It’s hard to believe it’s been almost two months since we started working from home. While we’re all keeping busy with work, the days are a blur. To quote our CEO, “every day now feels like a Tuesday.”

So, we wanted to share some of the favourite and free online resources that are helping keep us sane, entertained, fit and fed.

While we don’t miss our commutes, we do miss our colleagues.

We’ve been doing our regular team huddles and weekly wins virtually for 7 weeks, including our team plank, which is now up to 1:55 minutes.

We’ve added a Thursday cocktail hour that’s purely social and has given us a fun way to connect. Each week, one of our colleagues shares a bit about their family history and how it’s shaped them.

To keep perspective, we end each week with everyone sharing one thing they’re grateful for. Needless to say, frontline workers top our list. Remembering all the things we're grateful for is a powerful way to maintain perspective.

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Looking to stay fit without the gym?

Many of our colleagues have benefitted from this very helpful list with links to 18 different free fitness options. Many of the programs are unlimited and some offer one or two week free trials. You can also try these 12 No equipment exercises to stay in shape from home.

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Ever dreamed about attending an Ivy League school?

Now you can for free & become happier in the process. Yale is currently offering its Science of Wellbeing course for free. This is the most popular class in Yale's history (1 in 4 students take it) and it’s also garnered national & international media attention.

If you prefer Harvard, Cornell, Princeton to Yale, they’re some of the 450 universities also offering these Free Ivy League Courses.

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So many fun ways to be entertained.

Thanks to many artists and organizations embracing the move online, there are lots of entertainment options…

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For Fans of the Arts:

National Film Board of Canada
Met opera livestream

HotDocs
National Ballet of Canada on YouTube

Museum & Galley Tours

BBC’s Reel
Stratford Festival On Demand

If you prefer music, here are some great free concerts:

Livestream concerts list

Bands and artists

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You can indulge our travel bug with these virtual tours:

Fly over Italy's

Cinque Terre Coast by Drone

Explore Venice
Live Canadian landscape webcams

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Looking for a little star power in your day?

Look no further than Some Good News with John Krasinski.

Chris Hemsworth is offering free guided meditations through his fitness site and app called Centre. They’re being promoted for children but I know a few moms who are enjoying tuning in.

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Looking for some tasty, inspiring and easy meals?

Living Lou is our ‘go to’ online resource. It’s the impressive side gig of one of our talented colleagues, who is also a top Canadian food blogger. Some of our team’s favourite recipes include her sausage and pepper pasta, brown rice mujaddara and Living Lou’s vegan pancakes

Is being a teacher your new side gig?

Scholastic Learn at Home offers daily courses for students from pre-kindergarten through to Grade 9. It features virtual field trips, writing and research projects, reading and geography challenges.

Pearson Canada is also offering K-12 Resources digital learning resources, including online versions of over 70 widely used elementary and secondary textbooks.

Khan Academy is a massive online educational platform  offering exercises, instructional videos and a personalized learning dashboard.

While we’re all looking forward to coming together again, we’re also trying to find beauty in each day.

On my regular runs, I distract myself by trying new routes and looking for photo opportunities. It's a fun way to make the miles go by more quickly and to find beauty in the every day.

This picture is from my weekend run when the typically busy roads leading into the downtown core were silent.

To end on a calming note, here are some other great examples of the unexpected beauty that happens when typically chaotic global cities become temporarily quiet.

I hope you're staying safe and healthy. I look forward to when we can all start coming together in person again in the weeks ahead.

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