Spring is here! Yet, since we should all stay at home whenever possible, it is not easy to really feel it and enjoy it. In some countries, even solitary walks are banned, making it very hard to admire nature blooming, exercise, or even just calm the mind by watching the sunset. So, how do we stay sane and have some fun during this time?
It might sound obvious, but it is the easiest way to let the spring into your apartment or home. Clean, clean, clean! Clean your space! By that, I mean a few things.
Is there something that made the room very cosy during winter, but looks quite heavy now? Do you see blankets, pillows or any lingering Christmas decorations lying around? Just hide them till autumn and bring out the fresh, colourful ones. Search if you have any botanical patterns; if so, great! It will feel more like spring inside.
Say goodbye to your winter clothes and shoes; hide them just as you hid the wintery decorations mentioned above. Bring out your summer clothes, try them on and imagine where you would go in that outfit. Why not plan some new outfits by looking at clothes online. Look for local shops and whether you can order from them online to help them to survive, especially since a lot of offline shops are closed.
Bring some freshness inside by opening windows and letting the light in. Clean surfaces, wash your bedclothes, tablecloths and curtains. Wipe down the decorative elements in your house. Bring cleanliness into your life, and you will benefit from the feel of freshness.
And finally, your personal space. Especially now, when a lot of people work from home, having the desk more organised is very healthy. It is more satisfying to sit with a fresh cup of coffee every morning and see that, at the table, there are no leftovers, no filthy mugs, no rubbish, and obsolete documents piled up in front of you. Clean your desk, and you will see the difference. Perhaps there will even be space for some flowers? Try it!
Start to plan your garden, even if you only have a windowsill garden with herbs and some flowers. This is the best occasion to focus on planting. Imagine, you could have thyme, basil, spring onion, chive, rosemary, all right in front of you! I always find myself dreaming of a small garden, yet I never had that much time to really plan it and arrange it carefully. Now, though, I have.
I have a small part of my balcony filled with flowers (and I'm waiting for them to grow, it is quite exciting) and the second part of the space I have used for herbs. They are quite big now, as I didn't use seeds, but seedlings. Now, I can cook and use my own herbs, which smell and taste fantastic.
Now is the time to replace your winter ingredients with something more fresh and light. Use herbs, use fresh vegetables. Cook some pasta with prawns, add chives and feel the spring!
Gennaro Contaldo is my favourite chef. Watching him cook is something that brings me closer to dreaming about holidays in Italy. I love to travel to Italy - so being able to feel the atmosphere just a little, to smell and to taste Italy, is just fantastic.
This is also the part when you can mix pleasures with some learning. I have started to translate the ingredients I use and the dishes I make to Dutch to understand the language better. It is also helpful for when you shop online for groceries.
Last but not least: dreams. Who would we be without our dreams and aspirations? Staying at home gives us quite a lot of time to fulfil our goals. My current goal, for example, is learning to paint. For my partner, it is to learn to play the guitar.
Usually, springtime would be filled with other activities. This is not the spring we are used to but, to not lose your spirit, look for something that you were aiming to do, like learning, writing, drawing, playing, even just talking to somebody that you were afraid of. Now is the time to do it.
I hope you will find my ideas helpful. It would be great if, thanks to this article, you start to feel the spring even if just a little. As Dutch people say, gezelligheid is what we really need, now even more than before!