YOU BORED? ME TOO.
Well that escalated quickly.
Last week I was stressed out of my mind with you know, life. Then COVID-19 hit and I'm a professional worrier so I'm going through it. We're all going through it. What a time to be alive. I'm not sure whether to use this self isolation time to rest, recharge and take it as a blessing in disguise.. or panic! Too much panic and not enough disco. I'm scared.
It's Day 3. I already ate all my quarantine snacks and rearranged my apartment twice for feng shui purposes only. Every time someone asks me what I'm up to - my response has gone unchanged from "chilling at home." So that's how I'm doing.
I came up with some ways on how to calm the heck down and have a chiller pandemic. Although, I hate being told what to do - so do with this what you will.
Call your parents and their parents. I love my grandparents.
Rediscover your favourite artist from 6-7 years ago (yes, that range is crucial) and fall into a deep rabbit hole of music videos, song-making processes, and live performances on the Youtube. Then become obsessed and play every album front to back for a couple weeks straight. Your morning commute playlist solved. Your evening commute playlist solved. And now I know his daughter's name and have his Instagram live notifications turned on. Yikes.
Try on all your clothes in your closet and have a fashion show. Then try and put on as many t-shirts and sweaters as you can until you look like an abominable snowman, overheat and can't lift your arms. By doing so, you will realize you don't even wear half those shirts so it's time to purge and donate. I also colour-coded my closet while I was at it. There you go - getting two birds stoned at once.
Breathe. You know, the ol' inhale, exhale? Meditate and slow down and remember to breathe. While your lungs still work. Too soon? Sorry. No, but seriously. Get up early, meditate, attempt to make a matcha green tea for 38 minutes, fail, stretch your limbs, recite affirmations into a mirror aggressively at yourself, write in a gratitude journal, then get on with your day. That's how the yogis do it, I swear.
Art. Your living room could probably use another frame on the wall anyway. No shutterstock photos or paint by numbers allowed. Get crafty and create your own art. I recently took a few pencil crayons and drew lines all over my room wall, then explained to my landlord that it's abstract art so it's all going to be just fine. Then she told me to paint over it when I leave.
Take up a new hobby. I challenged myself to learn tai chi and invited a friend to do it with me to hold ourselves accountable. Except I don't think I can move that slowly (I'm very impatient) so I might learn all the moves, then make a super fast Tik Tok tai chi dance. Updates to come.
Clean. I feel like this one is self explanatory. But like deeeeeep clean. Under the couch, behind the toaster, the back of the freezer. The gross jobs must be done. Take one for the team. You could also clean out your emails, or hard drive, or camera roll - you probably don't need that screenshot of an internet bill you sent to your roommate in 2016. That counts as cleaning. I'll give you that one.
Read! You can no longer use the excuse that you don't have enough time to read. I'm currently re-reading The Outsiders because I can. And Ryan Holiday's, The Obstacle Is The Way. It's about turning trials into triumphs - and we could all use a little motivation these days. We have a huge obstacle in front of us. Help us, Ryan!
Indoor parkour. The furniture is there for a reason, duh! I've been scaling the walls of my two-bedroom apartment and creating obstacles with coffee tables and chairs. Thank goodness for my copious collection of throw pillows for soft landings.
Get outside - don't go inside somewhere else - but just go for a walk. I'm trying to get creative with how to expend all my energy.. so I've been walking everywhere. Then sometimes walking is too slow, so I run. I hate to admit I'm one of those people. The outdoors is a wonderful place to be.
Wash your hands and cancel your plans.
Anywho, this whole situation is weird and unsettling and quite scary. I hate that 'social distancing' has now become a phrase in our everyday vocabulary. I'm a hugger and not being able to hug makes me want to hug people even more. Time is an illusion and we're living in a simulation. I like to use humour to distract myself from the harsh realities of what's actually happening - but to a certain extent. I've cried a little bit and shit my pants a little bit. We will be okay. Be nice to each other and talk to each other. The internet is cool. We're all going through it.
Stay inside. Stay calm. Flatten the curve. I'm going nuts. Over and out.