Checkpoint time: a little over one week into what I’ve seen referred to in a couple of places as The Great Pause. It’s interesting living in the middle of a rapidly unfolding historical Event — big E — that people are already assigning names to. I don’t remember when the Great Recession started being the Great Recession, but I don’t think it was quite this fast.
I can’t wait for the inevitable thriller that will arrive a few years from now called THE GREAT PAUSE, about a rough-and-tumble anthropologist who finds himself drawn into a plot surrounding millennia-old curse tablets discovered in an Athenian well, which unleashes a deadly plague upon the world… Not that anything like that could ever happen.
Things that helped me get through the past week, in no particular order:
* Being busy at work. The world doesn’t stop just because the world has, in many respects, stopped. Last week at work was insanely busy, which I’m not complaining about; I’m aware of how fortunate I am in my situation. But it’s legit been helpful to have something to focus on during the days.
* Making dinner. Cooking is far from being one of my favorite things in the world, but we made dinner every night last week, which was actually fun. Then on Friday and Saturday night we ordered takeout to support some of our favorite local restaurants. The pappardelle with Venetian pork & beef ragu from Grist was outstanding.
* Exercising. With doing the full-time work from home thing, this has been very helpful towards making the mental transition from “work” to “off work.” My gym has been closed, for obvious reasons, so I ordered some adjustable dumb bells and a bench, but they didn’t arrive til the weekend. So with nothing else to do, last Monday I went for a run/stagger. It was rough in the moment, but afterwards I felt pretty okay. In the three or four times I’ve since gone, it’s been a little easier each time. I hope to keep up the pace. (har har har)
* Cleaning. Our basement is starting to look really good.
* Writing. Last Sunday I started working on a ghost story that’s been bubbling around in my head for a while, and I’ve been working on it in the evenings after I come back from a run. The off-work reset that exercising presents is apparently also shaking loose some creativity from my fusty brain.
That’s my coping strategy thus far. I’ll be curious to see how it mutates as time wears on. Hope you all too are finding ways to get through this weird-ass time we’re living in.
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