Creating A Productive and Balanced Life During This F’n Pandemic

Hello from our Bend Compound! Wherever you’re reading this – an apartment in Spain or NYC, a van in the woods, a house with bored kids tearing your walls down – I hope you’re thriving as much as possible given a worldwide pandemic.

A meme that struck home for me: “Introverts, put your book down and check on your extrovert friends. They’re not ok.” Some of my buddies must picture me, extreme extrovert that I am, straitjacketed and rocking in a corner.

Surprising both Chelsea and myself, I adapted quickly and am quite content. No straitjacket needed! (She’s still watching me daily for cracks to show though.)

Hard at work building the planter beds that Chelsea has always wanted.

A Quick Identity Pivot

Home-bound and content are NOT words that describe me. However, when I realized this pandemic was sticking around for the unforeseen future, it required a shift in my identity and priorities.

It took some effort to reorient. Thanks to a generous friend’s gift of a flight pass on United this year, I’d spun travel and adventure plans spanning the globe. Social time consumed large chunks of time and energy. Mountain biking season approached.

POOF. Just like that, all put on hold for who knows how long.

To ensure I possessed the stamina to weather this without cracking, I needed to make the most of this forced isolation. Banging my head against the wall and wishing for things to normalize wasn’t going to change much!

This quote from a Sarah Blondin meditation struck home:

When faced with great change, we must trust what comes budding forth. We must quickly release our grasp on the old and familiar in order to plant our new garden. Resisting change is futile. The longer we fight our current and therefore only reality, the longer we remain in limbo, trapped somewhere between the past and the future, far from the present.

I spun out a bit in March, then decided to focus on alive time vs dead time, seeking the positives in this upheaval. That mindset is working well for me to stay happy, productive and balanced during this pandemic. (Details at the end of this post about my approach.)

Oliver has finally accepted me into the family. It only took 15 years.

Let’s Just Say It: This Is Crazy

To say there’s stress in the air because of COVID-19 is an understatement. Helping our families be safe, canceling plans, sorting through business headaches, figuring out the precautions we need to take. It’s heavy.

At first, I found myself spiraling deep into NewsLand, gripping my computer as the stock market careened groundward trailing smoke and flaming 401(k)s. We’re not out of the woods yet (by any means), but the sense of chaos has lessened.

I find it darkly fascinating how fast the shift to a new normal happened. Initially I was overwhelmed with the enormity of state and country lockdowns. Now I wonder how reopening will go. Without a vaccine, when will I feel comfortable in a shiny metal tube hurtling through the sky with other people or sitting in a restaurant? 2022…maybe?

I’m swiveling my head like an owl to take in varied opinions about reopening. I understand (and support) that some people have zero options beyond reopening their small business to feed their family. Facing economic ruin, I’d do the same. Personal values (e.g. individual vs. collective outlook) play into it in a big way, so of course it’s nuanced, touchy ground.

There’s a line though. I find it difficult to identify with people holding signs saying I JUST WANT TO RACE (a motorcycle) or who must get their hair cut at a salon. Sacrificing personal leisure and vanity is the least we can do right now, so I’m surprised at the lack of stamina. Perhaps the philosopher Blaise Pascal was right when he said, “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”

Haircuts are overrated anyway.

I fear that reopening too quickly without listening to public health experts creates potential for COVID-19 to stick around. Will it become like school shootings, barely making the news unless there’s a huge NYC-style outbreak, collateral damage from “more important” needs like the economy?

The Stockdale Paradox comes to mind: You must maintain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, and at the same time, have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.

As a small business owner, I’m lucky as helllll to be doing ok. I feel for those in the travel and restaurant industries – ouch. However, this crisis wields far-reaching potential effects, so who knows how this plays out. I started my business deep in the 2008 trough and rode the wave up, but every tsunami crashes at some point. Every smart investor I follow is writing UNCERTAIN TIMES over and over.

And yet Chelsea and I are the lucky, privileged ones. I’m immensely grateful to keep working remotely and merely curtail socializing, travel and big outdoor adventures. Whoop de doo, small, smalllll price to pay. To all those on the front lines – be it hospitals, grocery stores, food supply chain, sanitation – a bow of respect and solidarity. Thank you.

Finding the Silver Lining

On a more positive note, without any social engagements or travel, there’s a LOT of freed up time. Using the aforementioned concept of alive time, I decided to take advantage of this.

For me, that means building new skills and following my curiosity. For example, what can I add to my toolkit for future goals (such as an outdoor planning and navigation course I am currently taking) or just make me a more complete human (learning how to garden)?

We’re cueing off an astronaut who lived in isolation in space for a year: have a schedule. You know, beyond “Work. Freak out at the news. Eat. Sleep.” Ours isn’t a strict timetable though. More like guidelines.

To help accomplish that, Chelsea had the excellent idea for a list of healthy habits and fun/productive things to accomplish each day. We each have a list where we check off items, then wipe our slates clean in the morning.

I recommend doing this, both for the routine it creates and for instilling productivity in otherwise shapeless weeks (months!) that blend into one another. I don’t always get to everything. However, it’s motivating and a nice steering wheel to grab when I start spinning out reading bad news or dreaming about my business cratering into a smoking pit.

It’s not a static list – I occasionally add or subtract things – but core items stick around. My goal was to hit the physical, mental, creative and “gotta do it” tasks. Here are some of the things on my list that I find valuable.

Finding solitude and zero COVID on the fire roads west of Bend.

My Daily Healthy Habits Checklist

General

  • One Thing – choose ONE task to accomplish each day. This could be as simple as “place online food order” or “build one planter bed.” Whatever you want it to be!
  • Checking in with family and friends – Daily conversations with my family and friends. My goal is always to talk about anything BUT corona.
  • Helping with Chelsea’s list – given how much she handles, it’s the least I can do.

Mental/Creative

  • Meditation – I’m using the Insight Timer app. Ten minutes a day, sometimes guided, sometimes not.
  • Writing – I’m loving daily prompts for journaling, most recently from Wild Writing. I find it generates far more introspection than “here’s what I did today.”
  • Chess – after years away from it, I’ve rekindled my love affair with chess. Such an absorbing intellectual challenge.
  • Guitar – daily practice using the excellent, affordable site activemelody.com.
  • Reading – I’m feeling a strong pull toward the natural world and got absorbed in the books Braiding Sweetgrass and The Hidden Life of Trees. That and some far-reaching sci-fi!
  • Masterclass.com – Loving this! Classes taught by people at the top of their field. Here’s a few I’ve dug: chess (Garry Kasparov), negotiation (Chris Voss, FBI negotiator), cooking (Alice Waters, owner of Chez Panisse), writing (Niel Gaiman, Malcolm Gladwell). Oh, and Masterclass is offering a gift a membership for a friend right now. Such a great value.
  • Cook something– for two months, we haven’t eaten anything we didn’t cook ourselves! These seitan jackfruit ribs are deeeeelicious.

Physical

  • Ping pong – YES. I bought a ping pong machine that shoots balls at me. Best $140 I’ll spend all year, I bet. One friend who shall remain nameless got one so I wouldn’t crush him after all this COVID crap ends. (You’re going down, Scott.)
  • GarageFit: I miss hanging with my crew, but I’m keeping the workouts going. If a bit more irregularly…
  • Physical therapy: This seems like a good time to fix those niggling aches and pains, right? I tore a ligament in my ankle taking a rock climbing fall in March, so this is a daily thing for me. I still can’t run, but it’s coming around.
  • Outdoor exercise: Bike rides or just a quick walk with Chelsea. Instead of mountain biking from crowded trailheads, I’m exploring new rides on my gravel bike with forays on fire roads and pavement to check out new loops and terrain.
  • Stretching and foam rolling – I often pair this with watching Masterclass or do it during a work call.
  • House projects – like many people (even you mobile van lifers!), we are digging into home projects that travel and socializing took precedence over in the past. I may even emerge from this as a competent gardener (gasp).
I feel like we dug the planter bed hole a little deep! (Not pictured: top trim edge, for all you perfectionists.)

C’mon, Do I Really Need This?

I bet a few of you are shaking your heads and thinking, “Yegads, how Type A can one person get?” I’d be surprised if not. I fought it initially!

Then I came around to the satisfaction and momentum building that comes from check check checking my way through a day. I left lame crap like “check email” off it because, well, I’m going to do that.

This is for the things I might skip that serve to move my life forward and stimulate my desire to get out of bed for another day in COVIDLand. (Way less fun than Disneyland: “One person at a time on the Gravitron!”)

I urge you to give the daily healthy habits checklist a shot. The result of this list is that every day, I never run out of things to do. I’m never bored. I wish there were more hours every.single.day.

There is always more to learn and additional skills to pick up. (A few more on my list: Sewing, local plant and animal identification, master gardener training.) Instead of wallowing in the news or whiling away the time waiting for “real life,” this is proving to be a productive, fun and creative period.

What positive things have you added to your life or how are you staying sane during this insane time?

And someday, Martin and I will get back to Smith Rock!
12 replies
  1. Go Jules Go
    Go Jules Go says:

    Man, I missed Traipsing About posts! I hope you had “throw epic quarantine photo parties” on your list on 4/30 so you could give yourself a check mark AND a gold star (if not a haircut).

    Both how much I’ve missed socializing and how easily I’ve adapted to this new normal have surprised me. Focusing on loved ones’ continued good health has been my most grounding practice. That and buying my park jumper pass for COVIDLand.
    Go Jules Go recently posted…Not Your Momma’s Marathon AdviceMy Profile

    Reply
    • Dakota
      Dakota says:

      I can’t believe gold stars haven’t made it into this checklist workflow. YEGADS I’m such a beginner. For instance, I didn’t even know there was a park jumper pass for COVIDLand. I’ve been standing in the 7-mile, 6′-apart line this entire time!

      BTW, while thoughtful, I don’t know that sending large boxes of wine to friends and family is “focusing” on their good health.

      Reply
  2. Bonnie Gleason
    Bonnie Gleason says:

    Hey Dakota,
    Once again I was most entertained and glad to hear you are handling this Covid 19 shut in. Your blog was so much fun to read and the photos were great. So good to see you at home doing amazing projects, especially the garden box. Beautifully done.
    I enjoyed your lists of how to get through this and have to admit I will use some of them.
    Say hi to Chelsea and stay healthy.
    Love you, Aunt Bonnie

    Reply
    • Dakota
      Dakota says:

      Thanks Bonnie! If we can’t check “take goofy quarantine photos” off the checklist, we are wasting our time. The ELEVEN planter beds (a bit bigger project than anticipated) are almost done. Then I have 2-3 weeks of backbreaking labor to fill them with dirt. Then we get to enjoy $550 tomatoes! Enjoy the checklist fun and games and lots of love to you and the family.

      Reply
  3. The other DG
    The other DG says:

    Great post! Makes me think about how we often say, “I just want/need to do nothing” when we’re feeling burnt out – but “nothing” is either *always* happening or *never* happening (depending on how we define it) – it’s not contingent on what we’re physically up to but rather a frame of mind. And I like how you’re manifesting “doing nothing.” 🙂

    Reply
    • Dakota
      Dakota says:

      I think “doing nothing” isn’t as recharging as active time spent on something you enjoy. A friend once told me that people can’t ALWAYS be on – “sometimes you’ve gotta just watch a dumb movie” – but I’ve found that doesn’t work for me. I’d rather have my mind engaged, though sometimes that’s guitar and others it’s reading/chess/some kind of learning. Maybe I’m weird. (MAYBE…no smirks.)

      Reply
  4. ron
    ron says:

    Good post…thanks gor motivation. We have been confined to the house property here in Puerto Peñasco Sonora. Also working on the guitar, Spanish, van construction and just finishing Louise Erdrich’s latest historical fiction novel about my Chippewa brothers. Not bored but can’t wait until tomorrow when María and I can go out for a bike ride. Stay well.

    Reply
  5. Chris@TTL
    Chris@TTL says:

    Dakota, thanks for the positive ideas about ways to handle our pandemic quarantine! We’ve been struggling with similar concerns: no rock climbing gym, no gym at all! Of course, first world problems. None the less, I appreciate the bit of motivation to go out and try new more COVID friendly activities. Have you found Masterclass to be worth it? Time for a bike ride, which we’ve added more of within our activity regimen during the pandemic.
    Chris@TTL recently posted…How Lifestyle Creep Cost Me $51,877.84 in One DecisionMy Profile

    Reply
    • Dakota
      Dakota says:

      Howdy Chris! Sounds like you and Jenni just embarked on a cool new life chapter. Congrats on pulling the trigger on the FIRE lifestyle.

      They just reopened the climbing gym here (nooo thanks). I’ve got my GarageFit setup and biking, so I’m good on climbing inside til there’s a vaccine, I think! As for Masterclass, I totally recommend it, especially if you split it with a friend. So many amazing people sharing the contents of their brains for $90-180/year? What a deal!

      Enjoy early retirement and here’s to new life adventures. Did you get a van yet? 🙂

      Reply
  6. Marc
    Marc says:

    Great article here. Very helpful. Been really stressed out with the pandemic and just staying at home. Anyways, thanks for sharing this!

    Reply
    • Dakota
      Dakota says:

      Glad you found it helpful, Marc. Everytime I sit and stew in the crap that is covid (not to mention wildfires), I find that bringing it back to “what’s next on the list” helps ground me. Take care over there and cheers!

      Reply

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