YOU ARE NOT ALONE - A companion online community discussion board for The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast with Paul Gilmartin

Here are my thoughts/recommendations for spending and passing time while home. Feel free to add your own. Free unless otherwise noted.

Podcasts

Including our home here, a precious resource.

Hoopla (e-books and audiobooks), Kanopy (movies), and Libby/Overdrive

Often provided through the other precious resource, our public library card.

Lynda.com

Lots of coding, graphic design, and Excel tutorials. An incredibly valuable resource. Often free through your library.

Udemy

Much like Lynda. While there are many free courses, most are paid. The plus side is there is a broader breadth of topics. Most of these courses can be found for $10 with discount codes from...

Retailmenot

Online sales and discounts

MOOCs

I've not found these as compelling/useful as Udemy or Lynda, but you can audit college courses for free. I wish we had these 25 years ago.

Tai Chi

Youtube is an endless resource. My favorite is the wonderful David Wong's 10 Minute Tai Chi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYzBbo0462s

Gutenberg

Free public domain e-books.

btw, Gutenberg-Australia has books unavailable in the US version, for example "Down and Out in Paris and London"

Pluto TV App

Streaming Viacom TV and movies from the last 15 years. Includes MTV and Asylum (Sharknado, etc) programming.

On a slightly different note, here's the things I found helped with my mental health:

in bed before midnight, alarm at 8 and up by 9. I find I'm most optimistic in the morning, so want to capitalize on that
make breakfast an event. we're doing a a freshly baked good, coffee, youtube relax channel music,sitting outside (sometimes with coats on)
every couple of nights, a tablecloth at dinner
strict limit on reading about the virus. new info in the morning,check in the evening, and nothing near bedtime
don't judge others. I was young and felt invincible once, too
be aware of other's fear responses--disbelief, cynicism--but set boundaries around how they are permitted to express them around you

Best of luck, everyone.
Heather