ideas during social distancing

You could say I’ve been preparing for this for a year.

I went to a wedding last April and an alpha female millennial, which whom you could see all the whites of her eyes, cornered me at cocktail hour and machine-gun questioned me about what I did “all day” upon learning I was funemployed.

“but like what DO you do?” “ I mean, I would just be so bored.” “that’s it? what else?” “what about when you’re done with that?”

While my preferred answer would be to point out I wasn’t responsible for reassuring her lack of imagination that there are plenty to do, I politely shared some things that helped me feel productive during my time “all day” at home. Here, I share with you as well.

Disclosure: this list is good for people with lots of leisure time and no children. For my friends with kids, I would say your list is “keep kids occupied”- and I’m sorry I not sure my list is fully applicable for those things.

one: make a motherfucking list

Google sheets or airtable is your friend here, but lists are cathartic and help you organize thoughts during times of uncertainly. There is an odd sense of accomplishment when you’ve done nothing but just make a thoughtful list. You’re about to have loads of weekends and evenings free and now is your time to brain-dump what you want to do with that time.

Things you can make lists of? books to read, recipes you want to cook, life bucket list, places you want to travel to in the next 5-10 years, restaurant hit lists, lists of life values you want to be more aligned with, I’ve even made an inventory list of all my skincare to help keep track of them (yeah, that was a sign I had too much skincare and a lot of fucking time.)

Consider this your “Life OS”. You’ll most likely end up with multiple lists, link them all in one document or dashboard- that’s your hub. Link the shortcut of the hub on your phone home screen or laptop browser. Use that to make changes (see a new book you want to read? add it to your reading list, etc.)

Side note: timebox yourself on how long you spend on lists—- you actually want to get started on the items so don’t spend the ENTIRE time on lists.

two: learn something new

That last time I was unemployed in 2013, I learned to run with the Couch 2 5K app. This time around, I learned 1. to put on eye makeup properly 2. to throw pottery 3. how to edit videos and 4. UI/UX design principles at Berkeley extension.

There are ENDLESS resources online to find whatever it is you want to learn. It can be as serious as a new language or as mindless as learning how to contour properly. Youtube, Masterclass, Udemy, Cal Extensions, Rosetta Stone; they range in price but you can literally learn anything.

three: practice your new skill

I learned how to put on eye makeup from youtube, but had trouble “performing under pressure” - lol. If it was an hour before I needed to leave for the ballet, the pressure of trying to get my eyeshadow blended right would inevitably make me fail. I needed pressure-free practice, so I started practicing putting makeup on randomly at like 5PM in the afternoon or right before bed when I was going to wash my face. The no pressure scenario meant I could take my time and learn how to fix mistakes without panicking.

I imagine the same to work for cooking (the pressure of getting a dinner party right vs. leisurely cooking for yourself on a weds night.) and maybe things like new dancing skills. (if that’s your thing.)

four: organize your life

These are the things you’ve always wanted to get to but never had the time to do (or rather, went to eat boozy brunch for 4 hours instead); you probably have a mental list, but you should definitely have made it into a written list (see section “one” above.)

Put shelves up on your walls, organize your under-sink area, KonMarie your closet, post all your extra clothes on poshmark, re-caulk your bathtub, etc. Those are generally one and done, but you want to set yourself up with going forward.

For me, I have a robust closet and I often forget which clothes I own. I started keeping a tiny whiteboard in my closet for outfit planning to get neglected clothes some wear time. I set up a separate closet in my storage unit for “formal wear”, and I set up a calendar reminder for a purging cadence year-round. (I still have a lot of stuff— but it’s stuff I wear.)

Figure out what it is you fumble with normally and take this time to find an efficient solution for it. (meal planning guides anyone?)

five: reconnect with a lost hobby

Photography was mine. I connected with Elda SF in the mission to ask if I could run their social media account to give me a reason to photograph more things. The last time I look my camera out of storage before then was in 2017 when I took a trip to Mongolia. I found my camera to be large and inconvenient and I suddenly lost my interest. Finding new things and ways to connect to it revived my love for it.

Bonus points: share that hobby with people. Mine was offering to take & edit people’s headshots.

six: help out your friends with kids

You’ve just been given the gift of time, your friends with children have just been given the task of homeschool/entertaining their children for three weeks. During pandemic social distancing season, offer to facetime their children to read a story or play a game or just generally distract them so you friends can spend a quiet 30 minutes in the bathroom alone (with that sweet sweet precious toilet paper they worked hard to get.)

seven: set up your calendar

You’re got lists of things you want to do now so draft a plan. The same way you project plan at work is how you should approaching your ambitious lists of things to do. Identify a cadence if you want to learn a new skill: how often should you take a new lesson? how often should you practice? Put those time slots into your calendar; don’t beat yourself up if you’re not getting things done on time - this isn’t that serious - be agile and adjust accordingly.

In between those lessons and practices, where do you want to slot in your “life organization” tasks? How about that marathon of “Love is Blind”? It’s all good kids, you’re not trying to be the BEST at social distancing, you’re just trying to use the time a teensy bit better. (you’re trying to be the okay-est at it. hah.)

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In no time, this too, shall pass. But you’ll hopefully feel like you’ve spent time fruitfully, instead of reaching that messages on Instagram that says you’ve seen all the things and there’s nothing to see anymore. ever.

Hit me up if you did any of my recommendations or if you have additional advice during this time of social distancing. ❤️