Am I the only one who feels they may have failed a bit during this isolation situation?
Last week, I stood in line at the grocery store, a mask over my nose and mouth that my sis gave me, and unloaded my cart from a safe distance behind the shopper in front of me. I glanced over at her items on the belt. Fruits, veggies, yogurt and all kinds of healthy snacks and drinks.
Then I looked at my stuff on the belt.
Frozen pizza, chips, diet soda, lemonheads.
Epic fail.
I look like a college-kid shopping for the dorm. The only thing that was missing was alcohol.
Okay, so maybe we’re not making the best choices with food right now (hell, or ever). But then I drive home and pass the park by my house. People walking, riding bikes, running with their dogs. I think they’re getting what’s called “exercise.”
Strike two.
We’ve never been regular-exercise people. We’ve joined health clubs, gone for a few months and quit, tried Crossfit and almost killed ourselves. We have hybrid bikes but when we ride, I like to just spy on houses in the neighborhood because you can do it without looking creepy.
I do have my daily routine down to a science.
I get up, usually an hour later than I would if I had to make a public appearance. I run over to my dad’s house and make him breakfast. When I return home, I fire up all of the technology in my home office. The work laptop, the two personal laptops, the iPad, the Bose SoundLink. Shower (on conference call days), make coffee, have a small breakfast and get to work on engaging employees who, like me, are sequestered at home. Step away for lunch, watch an episode of Riverdale (just kicked off season three, oh Archie-kins), then get back online until the workday usually ends. Afterwards, I write, make dinner, watch TV with the hubby, maybe write some more, play a game on my phone and go to bed.
It’s literally lather, rinse repeat.
And then there’s the music.
Oh-my-goodness, all of the music I’ve been listening to has really kept me in a good mood. I probably already have the equivalent of 50 “mix tapes” created on Apple Music.
Back in the day we used to have “mix tapes,” where you would put all your favorites songs on a miniature plastic reel-to-reel. Now it’s all on your phone, tablet or computer.
And I have been doing band days…yesterday was Pink Floyd day. I streamed four of their albums back to back. I’ve done The Eagles, Styx, Rick Springfield, and other classic bands I grew up listening to. Today, it’s Genesis (you can’t go wrong with the Duke album). I’m also finding new artists while my speaker blasts the “Friends Mix” on Apple Music. It’s really a nice backdrop to a pretty serene environment.
Yet, through all this, I do feel I’m doing something productive and healthy (for my brain at least) during this COVID-19 pandemic, and that’s by doing a metric ton of writing.
Because my commute consists of walking down the hall to my office, I’ve gotten an hour back in my day to write my tail off. And since April was Camp NaNoWriMo, made a goal of 50,000 words. At 11:23pm last night, I crushed it. Even went over by 13 words. I have half of my novel “finished,” and I created a side goal for another 50,000 words in May just to keep going.
So I guess I’m doing something. Even if those lemonheads are within reach.
Does typing burn calories?