Distractions!

Let’s talk about creating a sustainable pace of life during quarantine. I have heard from friends who cry daily. Other friends are canning food and sewing supplies like it is end of times. Some friends are considered essential and work in a contagious disease hospital dedicated to COVID19 patients daily. Some friends have their head in the sand and are going on vacation.

I am none of these and a bit of each of these. I have cleaned out the junk drawer, napped on my lunch break, spent an hour writing one work email because words would not come, sewn masks, and zoned out with garbage media. All in the same day. And this is ok. I am not team “choose joy all the time” because sometimes it just sucks right now. Feel your feelings – even the yucky ones. If you keep shoving them down, they will come out in weird ways eventually.

So in this post I want you to bring you a few things that have been keeping me company / distracting me as I try to create a sustainably productive pandemic pace of life. I refuse to call this “new normal” because it won’t be like this forever. But I wanted to share a few things I am loving right now.

Watch – Tiger King

Like many people in the country, I cannot get enough of this train wreck. I watched the whole Netflix series in a day, then did a deep dive on John’s teeth. I was feeling sad I did not pace myself.

Then my favorite podcast announced that they were doing a recap of each episode. Full disclosure – I did have to become a Patreon supporter. This was not a huge barrier for me because I used to be a Patreon supporter, but cancelled when Patreon changed their financial structure. Plus this content is 100% worth ANY PRICE.

Read – Know My Name

This was a 5-star book I could not put down. I read this book as an audio-book. It is always a bonus for me when the book is read by author, which this one was.

Know My Name should be required reading for all high school and college students. Yes, kids should read it twice. The topic is this important.

“…when you cannot differentiate the statements of the President of the US and a 19 year old rapist…

Paraphrasing a sentence from the book that was like a kick in the gut for me.

This is not ok.

And the way the author was able to access, then verbalize, her experience is incredible. Especially for someone as young as she is.

Do – Cycling

I feel like I have been rehabbing my knee forever. Although I have been on my bike in the last 18 months, it has really just been in the neighborhood and the next street over. I wanted to stay close to home in case my knee wasn’t feeling as strong as I thought it was.

This week I finally ventured out onto the big, wide world. It was so great to do a familiar loop, and I felt strong. My average speed was higher than usual because I did not have to slow down for cul de sacs and so many stop signs. My route included a nice downhill too – I was able to spot over 33 mph on the computer at one point!

While going faster felt great, the best part was I out rode the crabbiness that hung over me all day that day. As much as a dream self-isolation is for this introvert, the uncertainty of the world today has been weighing heavily on me. How long will this last? What does it mean for my job? Why am I not learning a foreign language in all this “downtime?” I get bogged down and crabby.

These distractions have been great to alleviate some of the grumpies for me. I hope they help you too. Feel free to jump in with what is distracting you too!