commercial use,  but thankfully simpler at home.  Fluorescent lights are basically the standard in institutions and commercial buildings because of how cheap they are to run.  You literally turn them on at the beginning of the day, and thereafter they cost pennies to keep lit for hours.  Incandescent lights are far more expensive.  Natural light is beholden to the eccentricities of the weather and the day and night cycles.  The choice, in terms of saving money, is painfully clear.

From an accessibility standpoint, however, fluorescents are awful.  They flicker, even when working properly.  Some autistic people can see that flicker, and it\’s immensely distracting, or even painful.  Allistic/neurotypical people may relate if they\’ve ever been stuck in a room with a malfunctioning, flickering fluorescent light.  Multiply that irritation by at least 3, and you\’re in the ballpark for the autistic people who are less affected by this issue.  It goes up from there, to the point where some autistic people can\’t be in the same room as fluorescent lights.  You can mute the flicker by shading them, or having a mix of light types.

Thankfully, most homes I\’ve been in don\’t bother with fluorescent lights except in laundry rooms.  If there are any rooms in your house that do have them, check with your loved one about those areas of the house.  If the autistic person doesn\’t speak, consider whether they typically avoid those areas of the house, or whether meltdowns seem to happen more frequently in those areas.

Also a plus, most homes don\’t have those horrid blue-white LED light strips, or little flashing TVs to hawk products at you.  Most homes are also not lit to commercial standards, and are darker and easier on the eyes.  Additionally, homes tend to be lit with warmer colored bulbs.  Where industrial settings and some commercial settings use blue-white (or \”outdoor\”) lights, homes use \”indoor\” warm yellow-white lights.  These are less piercing and painful than the alternative.

Sounds

Sounds are a different kind of problem.  There are some places (one restaurant in particular that shall be nameless) that I simply can\’t be in comfortably, because the noise level is too high.  Having a reasonable noise level, including the ambient noise or music, and the noises the other residents make, shouldn\’t be too much to ask in a home.

What\’s reasonable may vary by the person.  I typically have a very quiet home, so quiet you can actually hear the HVAC system and water in the pipes.  But depending on your culture, it may be normal to have at least one stereo blaring music, or a TV on all the time.  Keep in mind that there\’s a difference to autistic people between sounds we don\’t control (like someone else\’s stereo or TV) and ones we do (like banging on a drum, our own music or TV, etc).

Overall volume is only one facet of this problem, though.  You also need to factor in how complex the environment is.  If, like Seaworld, you have competing music in certain areas, that is unpleasant to people with sensory sensitivities. Consider the things that make noise in your home.  This might be something as simple as the refrigerator droning, or the washer/dryer clunking or banging.  Perhaps the heating/cooling system clicks or bangs when it turns on.  Or maybe some of your lights hum when they\’re on.  I have a dimmer switch on the dining room that hums and snaps a bit when it\’s in use.

If you can, ask your loved one about these things.  If that\’s not an option, spend a few minutes in each room of the house, and just listen carefully.  What do you hear?  Keep in mind that younger people can often hear higher frequencies than older people can, so even if you hear nothing of note, there may still be noise you can\’t hear.  Or sounds you would normally tune out, like the buzzing or notification sounds of others\’ phones, that aren\’t as predictable.

Finally, emergency alarms need to be considered.  This includes fire alarms as well as carbon monoxide detectors.  Most fire alarms I\’ve had the misfortune of experiencing were blindingly painful.  They are the typical high-pitched, grating, painfully loud shrieks that are designed to wake people out of a cold sleep and send them shambling down the stairs and out the door in a stupor.  These are widespread, but they\’re not the only kind of fire alarm in existence.  When my second high school remodeled their library, they installed a talking alarm that made lower pitched booping noises and informed people in English that there was an emergency, and to please leave in an orderly fashion (I forget the exact directions).

In 2004, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission put out a document on home fire alarms.  While dense, this document is informative on the various options for alarms, including ones that don\’t rely on sound.  In short, there are many options, but in general most places have stuck with the most sensory-unfriendly ones.

Smells

Smells might be the easiest of the three to address, in most business settings.  Usually you don\’t want to overwhelm a person\’s senses with a cacophony of odors.  There are exceptions, like scented candle shops or places that sell soap and bath products.  Other places, like bakeries and grocery stores, will pump in manufactured smells to mess with your brain for a more positive impression of the store.  Or there may be ripe trash areas, bottle returns full of old beer stink, etc.  That\’s a no-no for being accessible.  Restricting scented items to their own sections is pretty basic, and should be doable for almost every business.

In homes, the situation is much less predictable.  People may burn scented candles or wear perfume or cologne with no thought towards others\’ comfort.  But these overtly scented items aren\’t the only way excessive smells can infect an environment.  Every class of cleaning product, from hand soap to floor cleaners to laundry detergent, comes in scented varieties.  Typically these aren\’t too overwhelmingly powerful, but exceptions exist… and sensitivities vary.  I know of one woman that has to buy all her products in unscented, or she will suffer immensely.

Keep your scented product choices in mind when considering the environment for an autistic person.  Do they tend to complain about or avoid areas that have recently been cleaned?  Or do they prefer the smell?  Keep in mind, too, that even common unscented cleaners, like bleach or vinegar, can have strong odors that can upset a sensory-sensitive person.

Cooking smells can also be a minefield, depending on the person.  Some smells, like cabbage or onions, can bother even neurotypical people.  This is especially true in smaller areas.  So if your autistic loved one typically melts down when you\’re frying fish, that\’s a pretty clear sign.  Maybe skip the fish, or at least try a different kind of fish.

And So

That\’s what the sheet covers.  What I didn\’t get to when I originally made this, and what\’s definitely the least easy to make audit criteria for, is store policies.  For stores, this is fairly basic: be predictable, label your sections, don\’t have socially invasive policies (like demanding your employees greet the customers throughout the store), maybe implement sensory-friendly hours and have a recovery room, that sort of thing.

For a home, it\’s significantly more complicated.  I still think a recovery room or somewhere quiet and comfortable the autistic person can retreat to, to cool down, is very important.  For me, growing up, that was my room.  I wasn\’t made to share a room with my brother, so the space was always mine, and it was always safe to return to.  For larger families and families without the option to give their autistic children separate rooms, a closet might serve this purpose, or a space outside.

The problem with trying to make a one-size-fits-all sheet for autism-friendliness is that autistic people are very NOT one-size-fits-all.  Because the diagnosis is such a trash bin, all kinds of people with all kinds of needs get thrown into it.  So you really need to look carefully at what your autistic loved one needs, what they\’re good at, and what they struggle with.  If they have executive function difficulties (issues planning their day, breaking a task into smaller tasks, organizing themselves), then setting up a calendar and rewards would be a good plan.  If they don\’t, those things might help, but they won\’t have as major of an impact.

In general, be clear and upfront about expectations, whether they\’re social expectations (\”you will sit at the table until everyone is finished eating\”) or chores (\”you will take out the trash on Wednesday evenings\”).  Spell this out on a schedule if this is possible.  I make use of Google Calendar in my household, and my spouse and I have shared our calendars with each other so there are relatively few surprises.

Finally, try to keep positive things available in the house.  This also varies widely by the autistic person.  Perhaps a favorite food can be kept in stock, or a favorite scented product, or a toy.  Perhaps the person loves watching bicycle tires spin, or a particular TV show.  Whatever it is, consider it like self-care for the autistic person… because it is!  Some neurotypical people swear by the soul-restoring benefits of drinking tea, or reading a book, or listening to favorite music.  Autistic people can enjoy these activities too, but they may also enjoy watching lava lamps, staring into bright lights, or putting objects into lines.  Just because these activities fall outside the norm doesn\’t make them any less valid.  Make sure these soul-restoring things are reliably available to your loved one!

I hope this helps you make your home a friendlier, happier environment for everyone.  We\’re all stuck inside at the moment, so the more positive \”inside\” is, the better!

Sociability via the Internet

First and foremost, the Internet has lots of social options.  Just because you shouldn\’t go see people in person, doesn\’t mean you have to be a hermit.

If you feel alone and need people to talk to, know that there are thousands of communities full of people who likely feel similarly and are also reaching out for support.  Look into communities around your hobbies and interests.

Reddit is a good place to start for this.  There are multiple autism-related Reddit communities, but there are also places for knitting, book clubs, parenting, cooking, TV shows…  basically, if you can imagine a topic, there\’s probably a community somewhere for it.  Reddit is not your only option for finding these communities, either.  A bit of time spent Googling your interests can turn up a variety of options, like forums, IRC channels, YouTube personalities, and how-to guides.

Discord is another option.  While it was initially built for video game communities, there are now communities for creative writing, webcomics, city areas (here\’s one for Grand Rapids), gardening, and even knitting.  You can chat by text or voice with people about all kinds of things.  If you play video games, you can even stream your game to your friends in a virtual hangout.  I\’ll expand on this below.

I do not recommend upping your hours on social media, like Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.  In my research and personal experience, time spent on social media tends to result in feeling worse about yourself and the world.  They also tend to run experiments on you, sell your data to whoever will pay pennies for it, and significantly limit the information they feed back to you.

Instead of passively following your friends and family on social media, consider calling them on the phone, texting them, emailing them, or using Skype, Facetime, or Discord to video call every once a week or so.  I personally prefer emails or text due to the suffering the phone causes me, but you may find the phone a much more satisfying option.  People are different, and that\’s okay!

Finally, you can have a virtual party or hang out time.  You don\’t have to give up your movie night, board game night, or other night out just because you shouldn\’t leave your home.

Movies and TV: Rather than all gathering at a single house, each person can relax in their own home yet watch a movie or TV show together.  The classic example of this is the Chrome extension Netflix Party, which syncs your screen with all of your friends\’ screens, so nobody gets surprised first.  But, there are actually a lot of options for having this kind of experience.  Binge watch a favorite TV show with your friends, or try out a new show together!

Board Games: Did you know you can play board games online?  Specifically, did you know there\’s a virtual tabletop application called Tabletop Simulator, in which you can play games like Risk, Battleship, Settlers of Cataan, Apples to Apples, Clue, and thousands more.  There\’s also an app called Tabletopia that works on phones and does the same kind of thing.  If you love board games and miss being with your friends, why not give these a try?

Video Games: Many gamers already make use of technology like this, but Twitch, Discord, Mixer, Periscope, Livestream, and a ton of other services offer the ability to stream your gameplay to an audience.  You can show off a favorite game, or introduce your friends to something new.

Not interested in being on display?  That\’s okay, you can play with your loved ones instead!  There are hundreds of cooperative video games.  Here\’s a link to a drawing party game that\’s free for the next few weeks.  There are also lots of more indepth games, like Path of Exile, which is a fantasy online multiplayer game.  Or Terraria, an open world survival/exploration game.  If you have a Nintendo Switch, Animal Crossing: New Horizons just came out.  You can escape to your own island, explore and reshape the place as you like, build a community of cheerful animal friends, and relax to a great soundtrack.  There\’s even an option to visit your friends\’ islands, so you can play together too.

Knitting Group/Book Club/Interest Group: Facetime, Discord, Skype, Zoom, Google Hangouts, and WhatsApp all have group call functionality.  Get everyone the same app, set up your phones and/or webcams, and get out your books/knitting needles/D&D character sheets.

With most of the world on lockdown during this pandemic crisis, lots of people are turning to the Internet to meet their social needs.  Thankfully, there\’s a ton of stuff for everyone.  If you\’re starved for people, now\’s the best time to look into your options!  There are so many ways to spend time with your friends and family without worrying about infecting them, and new and interesting friends could be right around the corner.  The Internet has groups who love your hobbies as much as you do, just waiting for you to join them.

A last but important note: If you are suffering any form of mental illness, and the isolation is making it worse, there are options available for you.  Besides the hotlines, many therapists are doing their work via phone or video call, so it\’s worth it to check with your therapist and see if you can get an appointment without risking infection.  At least two of my friends have already had appointments with their therapists over the phone, so the tele-health option does work.

Remember: Depression, anxiety, and other forms of mental illness are real and legitimate forms of pain, just like broken legs and bruises.  Help is available to you, and you do matter.

Self-Care and Self-Improvement

Second, consider this time a chance to do some things for yourself you never seemed to have time for.

Self-care often falls by the wayside in the hustle and bustle of life.  However, it\’s extremely important, especially in trying times like these.  Read an old favorite book, or take a new one from your stack, if you have one.  Schedule some time to drink tea or coffee without looking at your phone.  Take a luxurious bath, or start a video game you\’ve been meaning to play.  Call friends or family and talk for a while.  Play a silly phone game you love for a few minutes.  Listen to old music you love, or new music you\’ve been meaning to look into.  I\’ve spent some of the time rereading old favorite book series and trashy pop literature, because it\’s comfortable and I need the comfort right now.

Whatever relaxes you and feeds your soul, make time every day to do those things.

You can also try new activities. Have you wanted to take more walks outside?  It\’s getting warmer, and you can keep your distance from others while you do so. There are also free exercise classes of all kinds on Youtube, like aerobics, tai chi, yoga, and more.  Or perhaps there\’s a subject you\’ve been meaning to learn about?  There are free Ivy League classes available online.  You can learn to code in HTML, CSS, SQL, Javascript, and a lot more languages for free.

Have you meant to try meditation or some kind of mindfulness to help with the stress of life, but there never seemed to be a good time to practice?  Pick up Headspace or Calm.  Both of these are quality apps with significant sections of free content.  They can help you learn to manage the stress of the isolation in a healthy manner, and give you a break from the worry about the future and the present, and the fear- and frustration-laden cycles the news is going through.

Cooking is another thing you can do at home.  Since grocery shopping is an essential activity, you can try recipes you wouldn\’t normally have time for.  Make a big batch of soup or a favorite dish and freeze some for later.  Stretch your horizons by making a vegetarian dish, or even something dairy-free or gluten-free.  Try new ingredients, or pick up a new kind of spice or seasoning.  The Internet is full of recipes.  I particularly like Budget Bytes, but I also reference the megasite All Recipes as well.  With some time on Google, you may be able to find specific sites that cater to your dietary needs.

Overwhelmed?  Can\’t think of anything to cook?  There\’s a website for that.  Actually, there\’s several, so here\’s another.  Click the ingredients you have available, and the website will show you links to recipes using those ingredients.

Finally, remember that you can easily keep a six foot distance from others outside.  As the weather warms in the northern hemisphere, public parks can be your safe place to go when cabin fever sets in.  Spending time in green spaces, such as gardens, forests, and public parks, has been repeatedly shown to improve stress levels and quality of life overall, so why not stop by your local park?  You could even meet up with a friend and chat while keeping a safe distance from each other.

Whatever your interests, there is something for you.  Stay safe out there!

Sociability via the Internet

First and foremost, the Internet has lots of social options.  Just because you shouldn\’t go see people in person, doesn\’t mean you have to be a hermit.

If you feel alone and need people to talk to, know that there are thousands of communities full of people who likely feel similarly and are also reaching out for support.  Look into communities around your hobbies and interests.

Reddit is a good place to start for this.  There are multiple autism-related Reddit communities, but there are also places for knitting, book clubs, parenting, cooking, TV shows…  basically, if you can imagine a topic, there\’s probably a community somewhere for it.  Reddit is not your only option for finding these communities, either.  A bit of time spent Googling your interests can turn up a variety of options, like forums, IRC channels, YouTube personalities, and how-to guides.

Discord is another option.  While it was initially built for video game communities, there are now communities for creative writing, webcomics, city areas (here\’s one for Grand Rapids), gardening, and even knitting.  You can chat by text or voice with people about all kinds of things.  If you play video games, you can even stream your game to your friends in a virtual hangout.  I\’ll expand on this below.

I do not recommend upping your hours on social media, like Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.  In my research and personal experience, time spent on social media tends to result in feeling worse about yourself and the world.  They also tend to run experiments on you, sell your data to whoever will pay pennies for it, and significantly limit the information they feed back to you.

Instead of passively following your friends and family on social media, consider calling them on the phone, texting them, emailing them, or using Skype, Facetime, or Discord to video call every once a week or so.  I personally prefer emails or text due to the suffering the phone causes me, but you may find the phone a much more satisfying option.  People are different, and that\’s okay!

Finally, you can have a virtual party or hang out time.  You don\’t have to give up your movie night, board game night, or other night out just because you shouldn\’t leave your home.

Movies and TV: Rather than all gathering at a single house, each person can relax in their own home yet watch a movie or TV show together.  The classic example of this is the Chrome extension Netflix Party, which syncs your screen with all of your friends\’ screens, so nobody gets surprised first.  But, there are actually a lot of options for having this kind of experience.  Binge watch a favorite TV show with your friends, or try out a new show together!

Board Games: Did you know you can play board games online?  Specifically, did you know there\’s a virtual tabletop application called Tabletop Simulator, in which you can play games like Risk, Battleship, Settlers of Cataan, Apples to Apples, Clue, and thousands more.  There\’s also an app called Tabletopia that works on phones and does the same kind of thing.  If you love board games and miss being with your friends, why not give these a try?

Video Games: Many gamers already make use of technology like this, but Twitch, Discord, Mixer, Periscope, Livestream, and a ton of other services offer the ability to stream your gameplay to an audience.  You can show off a favorite game, or introduce your friends to something new.

Not interested in being on display?  That\’s okay, you can play with your loved ones instead!  There are hundreds of cooperative video games.  Here\’s a link to a drawing party game that\’s free for the next few weeks.  There are also lots of more indepth games, like Path of Exile, which is a fantasy online multiplayer game.  Or Terraria, an open world survival/exploration game.  If you have a Nintendo Switch, Animal Crossing: New Horizons just came out.  You can escape to your own island, explore and reshape the place as you like, build a community of cheerful animal friends, and relax to a great soundtrack.  There\’s even an option to visit your friends\’ islands, so you can play together too.

Knitting Group/Book Club/Interest Group: Facetime, Discord, Skype, Zoom, Google Hangouts, and WhatsApp all have group call functionality.  Get everyone the same app, set up your phones and/or webcams, and get out your books/knitting needles/D&D character sheets.

With most of the world on lockdown during this pandemic crisis, lots of people are turning to the Internet to meet their social needs.  Thankfully, there\’s a ton of stuff for everyone.  If you\’re starved for people, now\’s the best time to look into your options!  There are so many ways to spend time with your friends and family without worrying about infecting them, and new and interesting friends could be right around the corner.  The Internet has groups who love your hobbies as much as you do, just waiting for you to join them.

A last but important note: If you are suffering any form of mental illness, and the isolation is making it worse, there are options available for you.  Besides the hotlines, many therapists are doing their work via phone or video call, so it\’s worth it to check with your therapist and see if you can get an appointment without risking infection.  At least two of my friends have already had appointments with their therapists over the phone, so the tele-health option does work.

Remember: Depression, anxiety, and other forms of mental illness are real and legitimate forms of pain, just like broken legs and bruises.  Help is available to you, and you do matter.

Self-Care and Self-Improvement

Second, consider this time a chance to do some things for yourself you never seemed to have time for.

Self-care often falls by the wayside in the hustle and bustle of life.  However, it\’s extremely important, especially in trying times like these.  Read an old favorite book, or take a new one from your stack, if you have one.  Schedule some time to drink tea or coffee without looking at your phone.  Take a luxurious bath, or start a video game you\’ve been meaning to play.  Call friends or family and talk for a while.  Play a silly phone game you love for a few minutes.  Listen to old music you love, or new music you\’ve been meaning to look into.  I\’ve spent some of the time rereading old favorite book series and trashy pop literature, because it\’s comfortable and I need the comfort right now.

Whatever relaxes you and feeds your soul, make time every day to do those things.

You can also try new activities. Have you wanted to take more walks outside?  It\’s getting warmer, and you can keep your distance from others while you do so. There are also free exercise classes of all kinds on Youtube, like aerobics, tai chi, yoga, and more.  Or perhaps there\’s a subject you\’ve been meaning to learn about?  There are free Ivy League classes available online.  You can learn to code in HTML, CSS, SQL, Javascript, and a lot more languages for free.

Have you meant to try meditation or some kind of mindfulness to help with the stress of life, but there never seemed to be a good time to practice?  Pick up Headspace or Calm.  Both of these are quality apps with significant sections of free content.  They can help you learn to manage the stress of the isolation in a healthy manner, and give you a break from the worry about the future and the present, and the fear- and frustration-laden cycles the news is going through.

Cooking is another thing you can do at home.  Since grocery shopping is an essential activity, you can try recipes you wouldn\’t normally have time for.  Make a big batch of soup or a favorite dish and freeze some for later.  Stretch your horizons by making a vegetarian dish, or even something dairy-free or gluten-free.  Try new ingredients, or pick up a new kind of spice or seasoning.  The Internet is full of recipes.  I particularly like Budget Bytes, but I also reference the megasite All Recipes as well.  With some time on Google, you may be able to find specific sites that cater to your dietary needs.

Overwhelmed?  Can\’t think of anything to cook?  There\’s a website for that.  Actually, there\’s several, so here\’s another.  Click the ingredients you have available, and the website will show you links to recipes using those ingredients.

Finally, remember that you can easily keep a six foot distance from others outside.  As the weather warms in the northern hemisphere, public parks can be your safe place to go when cabin fever sets in.  Spending time in green spaces, such as gardens, forests, and public parks, has been repeatedly shown to improve stress levels and quality of life overall, so why not stop by your local park?  You could even meet up with a friend and chat while keeping a safe distance from each other.

Whatever your interests, there is something for you.  Stay safe out there!