Otis
Footballguy
The text chains with my extended family have been brutally bad -- just all negative stuff, updating each other on the news ("Look at this report from the Imperial college. This is bad."; "Did you see they just closed all of freaking California." etc.). And the more you watch the news, the more you can be dragged down into this pit of despair.
No question there's a lot that's bad about our current situation. But there is some good. And since there's really very little we can do about the bad, let's focus on the good in here.
What are some good things about everything we're facing in these strange days?
I'll start:
1. No commute. Say what you will about working from home, but no matter how you slice it, no commute is nice. I am saving probably around 3 hours every day. That's a massive plus. A week into this and I'm starting to think it may be hard to go back to "normal times" after all this is over (to the extent the new normal will be the same as the old one...).
2. Slowing down. There are no alarms to set anymore. We all get up when we get up. And then there's no mad dash in getting the kids ready for school and our the door. It's taking some time to wind down from that, but boy, it's pretty darn nice. It's not like we're sitting around in our pajamas all day, but we sort of get there when we get there. It's a much nicer pace for life, I've gotta say.
3. No business travel. Never much liked traveling for work, and always had to do it more than I wanted. Now I do exactly zero of it. And maybe won't for a long while. That's a good thing.
4. Time with my family. Can be a double edged sword with small kids in the house, having to work from home, kids barging in on video conference calls crying, Mrs. O losing her marbles because she's got 3 small kids to remote school while I'm holed up in the office all day, and she can't really even take them anywhere--just shut in with them, most all the time. Still, there is some of this, with each passing day, that I realize is so special. We go for walks. I take more bike rides with my eldest daughter. We play board games. We read together. Shoot hoops in the yard. We've never spent this much constant time with each other. And I'm starting to realize we're going to look back on it pretty fondly, and maybe even miss it. As I think about this, what was a gloomy, depressing feeling about this whole situation actually makes me feel pretty happy. Don't get me wrong, there are moments we get downright stabby, but on the whole, this is quite a moment, and I realize more than ever that we're so lucky to have one another.
5. The kids are getting closer than ever. Related to the above, but a little different. The interactions between the kids are somehow different. They still fight sometimes, but a lot less, and they just seem to be growing a lot closer. Love watching them play together and bonding more than ever. Yesterday we sat in the yard and I did some work on my laptop while they explored the yard. We've been living in this house for 5 years or so now, but with all this time and nothing to, they're exploring more -- they found a "secret passage" behind a row of shrubs at the back of the property, and love going back there now. It's like a whole new world for them. Just cool to see things like this happening.
6. Time for hobbies. I decided since we're locked in, I'd pick back up playing the guitar again, and went online and bought an amp and guitar. It's something I haven't done in 20 years, but the more I've thought about it the more excited I get about it.
7. Time to get caught up on projects at home. Our house is slowly getting to be more clean than it's ever been. And we're working through a bunch of little projects that we just hadn't gotten to before.
8. More time to focus on diet and exercise. This one is tricky, because my first instinct here has been to drink more alcohol than I was, and eat more junk food all day. But if you think about it, one of the main excuses we always hear about health is that people don't have enough time -- no time to work out, no time to prepare good meals. Well guess what. Now you're stuck in your house with all the time in the world. Plenty of time to exercise more and focus more on healthy habits. Who knows, if we can manage to figure out how to navigate our new lifestyles, maybe in the end of this, we can come out of it feeling better than ever.
9. A shared experience. Even with people just on text chains, or social media, or here, and as much as this is a pretty terrifying experience for so many, there's also something kind of cool in living through what it's clear is going to be a historic moment in time, and sharing that experience with our friends and family (and iFamily!).
10. Stock market investment opportunities and mortgage refinances. Yeah we're all mostly getting completely clobbered, but if you had any cash sitting on the sidelines, in the end this should presumably give us a chance to get in on some bargain basement prices that in 10 years will end up fantastic investments. And so many of us had a chance to refi our mortgages recently for silly low rates--that's not bad. I'd rather the market be booming, but hey, silver linings and all that...
11. Good reason to skip social engagements you didn't want to attend. We had a couple of upcoming dinner dates at places and with people I had zero interest going to. Oh no, guess we have to stay home and watch Netflix instead! Social distancing!
12. Zero traffic. I know we're supposed to stay home, but for those couple of times I do run out to the grocery store to pick up some things, it's a ghost town. It's sort of nice not having traffic; not having cars and noise pollution everywhere. My town feels much more "park like" and pleasant without all the cars.
No question there's a lot that's bad about our current situation. But there is some good. And since there's really very little we can do about the bad, let's focus on the good in here.
What are some good things about everything we're facing in these strange days?
I'll start:
1. No commute. Say what you will about working from home, but no matter how you slice it, no commute is nice. I am saving probably around 3 hours every day. That's a massive plus. A week into this and I'm starting to think it may be hard to go back to "normal times" after all this is over (to the extent the new normal will be the same as the old one...).
2. Slowing down. There are no alarms to set anymore. We all get up when we get up. And then there's no mad dash in getting the kids ready for school and our the door. It's taking some time to wind down from that, but boy, it's pretty darn nice. It's not like we're sitting around in our pajamas all day, but we sort of get there when we get there. It's a much nicer pace for life, I've gotta say.
3. No business travel. Never much liked traveling for work, and always had to do it more than I wanted. Now I do exactly zero of it. And maybe won't for a long while. That's a good thing.
4. Time with my family. Can be a double edged sword with small kids in the house, having to work from home, kids barging in on video conference calls crying, Mrs. O losing her marbles because she's got 3 small kids to remote school while I'm holed up in the office all day, and she can't really even take them anywhere--just shut in with them, most all the time. Still, there is some of this, with each passing day, that I realize is so special. We go for walks. I take more bike rides with my eldest daughter. We play board games. We read together. Shoot hoops in the yard. We've never spent this much constant time with each other. And I'm starting to realize we're going to look back on it pretty fondly, and maybe even miss it. As I think about this, what was a gloomy, depressing feeling about this whole situation actually makes me feel pretty happy. Don't get me wrong, there are moments we get downright stabby, but on the whole, this is quite a moment, and I realize more than ever that we're so lucky to have one another.
5. The kids are getting closer than ever. Related to the above, but a little different. The interactions between the kids are somehow different. They still fight sometimes, but a lot less, and they just seem to be growing a lot closer. Love watching them play together and bonding more than ever. Yesterday we sat in the yard and I did some work on my laptop while they explored the yard. We've been living in this house for 5 years or so now, but with all this time and nothing to, they're exploring more -- they found a "secret passage" behind a row of shrubs at the back of the property, and love going back there now. It's like a whole new world for them. Just cool to see things like this happening.
6. Time for hobbies. I decided since we're locked in, I'd pick back up playing the guitar again, and went online and bought an amp and guitar. It's something I haven't done in 20 years, but the more I've thought about it the more excited I get about it.
7. Time to get caught up on projects at home. Our house is slowly getting to be more clean than it's ever been. And we're working through a bunch of little projects that we just hadn't gotten to before.
8. More time to focus on diet and exercise. This one is tricky, because my first instinct here has been to drink more alcohol than I was, and eat more junk food all day. But if you think about it, one of the main excuses we always hear about health is that people don't have enough time -- no time to work out, no time to prepare good meals. Well guess what. Now you're stuck in your house with all the time in the world. Plenty of time to exercise more and focus more on healthy habits. Who knows, if we can manage to figure out how to navigate our new lifestyles, maybe in the end of this, we can come out of it feeling better than ever.
9. A shared experience. Even with people just on text chains, or social media, or here, and as much as this is a pretty terrifying experience for so many, there's also something kind of cool in living through what it's clear is going to be a historic moment in time, and sharing that experience with our friends and family (and iFamily!).
10. Stock market investment opportunities and mortgage refinances. Yeah we're all mostly getting completely clobbered, but if you had any cash sitting on the sidelines, in the end this should presumably give us a chance to get in on some bargain basement prices that in 10 years will end up fantastic investments. And so many of us had a chance to refi our mortgages recently for silly low rates--that's not bad. I'd rather the market be booming, but hey, silver linings and all that...
11. Good reason to skip social engagements you didn't want to attend. We had a couple of upcoming dinner dates at places and with people I had zero interest going to. Oh no, guess we have to stay home and watch Netflix instead! Social distancing!
12. Zero traffic. I know we're supposed to stay home, but for those couple of times I do run out to the grocery store to pick up some things, it's a ghost town. It's sort of nice not having traffic; not having cars and noise pollution everywhere. My town feels much more "park like" and pleasant without all the cars.
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