how I am social distancing
Don’t let this picture fool you. I haven’t been out wandering around the city in four weeks. I miss meals with friends, working at my favorite spaces, and the simple stuff like walking through Olympic Sculpture Park or the Public Market. I am now starting my fifth week of social distancing. I flew back to Seattle on March 2, 2020 to find the city in a mad panic. I stayed in for two weeks having just traveled, breaking my fourteen day quarantine by meeting up with a friend to work together in an empty office and grabbing lunch at a near empty restaurant. Our Governor then implemented a shelter in place the next day, thus spending another two weeks in isolation.
So, here is what I have been doing to remain productive and reduce anxiety.
The Metropolitan Opera has filled my evenings almost every night, thanks to their free, nightly streaming. Even just having this on in the background is helpful when I am making dinner, folding laundry, or working. I tend to listen to classical or opera music when I am doing focus work, so having something live to play makes the apartment less empty.
If anything, I’ve upped my culture game by checking out virtual museum tours to fill my time. Thanks to Google Arts & Culture, you can now peek inside over 2500 museums, such as the British Museum in London, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the Guggenheim in New York City for free. One of my favorite painting is The Ballet Class at Musée d’Orsay. In fact, you can check out almost all of Degas’ work virtually. You can search collections by artists or locations. Browse away at your hearts content.
I started to read again. I use my bi-monthly flights to catch up on reading, but now I have more time to burn through my very long book list. If you have books to recommend, please send them my way.
I’ll probably come out of this social distancing period not being able to wear regular pants ever again. To help curb a frightening level of laziness and weight gain, I downloaded the Peloton App, which is offering a 90 day trial for free. I am enjoying the cardio dance classes and yoga sessions. My goal is to keep this up daily; so far, I am failing miserably.
I decided to take up online class. Brit+Co offers lessons - anything from lettering to watercoloring. I also started browsing the catalog of free classes on Class Central, online learning from Ivy League schools, ranging from Marketing and Programming to Culture and Foreign Language. What better time to brush up on career development and interests?
We’ve all heard about Netflix Party. Well, give it a try. It actually is fun, and makes the experience of watching something binge-worthy so much better with synchronized video playback and adds group chat. Just add the Chrome extension and start watching with friends!
I have been cooking a lot more, trying to be creative with what is in my pantry or freezer. With the lack of fresh vegetables here in Seattle, I have been trying some bookmarked recipes with a few alterations. I follow several chef on Instagram, but please share your favorites, so I can obtain new ideas.
I started cleaning out my closet. This has been mentally cleansing and keeping me productive on weekends. I am looking for places other than Goodwill to drop off items. If you’re in Seattle and know of a place, let me know.
Finally, I have been keeping busy with virtual happy hours. From FaceTime sessions to Zoom calls, I’ve kept up with friends and family from all over the world. It can become mentally exhausting, so my advice is to spread out your digital dates. Think about how you physically socialize. If you are someone who goes out every night, then you may be able to keep up with daily virtual hangouts. If you are someone who balances quiet time with social time, then one or two hangouts a week is a good starting point.
My birthday is coming up in four weeks and with the extension of social distancing to last through April 30th, I am brainstorming creative ideas to celebrate a milestone birthday virtually. Friends, point me in the right direction…
Until next time. x