I’ve been self-isolating for a week and a half now.
Last Wednesday, I packed up my computer and brought it home from work with me. I took Thursday off because most of my projects had already stalled out, and then I worked from home on Friday. On Monday, I was laid off. This was not a big surprise.
Now I have as much time as I want to work on all my projects. I have been so accustomed to having my single day each week and feeling like I need to jam as much productivity into it as possible. Sometimes I would just end up paralyzed from the pressure.
It’s amazing how different it is when you have an abundance of time available. I think it’s safe to say that this is as close as I am going to get to the feeling of being retired until I really can retire, even if it’s temporary.
So far, I haven’t developed a routine, but I feel like I’ve been fairly productive. And also, when I wasn’t, I didn’t feel bad about it. This is a super weird situation so I think it’s pretty normal to have good and bad days as you try to figure out what the hell is going on with your life.
Last weekend was the first one in ages where we had absolutely nothing on our schedule. We started working on getting our backyard cleaned up. We spent a couple of hours each day doing hard labour: digging and moving rocks and dirt. Our first task was to redistribute the piles of rubble left over from the work we did to the basement. We only got about 1/3 of the way through, but it was still satisfying to make a bit of a dent.
This weekend it was mostly raining so we didn’t get much further on that.
During the past week, I’ve continued to get up pretty early in the morning. I spend most of my day sitting on the couch, so I do need to figure out some kind of exercise plan, but aside from that, the couch time has been great. I’ve worked on a few different writing projects, done some knitting, kept in touch with a bunch of people I don’t get to see anymore, and even picked up a few old hobbies that I haven’t dusted off in decades.
This whole situation seems like it should be ideal to help me with my Depth Year, so I thought I’d do a short update on how that’s going. If you don’t want to read it, I can summarize: It’s been very hit or miss.
Depth Year Update – Self-Isolation edition
I’ll go topic by topic:
Writing
This part is going well. It’s something I can pick up and put down at any time and work on for as long or as short a period as I feel like, but I am consistently working on various projects.
Dancing
Not going so well. It’s amazing, but not surprising, how much less exciting dancing is when it’s just you and your partner at home. I know I’m lucky to even have a dance partner while so many people are stuck alone or with a non-dancing companion (though you have the time to change that!), but we also have super squeaky floors so we feel like we shouldn’t dance unless our tenant is out.
We did spend a short amount of time practicing a few specific things this weekend, so if we can force ourselves to do that once in a while, then at least we’re doing something and hopefully we’ll be able to add (and retain) a few skills that we can use in the future.
Stained Glass
Not yet, but soon, as I’ve been saying for months. Maybe this week!
On the semi-related topic of “things I used to do”, I got out my block printing supplies on Friday and made a thing. While it was not my best work, it was a very enjoyable way to spend half a day, and it turned out surprisingly well, given that it’s been about 20 years since I did any printmaking. I will probably do more this week.
Interior Design
This topic was specifically about an idea I had for a side hustle that I wanted to start. I’ve decided to let this one go. I’ve been stalled out on it for months and am not motivated to move forward so I’m dropping it.
Renovations
We have actually been doing decently with this. We have completed a few small projects upstairs, and as I mentioned earlier, we made some progress on the backyard last weekend. I think this one has a lot of potential. Like writing, it can be done in as small or large amounts as we like so it’s possible to continuously move forward, which is rewarding. We also have a lot of supplies on hand to keep us going.
Reading
If the goal was to do a lot of reading, then I am doing GREAT! Unfortunately, I was supposed to be concentrating on reading things I have on hand and that has not been as successful. I guess depending on how long this staying at home business lasts, I will finish all the library books I have and will be forced to go back to my own books. Mandatory success.
From that breakdown, it might not look great, but I feel like things are actually going quite well.
For this week, I’m trying to plan what I want to work on each day so that I have more of a schedule to keep me on track. I am also making an effort to fit in some exercise, as well as an online course that I’ve wanted to explore.
With all this extra time I didn’t plan to have, it really gives me a chance to do a bit of everything and find out what I want to keep focusing on and what I really don’t enjoy as much as I thought I would. There have been moments of aimless boredom, for sure, but I’m learning as I go.
Dancing In Irreverence 