Windrunner
Member
Cavy Slave
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2019
- Posts
- 8
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2019
- Messages
- 8
This quarantine period has really forced me to slow down. It's really odd, honestly. I feel like, in a way, I'm returning to the 1960s or 1970s, where home life was much more of a thing. I mean, granted, my life has not been hugely disrupted by this pandemic... both me and my husband are still working, and we're a pretty boring, introverted couple, so our social life has not been affected really either. We used to go out to eat more and we used to have library reading dates, and that's literally the only things we used to do that we can't really do anymore.
But the slowing down -- has been kind of incredible. I've been able to really enjoy being at home, whereas before this quarantine period, I was always on the go on the weekends, always trying to plan "okay where can we go next?" Now, though, we've really been able to stop, and focus on being at home, and making home improvements... I updated my piggies' cage, which I'd been intending to do for awhile but just hadn't gotten around to. We finally ordered a tiller, we're going to plant a veggie garden. We've been cleaning more -- not to an OCD level (though I'm sure my mom and my sister wish it would be, ha) but just tidying because we both have more time now than we usually do.
(For reference, I'm working between 35-38 hours a week now, and when I'm working from the office, I typically work between 45 and 50 hours a week, NOT counting my commute time which is an additional 30 minutes to an hour every day, depending on traffic, since we do live in a fairly urban area.)
I've been baking more -- cooking more -- although to be fair we've also been getting takeaway more often too. :crazy: Trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy and sanity, since a lot of the time I get bogged down with the cynicism and negativity that are super pervasive about this pandemic.
And I've been spending more time with my pets. The piggies are getting more loving, the dogs are getting more cuddles and walks, the cats are getting more snuggles. All of my four legged family members are so much happier now than they were (not that they weren't happy before, though... but they're getting extra spoiled now). Like I said, I'm also working on building better habits like daily spot-cleaning for the piggies' cage instead of every few days, and I'm working more on getting them used to my hands as well as having more frequent floor time. I'm also trying to get in the habit of them having floor time every time that I clean their cage, just because it's good for them and makes my job easier when I clean their cage too (instead of splitting the cage in half, keeping them in the half that I'm not cleaning and then having to "herd" them into the clean side once that's done, so I can clean the other half).
Just a lot of good things all happening at once now, I think, in the midst of this national crisis. It's humbling, in its own way. And that, too, is a good thing. I'm hoping this serves as a "restart button" for our society, I hope we keep coming back to hope and kindness and compassion and that we're able to hold onto this even after the pandemic is over. I feel like when 9/11 happened, the resulting kindness, compassion, and hope lasted for awhile afterwards... obviously it didn't last as long as I would hope it did, though, but I'm hoping that there can be something good we can glean from this pandemic craziness.
Just some thoughts. I don't know. Maybe I'm just being idealistic and too optimistic, but I also think that sometimes the world needs that... so much of the time I just see cynicism and anger and negativity and fear. So here's my dose of hope and optimism, as least for the time being. I work too much with people in the trenches, I see too many horrible things that people are capable of in my job, to be able to ascribe to a cynical worldview. If I did that, I wouldn't ever be able to believe in the goodness of people. And most people ARE good, somewhere deep inside. I believe that just like I believe that all people are capable of evil. But I no longer ascribe to the biblical view that "no human is good, we're all prone to doing evil." No, there's a balance there. And in some people, the capacity for doing evil is much greater than the capacity for doing good, and in others, the capacity for doing evil is nurtured so it becomes greater than the capacity for good. But that's not all people. And I really, really hope that this pandemic will help people really recognize the capacity for good within themselves but also within their families, neighbors, and their neighborhoods.
But the slowing down -- has been kind of incredible. I've been able to really enjoy being at home, whereas before this quarantine period, I was always on the go on the weekends, always trying to plan "okay where can we go next?" Now, though, we've really been able to stop, and focus on being at home, and making home improvements... I updated my piggies' cage, which I'd been intending to do for awhile but just hadn't gotten around to. We finally ordered a tiller, we're going to plant a veggie garden. We've been cleaning more -- not to an OCD level (though I'm sure my mom and my sister wish it would be, ha) but just tidying because we both have more time now than we usually do.
(For reference, I'm working between 35-38 hours a week now, and when I'm working from the office, I typically work between 45 and 50 hours a week, NOT counting my commute time which is an additional 30 minutes to an hour every day, depending on traffic, since we do live in a fairly urban area.)
I've been baking more -- cooking more -- although to be fair we've also been getting takeaway more often too. :crazy: Trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy and sanity, since a lot of the time I get bogged down with the cynicism and negativity that are super pervasive about this pandemic.
And I've been spending more time with my pets. The piggies are getting more loving, the dogs are getting more cuddles and walks, the cats are getting more snuggles. All of my four legged family members are so much happier now than they were (not that they weren't happy before, though... but they're getting extra spoiled now). Like I said, I'm also working on building better habits like daily spot-cleaning for the piggies' cage instead of every few days, and I'm working more on getting them used to my hands as well as having more frequent floor time. I'm also trying to get in the habit of them having floor time every time that I clean their cage, just because it's good for them and makes my job easier when I clean their cage too (instead of splitting the cage in half, keeping them in the half that I'm not cleaning and then having to "herd" them into the clean side once that's done, so I can clean the other half).
Just a lot of good things all happening at once now, I think, in the midst of this national crisis. It's humbling, in its own way. And that, too, is a good thing. I'm hoping this serves as a "restart button" for our society, I hope we keep coming back to hope and kindness and compassion and that we're able to hold onto this even after the pandemic is over. I feel like when 9/11 happened, the resulting kindness, compassion, and hope lasted for awhile afterwards... obviously it didn't last as long as I would hope it did, though, but I'm hoping that there can be something good we can glean from this pandemic craziness.
Just some thoughts. I don't know. Maybe I'm just being idealistic and too optimistic, but I also think that sometimes the world needs that... so much of the time I just see cynicism and anger and negativity and fear. So here's my dose of hope and optimism, as least for the time being. I work too much with people in the trenches, I see too many horrible things that people are capable of in my job, to be able to ascribe to a cynical worldview. If I did that, I wouldn't ever be able to believe in the goodness of people. And most people ARE good, somewhere deep inside. I believe that just like I believe that all people are capable of evil. But I no longer ascribe to the biblical view that "no human is good, we're all prone to doing evil." No, there's a balance there. And in some people, the capacity for doing evil is much greater than the capacity for doing good, and in others, the capacity for doing evil is nurtured so it becomes greater than the capacity for good. But that's not all people. And I really, really hope that this pandemic will help people really recognize the capacity for good within themselves but also within their families, neighbors, and their neighborhoods.
