Doing It Wrong

It has come to my attention that I am not doing this “stay at home” order correctly. Everyone is cleaning closets, organizing bookcases, sorting photographs, etc. I have done absolutely nothing! I’m pretty sure I’m managing to do even less than I did before, and I’ve always worked from home!

I have an online job, scoring standardized educational test taken by students around the country. For obvious reasons, that didn’t happen this year. No test taking equals no test scoring. No problem…well except the paycheck part. I have my new book I’m working on, and there is always my blog. The perfect freeing of time to spend more of it writing. You would think that, wouldn’t you?

Instead I find myself getting to the end of the day having played more games of Bingo, Candy Crush, and Angry Birds than I ever did before this virus demanded my days be spent at the house, and staying at home is what I always did! In fact, this “stay at home” order was tailor made for me! Perhaps I feel like everyone is getting this mandated time off, or at least a change in the “office” scenery. For me, everything stayed pretty much the same. I want a change of pace too! But, why can’t my change of pace involve all those productive things other people are finding to do? Well, it can, but in order to make that happen I need to figure out what I want to do, and then make a list. It’s clear I can not just wing this “stay at home” order.

My list is rather long, and my husband thinks it looks a bit ambitious, until I told him that it is for the week, not the day. I’m three days in and have only crossed off three things, but hey, that’s one thing a day that has disqualified me from couch potato status.

Not being able to spend time with my family, especially the grandkids, or going to the beach is the worst of this confinement. Catching up on movies is a perk, though some of us may need to use that stimulus check to pay the cable bill. I do find time to ride my bike, and sit in the sun for a bit. You’d think I could manage to squeeze in a few seconds to empty the ice trays, but that is probably better entrusted to the list.

We’ve all wished many times for the merry-go-round of life to stop, or at least slow down for a few minutes, just so we can catch our breath. We finally got our wish. Maybe this wasn’t exactly what we meant, but make the most of it, however you choose, because this too shall end. When it does we’ll be happy to go about our lives normally again, but before long we’ll be wishing for that little slower pace. If you have a few more game apps on your iPad, watched more movies than you normally would, played more games with the family, sorted those books, or cleaned those closets….well, that’s all time well spent. It’s the silver lining, even in these difficult times.