Many residents around the country are faced with quarantine restrictions – forcing us to isolate inside our homes for an unspecified duration of time.
For those who are otherwise healthy, the isolation can be a heavy burden as one-week blurs into another with virtually no change to one’s environment.
While anxiety is understandable, we shouldn’t overlook the time we’ve been given.
While my wife and I (thank God) are still employed and working from home, we knew we needed to come up with ways to break up the monotony of any given day – especially come the weekend – during quarantine restrictions.
I didn’t want to spend my time mindlessly watching television, for even that gets boring after a while. So, we made a to-do-list filled with a handful of household projects – both indoor and outdoor – which have been on our minds, but never seemed to have the time to undertake.
For me, I’ve spent the last four weekends (Saturday only) repainting the baseboard trim around my home. While my house is modestly sized, it feels much larger when you spend a few hours (or a day) lying on your side, with a paint brush in hand, realizing that baseboards are never-ending.
Normally when a project such as this arises, I develop a negative attitude due to some kind of time constraint or uninterest, rush through the project and oftentimes wind up with unsatisfactory results involving rework.
But with nowhere to go on the weekend except maybe for a walk or two around the neighborhood, I found that this time I went into the project feeling more relaxed with surprisingly positive results.
There was little to no mess, more accuracy, no drama and a huge feeling of accomplishment as I washed my paint brush and reveled in a job well-done.
We rarely have the time to do all the things we want (and need) to do during the chaos of our ordinary days.
But if quarantine restrictions have taught me anything, it’s to use not only this time but all time more wisely. To slow down, to stay focused, to commit yourself to a project and to find enjoyment in tasks no matter how mundane they might be.
For as Arthur Ashe once said, “The doing is often more important than the outcome.”
