It’s been a tough 2020 for all of us, right? It’s easy to want to crack open a bottle of wine or make ourselves a cocktail when we feel like the world is ending. And there’s no shame in it. We’ve built our business on crafting the perfect cocktail. But do you ever feel like you could be doing more and drinking less?
We’ve picked up a few ideas amidst lockdown for putting down the drink and picking up a new hobby.
Make a Mocktail
One easy place to start is finding a replacement for your evening glass of wine or after-dinner cocktail. Bitters and soda is our favorite. It’s as easy as tossing a few drops of bitters into a cold glass of soda water or picking up a few cans of our Bitters & Soda. If that’s not your thing, make yourself a mocktail.
Ok, hear us out. Mocktails are a truly great alternative to an alcoholic drink or a boring old glass of water. Yes, of course, we all need to drink more water, add that to the list of 800 other things we need to remember to do. But a mocktail can bring a little joy to an otherwise dreary day in lockdown.
We recommend that you always have a bottle of soda water and your favorite flavored sparkling water in your fridge. The fun thing about a mocktail is that you can use whatever you have in your kitchen to create something tasty; a few limes, basil, fresh ginger, cucumber slices, whatever you’ve got hanging out in your kitchen can become a future mocktail. Here’s a quick recipe for a refreshing afternoon mocktail:
The Bitter Housewife Grapefruit Spritzer
- 1 can of your favorite grapefruit soda (we like IZZE, Spindrift Sparkling Grapefruit, or Jarritos)
- 1 freshly squeezed lime
- 4 - 6 dashes of our Grapefruit Bitters
- Lots of ice
Combine all of the ingredients and garnish with a fresh slice of lime or grapefruit.
Now, once you’ve got yourself a delicious mocktail, it’s time to get creative with ways to fill your time.
Pick Up a New Hobby
Here’s a story that might motivate you to pick up a new hobby in place of drinking a bottle of wine every night. We have a friend who started knitting and she was preparing to take on her biggest project yet, knitting a sweater. But she found that she was making more mistakes in her knitting when she paired it with a glass of wine, so she decided to take up knitting with soda and bitters instead. She successfully knit a beautiful sweater over the course of a month and managed to do it with fewer mistakes. Picking up a new hobby, like knitting can be a great way to focus your mind and energy on the task at hand.
A new hobby should not feel like a chore. But it sometimes feels like a chore figuring out which new hobby works for you. A great way to determine what new hobby works for you is understanding how much money you’d like to invest in this hobby. The good news? There are plenty of low-cost options to get you started.
- Start a book club and get your books through your local library.
- Teach yourself a new language with free apps like Duolingo.
- Make a list of all the movies you’ve never seen, but want to watch and work your way through them. And enjoy a mocktail while you watch.
- Pick up yoga or another physical activity through YouTube tutorials or apps like FitOn.
If you’re looking to invest a bit in your new hobby, here are a few that might cost some money upfront, but have high rewards.
- Learn how to garden. You can do this even if you don’t have outdoor space. Find a window and buy some herbs or plants that do well growing indoors.
- Learn how to knit. By next Christmas, you’ll have socks made for the whole family.
- Start baking. Who was part of the quarantine baking team? It’s a very soothing way to pass the time and the reward is almost always delicious.
- Have a home improvement project you’ve been putting off? Watch a few YouTube videos on how to change out that old light fixture or paint your bedroom a new calming color.
It’s never too late to pick up a new hobby and redefine what a “hobby” means for you. It’s not all woodworking and stamp collecting. There are plenty of ways to do more with your time and get excited about it.
Get Creative
We all need creative outlets. And these outlets look different for each and every one of us. Take the time to try a bunch of things, fail, and then find the thing that you want to keep on doing. Just like a new hobby, your creative outlet should not feel like a chore.
- Coloring! Not just for kids.
- Painting with watercolors. It’s just as soothing as it sounds.
- Start your own blog. Even if no one ever sees it or reads your work. It’s a creative way to express your thoughts, feelings, and ideas.
- Learn a TikTok dance. Wait...what’s TikTok? Ok, maybe this one isn’t for you.
- Curate playlists for all your daily activities: what to listen to when you’re in the shower, cooking dinner, doing work, or going on a walk.
Adding a little creativity to your daily routine can benefit your mental health big time. Now excuse us while we go color and sip some Bitters & Soda.
Get Political
If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that it’s time to get political. It might be a touchy subject for some, but we’re not afraid to speak up at The Bitter Housewife. And getting involved in your community is a perfect way to speak up and speak out on the issues you care about. A few ways you can do that:
- Start reading. Pick up a book that can teach you something. As much as we love reading for escapism, there is so much to learn. Find a topic that interests you and learn more about it.
- Find your local NAACP chapter or community organization fighting for climate change. There are so many organizations in your city and ways to get involved in political organizing and conversations.
- Volunteer. There are plenty of organizations and non-profits looking for volunteers to aid in recovery related to COVID-19, and existing non-profits in need of volunteers, too. Many have mastered volunteering under COVID-19 social distancing guidelines. Food shelters related to COVID-19 are still up and running for those suffering job loss due to the pandemic, and animal shelters and programs like One Tail at a Time are still working to find animals their forever homes.
Getting active in your community is a great way to incite change in your own life and others. Don’t be afraid to get out there and fight for change. Put down the glass of wine and pick up a protest sign.