Tag: life

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When days blur into one – How to break the quarantine monotony

Calendar on the wall

We are now in quarantine for 5+ weeks. And there is no end in sight. Recently I noticed how days and weeks blur into one long stretch. Then I thought of a way how to break the quarantine monotony.

This is not a complaint. We are blessed to be in a safe and comfortable place with all necessities still being available. And I hope it’s the same for you!

Everyone is home now

It’s just a realisation of how things are different to the time before the quarantine. But at the same time the days we spend in quarantine are pretty much the same. This is at least our observation. We have routines (and it’s a good thing to have some routines and good habits in your life). And I’m used to working from home since I started freelancing and then founded my own company. 

But then it changed: My fiancé is working from home full time (until further notice). We are very happy to have enough space in our home. We work alongside each other or separately if we have meetings and calls.

One long blurry day

But then every day started to look the same. No change of scenery. Not meeting other people. No distinct event to distinguish one day from another. Just an endless stream of meals, work and tasks. What day of the week is today?

Again, not complaining – everything is good and we are happy. But there is a monotony to the days that it’s hard to think of what you did yesterday or the day before. 

Break the quarantine monotony

That’s when I thought of a way to break that stream. Break the blur. Make things more colorful again! And that’s when I thought of themed weeks: A theme or topic for the week. 

You might have been to a themed party before and everyone knows seasonal differences. Why not bring it into your home during this time? Think of a topic, then sprinkle elements of it over your week like seasoning over a meal. 

Themes during quarantine

  • Season-based, i. e. Summer BBQ or Festive Winter
  • Holiday-based, i. e. NYC trip, Ski Holiday
  • Geography-based, i. e. Caribbean, Scandinavian
  • Sunshine
  • Indoor BBQ
  • Summer feelings
Our first theme: summer

What to do during a themed week

Think of the activities you do on a daily or weekly basis. Then consider how you could infuse it with elements of your theme.

  • Meals: think of meals and snacks that remind you of the theme. Make an effort and prepare things you only have during that time or in that place.
  • Drinks: replace some of your usual drinks with something that reminds you of the theme. Inspire your senses with the taste.
  • Decoration: do you have anything that you can decorate to emphasize the theme? Put it on the walls or your furniture. Have some souvenirs from a special place? Bring them out and display them for the week. Put pictures up from that time, replace your screensaver with matching photos.
  • Music: listening to music often? Select a suitable playlist.
  • Video: watching something to wind down? How about themed movies or a matching TV series? One that plays during that season or in the place of your theme.

Our ideas for the coming weeks

The themes I thought of so far are: Summer, New York and Scandinavia

For our week of summer I thought of the BBQ garden parties I used to have with friends. The cool drinks we enjoyed and the things we saw during that season. 

New York Times is our opportunity to relive the good memories from our holiday. We plan to reach out to friends, sing the same songs, eat the same food we had there. 

Our Scandinavian-week will the time to envision being there again, with all it’s nature, foods and people. 

And if you are really really into Christmas, why not have a Christmas week? Bring out the Christmas decoration! I won’t judge you ? 

Now I’m now looking forward to the coming weeks. And it’ll be fun thinking about the themes, meals, drinks, decoration and so on.

Instill some excitement for the time to come

What theme would you pick to break the quarantine monotony?

Leave a comment below with your theme and what would you do during that week?

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Sometimes life is like Tetris

Do you know the feeling when you played something for a while and then stop. You go back to the real world but your mind still applies the same thinking patters like in the game? You brain still recognises shapes everywhere and tries to stack objects?

Since games often consist of obstacles and problems thrown at the player, you can be stuck in that problem-solving mode. Your brain might take a while to transition back.

Recently, when I finished a session of rapidly falling blocks, I still had the visuals in my head when I switched from the game to a conversation. My inner eye could still see the shapes and patterns in front of me. Until my brain finally ended up back in reality.

That’s when this metaphor came to my mind:

Sometimes life is like Tetris

You go through life and collect non tangible things sich as experience and connections. Let’s envision them as blocks for now.

Then you move through life and collect more and more; education, training, certificates, jobs. All make up building blocks of your life. And you build layer by layer.

Sometimes it fits perfectly and your CV is perfect and you land that new job. You align a full row (called Tetris in the very same game) and it’s great.

Other times it doesn’t fit as nicely; you don’t land the job you wanted or a project derails. Its like you’ve built a stack with gaps and can’t complete the row. Things seem to go haywire.

As you go along more blocks are thrown your way. More opportunities come along. And quite often there comes a series of blocks that just match wonderfully! This one goes here, that one over there. Boom, Tetris!

Building blocks of your life

In my mind I see the blocks as your achievements, jobs you had, people you met, a business you build, networks you create.

Sometimes things don’t seem to add up or don’t see to go the right way; the new role you got doesn’t fit into your career as expected, that Side-project you started doesn’t seem to lead anywhere.

And then there it is, the 1×4 block that will save the day! It all makes sense now; you met someone through the job you started and later you start working on that side-project of yours together and it’s great!

I’ve seen that in my life too: did something here, then there, worked on this then that. Years later I got to use it all again in my own business. The blocks fell into the right places. Tetris!

What am I getting at?

  • Blocks coming at you are new opportunities
  • Don’t wait for the one piece forever, use the blocks you have
  • You have to keep playing to find opportunities
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The fridge is empty, let’s go out

How eating out differs from place to place

When I open the fridge in our home I can count the items on two hands, sometimes on one hand. It’s rather minimal and only often contains only the bare essentials. But it was different less than a year ago when we lived in another country. Back then the refrigerator was much fuller. That means more meals were cooked at home.

We trace it back to different lifestyles and how affordable food is, or rather, how affordable dining out is: 

  • In some places eating out is very affordable.
  • For some it’s a cultural thing.
  • Or you can get ready-made food delivered to your door (we even found very health options).
  • In other places going out is a luxury.
  • And in some places it was affordable once it is less affordable nowadays.

There are obviously big differences between these places. But also differences in how far your money goes — depending on where you live or when you live. 

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The awkwardness of visiting the hairdresser

How to make a haircut even more awkward

Do you enjoy going to the hairdresser (or barber)? Do you like waiting and pretending to browse outdated magazines that you never would have bought for yourself? And once it’s your turn, how much do you appreciate the small talk while someone is ripping dead cells from your head?

I don’t. Nothing of that is enjoyable. Especially not the part where the strands of dead genetic material (short hair) finds it’s way to the cracks and irritates your skin for the rest of the day (unless you take a mid-day shower). 

Over the years I maybe had half a dozen or so genuinely nice conversations with the staff. It’s partly my fault as I’m sometimes not long enough in one place to have the same hairdresser every time. 

But recently it got more awkward

The local barbers, after they do the usual cutting off the hair, will place towels on your head and neck. Then they give you a neck massage. And wipe all over your face several times. They even invade your ears in an attempt to remove all the small hair that ended up there.

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But I have an idea how to fix it – for good: I will get a hair clipper, set it to 2 millimetres and cut everything myself next time. This way I’ll avoid that invasion of private space.

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