Waypoint

So you think you’re all that. Everything is going along swimmingly and then the carpet gets pulled out from underneath you. Only not just you, everyone. It’s the stuff of movies, only not nearly as glamorous. As of this writing, it appears that about 1.8 million people have been confirmed to have it, and about 114,000 people have died from it. And it ain’t nearly done yet. If you thought 9/11 changed society, then make way for Coronavirus. Or more formally, the SARS-CoV-2 virus which causes Covid-19.

Just some notes to look back on years from now. It’s Easter weekend. Schools have been closed for a month. We’ve been working from home for almost that long. Nobody here is sick and my Dad’s doing just fine, staying isolated and just trying to remember which day of the week it is (these things tend to blend together - especially when you’re retired and at home regardless).

It sounds like dearest daughter will get her mid-term marks as final marks (unless the teachers deem any sort of improvement during online learning which she’s doing now). She’s been accepted to a few of the universities she applied to, so that’s a relief when everything else seems in disarray at the moment.

Working at home is okay. I found out that I don’t miss the commuting. My lovely wife and I work well together - we have for many years. No big surprise that we do at home as well, though she soon set up shop in the basement office to maintain crucial structure and separation between work and home life. This is something I never worried too much about until having to work at home these past few weeks. I’m working at the dining room table. Lots of daylight compared to my office down at work. Distractions have not been an issue (surprisingly). But I’ve made sure to get dressed and showered at usual time to keep the workday the actual workday.

The stresses from work haven’t lessened. In fact along with the overall pall of stress permeating every waking minute of news media, internet and otherwise, it’s likely gotten worse. I was quite down a week or two ago (something that just isn’t usually me) and my wife and I talked about it. I’ve tried to keep the news reading to a minimum and concentrate on work during the workday. And I’m even trying to get back in the swing of things creatively as well (ahem - you’re reading a post from me after all).

Things I notice: doing a lot of dishes, buying a lot of groceries, and gaining weight(!).

Things I like: not having 100 minutes of driving every day, forced realistic organization of my workday, fewer phone calls and emergency fires to put out.

Work is more effective. Tracking and reporting progress while working at home seems to have forced everyone (myself included) to better track what they do and how long things take. I’ve slowly come around to a more realistic (and less optimistic) list for each day. This is good.

There is also the fact that times like these force you to step back, look at your priorities and re-evaluate. It’s definitely important to keep clients happy, but there is that nagging response milling around in the back of my mind… Does this thing you want really matter? Don’t you see what is going on in the world right now!?

I’ll be trying to force myself to get my eyes off of Reddit and the news more often and get my head into smaller creative or useful projects in my spare time. I hope it goes well. I’ll hopefully post something here as proof if it does. :-)

If we’re still taking off belts and shoes at the airport 18 years after 9/11, can you imagine the effects something like this might have? They are talking about social distancing measures likely well into summer; All major gatherings and sporting events delayed or cancelled; Already a million Canadians applying for EI last week. Yikes. And it sounds like we’re doing better on a lot of fronts than our neighbours to the south. It’s like a slow motion train wreck, except everyone’s impacted, and you can’t stop watching because it’s everywhere, every day. I won’t bother throwing their idiotic man-child president under the bus. I’m leaving that task to them to hopefully make things right in November.

And on that gleeful note, I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy. Find your next waypoint and just keep walking towards it.