The BLT Guidebook

It’s a toss up- do I write about this year’s quarantine or do I focus on something else? Like most people, this year has uprooted my life. I was one of the lucky ones, though, and I feel that I am coming out stronger than others who are not as fortunate (meaning I have a roof over my head, I still have my job with no pay cut, and I can feed myself- for now.)

I’m a person who made my whole day a “to-do list” as my boyfriend liked to point out. I even had yoga as something to cross off on it. I felt that if I didn’t keep a schedule then I wouldn’t make time for things. When COVID-19 hit California, it was a bit of a wake up moment for me. It was a “how do I utilize this time now that I do not have to physically be somewhere”- ever moment. How many days do we wish we were home from work earlier or that we didn’t have to sit through a 2 hour commute? Have you ever day dreamed about what you would do if you had “more time?”

This was me pre-quarantine. In retrospect, I actually did have time. I just wasn’t spending it wisely. With anything in life, if you take a step back once in awhile, you can get a clearer picture of what’s going on.

How I Learned to Slow Down

Taking Walks

Months of living somewhere and come to find out that there are trails in my own backyard! It’s a small canal trail, but it’s still something! When I felt overwhelmed with work or stir crazy from being in doors, I would walk up the hill by my house. We also discivered a small unnamed open space nearby.

Since then, this is an almost daily ritual. I have almost gone through the full changing of the season and have gotten to know the faces of what my neighbors look like. I am back to work now, but this has carried over into my “normal” life too. I’ll pause and walk outside during lunch or take that extra moment to gaze into the sky if the weather is nice. Instead of rushing home after work, I’ll go to a park instead to walk around it. This has helped me stop being in a hurry from day-to-day.

Yoga & Meditation

Back to my “to-do” list! In reality, I had NO idea how much movement was important to me. I am a super active person, but there’s a difference between moving fast and going to the gym compared to something like yoga. I would incorporate this into my daily routine, but not in the way you think! At 10 AM (or anytime of day), I would just stop what I was doing and start doing yoga. This is abnormal for me since I am the “get things done” time of person.

During this, I committed myself to do a 90 day yoga program (through MyYogaPal/ Lesley Fightmaster [Rest in Peace], but knew it was OK if I didn’t do it every day. I also didn’t finish, took a long break, and recently started over! Meditation was something I was always interested in as well, so I downloaded an app, and it changed my life! Even if I am sitting at my desk or getting frustrated by something at work, I take a step back and take deep breaths. I wouldn’t say I don’t react, but I don’t react as much!

Coffee

I don’t know how it started- I just knew that I wanted better coffee. I thought of the things I wanted to do while I had “time” and one of those was to learn how to brew better coffee. I searched subscriptions and companies, Googled some brewing techniques, and fell into the world. This wasn’t just about brewing, it was about the ritual.

Every morning I make sure I get up early enough and have time to sit and drink my coffee without doing anything else. Before I went back to work, I would sit in the little nook in our kitchen and look out the window as the day became brighter with the sun. Now I just make sure to linger a bit longer (as it is pitch black outside when I get up) and really taste what I created.

Doing “nothing”

I mean this literally. There has been huge chunks of time this year where I have starred out the window because I wanted to, especially now that it’s fall. I enjoy watching the sun rise and set and the sky change colors. Sometimes I take my coffee break and look at a candle I just lit just to admire it. Oh- and cat cuddling! This year has taught me to linger and enjoy these moments, like petting my cat, calling my mom, or sitting quietly listening to the outside world.

Big Magic

Have you ever read Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert? It’s part memoir/part advice on creativity and getting rid of the assumptions/expectations around it. I had all of these expectations on what I needed to be or not be when it came to being creative. I love photography, but what do I do with these photos? Sometimes I just like to paint- I don’t want to do it often and I have no real reason for it, but why not? I had this energy around why I liked my hobbies and what that made me as a person. I wanted to call myself a writer, but I didn’t write anymore!

There was some sound advice in their for the average person. One of those being that you can be 50 years old and pick up a hobby that you did when you were 15 (like ice skating). It doesn’t have to mean anything. You can do it because you want to. I would say this helped me slow down because sometimes I just choose to draw a photo instead of watching TV or I’ll spend the morning before work having “me” time and writing instead of checking emails.

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What has something that’s changed for you this year: 2020?