Life Updates From Quarantine

Hello friends! It has been a while since my last post, as I (like so many of you!) have been trying to wrap my mind around the craziness that is COVID-19. Life as we know it has changed very suddenly. I’m happy to stay at home and do my part to flatten the curve, but adjusting to our new normal has been an interesting experience.

As an introvert, I find that working from home has been a positive and more productive experience. I’ve set up my “home office” space at the kitchen table, complete with framed photos of my dogs, and consider myself fortunate to work in an essential industry at this time.

One of my projects has been to publish a weekly blog series for my company’s website called On The + Side. (You can check out the posts here!) I get to share uplifting news in the community and helpful resources to help keep everyone sane in this time of social distancing and sheltering at home. I also send daily positive messages to our employees to boost morale while we face these challenges. Working on this project has been a great way for me to focus on the good in the world, at a time when it can be so easy to see the bad.

I’ve been thinking a lot about perspective lately. In some ways, I faced a difficult start to the year. I unexpectedly had to have surgery, I came down with the flu, and I experienced my fair share of heartbreak when life and opportunities didn’t go the way I expected. I felt like I was dealing with too much at once, and I couldn’t wait for things to turn around.

With the passage of time, however, I’ve realized just how lucky I am. By having surgery when I did, I was able to prevent a growing health concern from becoming a whole lot worse, especially now that hospitals are becoming overwhelmed with the number of coronavirus cases. Although having the flu in February prevented me from seeing family members and kept me in bed for days, I am so thankful I caught it at a time that antivirals and antibiotics were easy to come by.

So many situations in life didn’t go my way this year, but they could have been so much worse. I fully believe that things happened in my life the way they were meant to.

I’m using this strange time to the best of my abilities. In addition to a lot of sitting and thinking, here are some other activities I’ve been up to:

• Taking classes to pursue my APR (Accreditation in Public Relations), which I hope to begin the application process for next year!
• Started a free reiki and energy healing class with Kelsey Patel on mindbodygreen. Reiki was on my 29 at 29 bucket list this year. While I hope to someday experience a session in person, I’m excited to learn more about it online in the meantime.
• Going on lots and lots of walks. Hey, sometimes the fresh air and sunlight are exactly what you need (especially if you can avoid other people).
• Continuing my Rent The Runway subscription and doing my best to dress to impress at home. (Yes, I live on my own.) Use my link to get $30 off your first order!
• Slowly reorganizing the apartment, starting with my dresser.
• Supporting local as much as I can by getting takeout every few days from some of my favorites.
• Testing out my Crockpot skills!
• Binge watching the entire final season of Mr. Robot and let me just say: I am shook.

What are you up to? How are you weathering the storm? Sound off in the comments below and let me know how you’re doing!