Honestly? I'm scared. Not so much that I will get COVID19 as that I don't know what will happen next. I'm anxious about my students and their families. I'm anxious about the fact that one of my jobs is hourly work and if I don't work, I won't get paid. I'm anxious about the fact that I don't even know if or when I'm supposed to go in to work tomorrow. I'm not jazzed about being isolated either. But of course I understand and want to do everything I can to support public health. Here are some things I'm doing, with more or less success, to relieve my anxiety:
1. Watching Star Trek
Like, all the Treks. My husband and I are keeping up with Star Trek: Picard (loved the last episode's much needed background on Rios), plus watching various episodes of TNG, Voyager, and DS9 both together and separately. Star Trek is like comfort food for us.
2. Watching Queer Eye
I've been rewatching select episodes of Queer Eye, although my Netflix keeps driving me toward S2, E1, which, like, I've seen it, I promise?
3. Playing with playdoh
Having something to do with my hands while I'm doing all this streaming seems to help too. I mostly just use it like a stress ball, but I like the texture better than a stress ball or slime or anything else similar.
4. Mindfulness Puzzles
I bought this awhile ago, but started using it more lately, usually before bed. It's a good way to wind down without looking at a screen and engage enough to get mentally tired (read: less anxious). The funny thing is I can only do two of the puzzle types, wordsearches and reverse crosswords (you have the words but need to guess where they go), so I have to search the whole thing looking for the ones I can do. I tried Sudoku, but man, it is the worst. Maybe I'll finish one someday.
5. Meditation Music
I've been a little obsessed for a while with the relaxing music on Youtube, like this. I'm also pretty into the classical piano music.
6. HelloFresh
We tried out a free box last week, and I'm a fan. We had three fulfilling vegetarian meals for two, each of which took about 30 minutes to prepare. They do seem to have an obsession with quick pickling, which I like in principle, but doesn't really work that well in 30 minutes. The chickpea tacos were the best, in my opinion, and now I have a new idea for a satisfying vegetarian taco filling.
7. Reading
Of course, this is a book blog! I've been reading The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay for a while, which was a read for one of my (canceled) book clubs. It isn't a book I'd ever heard of, but it was an interesting read about a young boy growing up in South Africa in the 1940s. It has a problematic white savior trope, but still interesting and well-written. When I finished that a couple days ago, I reached for comfort--I had a new Jen Lancaster book on my TBR shelf, Pretty in Plaid, and she always makes me laugh out loud. Read it in a day. If you want to laugh, I highly recommend anything by Jen Lancaster.
I worry about how everyone is dealing with this. I want to do anything I can to help the community. I hope you're doing okay and staying safe and some of these ideas or other things are helpful to you. I'm trying to remind myself: it's okay if the person you save is you.
1. Watching Star Trek
Like, all the Treks. My husband and I are keeping up with Star Trek: Picard (loved the last episode's much needed background on Rios), plus watching various episodes of TNG, Voyager, and DS9 both together and separately. Star Trek is like comfort food for us.
2. Watching Queer Eye
I've been rewatching select episodes of Queer Eye, although my Netflix keeps driving me toward S2, E1, which, like, I've seen it, I promise?
3. Playing with playdoh
Having something to do with my hands while I'm doing all this streaming seems to help too. I mostly just use it like a stress ball, but I like the texture better than a stress ball or slime or anything else similar.
4. Mindfulness Puzzles
I bought this awhile ago, but started using it more lately, usually before bed. It's a good way to wind down without looking at a screen and engage enough to get mentally tired (read: less anxious). The funny thing is I can only do two of the puzzle types, wordsearches and reverse crosswords (you have the words but need to guess where they go), so I have to search the whole thing looking for the ones I can do. I tried Sudoku, but man, it is the worst. Maybe I'll finish one someday.
5. Meditation Music
I've been a little obsessed for a while with the relaxing music on Youtube, like this. I'm also pretty into the classical piano music.
6. HelloFresh
We tried out a free box last week, and I'm a fan. We had three fulfilling vegetarian meals for two, each of which took about 30 minutes to prepare. They do seem to have an obsession with quick pickling, which I like in principle, but doesn't really work that well in 30 minutes. The chickpea tacos were the best, in my opinion, and now I have a new idea for a satisfying vegetarian taco filling.
7. Reading
Of course, this is a book blog! I've been reading The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay for a while, which was a read for one of my (canceled) book clubs. It isn't a book I'd ever heard of, but it was an interesting read about a young boy growing up in South Africa in the 1940s. It has a problematic white savior trope, but still interesting and well-written. When I finished that a couple days ago, I reached for comfort--I had a new Jen Lancaster book on my TBR shelf, Pretty in Plaid, and she always makes me laugh out loud. Read it in a day. If you want to laugh, I highly recommend anything by Jen Lancaster.
I worry about how everyone is dealing with this. I want to do anything I can to help the community. I hope you're doing okay and staying safe and some of these ideas or other things are helpful to you. I'm trying to remind myself: it's okay if the person you save is you.
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