Buckle up, this is going to be a long post.
I think we can all agree it’s been a challenging few (more than a few?) months. Even though I’m used to spending time by myself, the lockdown combined with continued social distancing makes me feel like I am really by myself since I can’t go out and do the little things that make me happy like being with other people at a coffee shop or browsing a bookstore. I’m even reluctant to take the bus places, so I haven’t really been anywhere that isn’t within walking distance. Needless to say, it’s been a bit of a bummer.
Usually, when I am bummed and in need of some joy in my life, I turn to reading. But lately, it feels like I haven’t been reading as much as usual. Usually, I read during my lunch hour and in the evening when I get home from work and on the weekend. But my lunch hour looks a little different since working from home. And I changed up my schedule a bit, taking long walks in the evenings. Sometimes, when I get home from my walks, I just want to eat dinner, check my email, and veg out. This means that most of my reading has been regulated to the weekends when I have more free time.
So, if I haven’t been reading, what else have I been doing that’s making me smile? Here are some simple things that have brought me joy in the past few months:
Long walks.
Long walks are slowly becoming a part of my daily life since the pandemic began. Once the gyms closed, I needed a way to move my muscles and body so I took my exercise outside. Most of the time I will walk, and sometimes, if I’m feeling ambitious, I’ll jog for a couple of minutes. But taking 1-2 hour long walks has become my normal. I log off work in the evening, change my clothes, and go out for fresh air. On the weekends I get up and go for a walk first thing and then I usually stop and grab a bagel and iced coffee on my way home.
My walks make me happy. I like being outside (even though I’ve gone through so much sunblock this year and the summer is not yet over) and walking is the best form of exercise. Just getting out and breathing fresh air can put a smile on my face.
Taking pictures on my long walks.
Similarly, I can’t resist taking a picture of a good flower when I’m on my walks. My phone is full of flowers and sailboats and all the scenery that I’ve seen on my walks. I like looking for fun and interesting things to take pictures of and I notice so many things on my walks – people, trees, flowers, the water, birds. I notice all the graffiti that has popped up on the boards covering up closed shops. I notice all the people having picnics, while social distancing. I notice all the flowers and bees and blackberries that grow on the vines on my daily route. I notice everyone enjoying themselves and I am having fun taking pictures of everything.
Baking.
Like a lot of people, I’ve found myself in the kitchen, baking, during these times. I’m not sure why. It’s not that I necessarily have a lot more free time on my hands because I don’t. Maybe it’s because I’m home all day and I’m looking for something sweet to eat. Or maybe it’s because I can mix something up on my lunch hour, stick it in the oven, and eat it that night. Whatever it is, I’ve been making brownies, cookies, breads, and all the sweet stuff.
The only downside to baking during this pandemic is that I have to eat everything I bake. Since I’m not going into work I can’t share anything with co-workers. I haven’t seen my bookclub friends in months so I can’t pass my baked goods off to them. I guess it’s good that I’ve been taking all these long walks, otherwise, I probably would have gained more weight than I have.
Virtual telecoms with my life coach.
Even though most everything shut down and stopped for a moment this year, life continued on. I still have my goals that I want to meet this year and I still have my ongoing struggles that I am working on. Luckily I’ve been able to continue my sessions with my life coach. We talk about so many things and she helps me prioritize areas that I want to improve in and how I can do so. She’s been able to keep me on track these past few months when my work schedule suddenly changed and I wasn’t sure how I would organize my time. She also helped me to adapt some of my goals for this year after I realized I might not be able to accomplish them because of the pandemic.
Decluttering.
Obviously, working from home means I’ve been spending most of my time in my apartment, which made me start taking a look at things around me. And, I realized, I have a lot of stuff. I have a lot of things that, when I moved to this apartment 4 years ago, I packed up and moved and then stuck it in a corner in the new place and they are sitting in the exact same spot. I realized that I really need to get my home in order and figure out what I use and don’t use.
It’s actually been kind of fun. I’ve found items I forgot I had and clothes I haven’t worn in years. The only problem is that donation centers have been closed so everything is kind of just sitting in a pile in the corner of a room. I think the goodwill and thrift shops have opened up now so I’ll have to make time to drop off all my contributions. I can’t wait to see how everything looks when I finally clear it all out.
Organizing my books.
Every few months I like to organize my books and this seemed like the perfect time to do so (it goes along with decluttering!). I realized a while back that a lot of the books on my shelves were books I had already read that I was keeping “just in case”. Just in case I wanted to read that book again or just in case I wanted to lend it someone or just in case of something. I also have books on my shelves that I purchased and never read and when I look at them I think, I will never read this book. And I realized all these books were taking up space.
So, every few months I’ll go through my bookcases and cull and organize my books. I pulled out a bunch of books to donate – I’ve already dropped off some at some little free libraries in the neighborhood. The rest I will drop off at goodwill or a local thrift store. Then I reorganized my shelves and put all my books in alphabetical order by authors. I am an organize books by author name gal. I’ve tried organizing them by size or by color and unfortunately, while it looks lovely, it just doesn’t work for me.
Becoming a plant mom.
Okay, look. I do not have a green thumb. I have killed so many plants and I’m not even sure how it happens. All I know is that all of sudden, leaves turn brown and my plants are wilted and dead. But I love the way that plants brighten and liven up spaces so I finally went out and bought a plant.
I’ve had my plant now for a few months and it’s still alive (I can’t believe it!). It sits on a little table in front of a window so it gets the morning sunlight. I water it dutifully once a week and I’ve even begun giving it some Miracle-Gro in the hopes to keep it alive. Some of the leaves are browning at the ends which makes me frown but I’m not sure what to do about that. I’m keeping an eye out for new growth so fingers crossed!
Listening to podcasts.
I feel like there are so many good podcasts out there and there is a podcast for just about everything. I’ve been listening to podcasts for over 10 years. There are some podcasts that have probably been on the air that long that I still listen to and there are podcasts that I just started listening to this month.
I have a lot of podcasts in my listening library and I listen to them all the time. I listen when I’m working, baking, cleaning, exercising/walking, you name it. So I’ve been listening a lot these past few months and I’ve even managed to catch up on a few and listen to some backlist. Isn’t it the best when you find a new podcast and then you find out they have 100 episodes in their feed?
Comfort watches on television.
There’s a lot of disheartening news on tv right now and sometimes (okay, a lot of the time) I don’t want to hear how many people have died due to the pandemic or how protestors are being pepper-sprayed by police. Plus, it’s the summer so most shows are showing re-runs anyway. So, I’ve been spending time with my comfort watches which are basically shows that I can just re-watch and re-watch. These are all shows that I’ve seen many times, so if I happen to miss some scenes because I had to get up and do something, it doesn’t matter because I already know what happens.
My go-to comfort watches are The Office, The Great British Baking Show, and Pride and Prejudice (the BBC version). These shows are my favorites. It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve seen them, they always put me in a good mood.
Educating myself.
After watching the BLM protests, I realized that my education is sorely lacking. So, I’ve been seeking out resources to teach myself. I’ve been reading articles and listening to podcasts and I’ve really learned a lot. There are a lot of things that aren’t taught in school that I am slowly realizing. I have some books to read on my library hold list and I am looking forward to reading them.
What has brought you all joy in these past months?
rainy days and clichés 