By now everybody has probably heard or read about the power of gratitude. It’s recommended as a treatment for people who are depressed. They’re told to write down one or two things that they are grateful for each day. It just shifts the focus off the sadness and onto something good. Our family does this thing where we have a jar and whenever we want, we write down something we’re grateful for on a little piece of paper then we fold up the paper and put it in the jar. On New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day, we all sit down together and read the little notes (not our idea, can’t remember where I heard about that). The point is that being grateful is good for us and even in dark times there are things to be grateful for.
Here’s my Coronamageddon Gratitude List.
- Getting some of my money back from the government. Go ahead and stimulate me Trump. I even got a check in the mail for my mother and she died in 2018. That’s how Trump rolls. But yeah, I’ll take money deposited into my bank account any day.
- More family time. Before Coronamageddon, my kids had school and several other activities. I worked some nights and every other weekend. Now, my kids are home all the time. They have school at home and the activities that they do still have are at home via video too. That means I get a lot more family time. It’s unavoidable. Everyone is always home when I get home from work and they’re always home when I have days off from work. Kids aren’t going to be kids forever. Time together while they’re still kids is premium time.
- We have a better pace. Because most things are cancelled and everyone is home all the time, we are usually moving at a better pace. Less rushing to be somewhere at a certain time. Less trying to squeeze some time together in between work and other activities. So, not only is everyone home all the time but the whole vibe is more easy going because the pace is more mellow. We were already trying to not be over-scheduled, but when you have more than one kid, even if they both only do one activity that’s still a few more appointments per week. Our new, mellower pace suits me just fine. I like going with the flow and not always having to have a detailed plan in order to fit everything into the day.
- More time to work in the yard. I love being outside and I love doing stuff in the yard. This time of year there’s always stuff to do in the yard but I don’t usually get to do everything on my list. I’ve usually got to fit yard work into the schedule with my job, the kids’ school stuff and other activities, and family stuff we’re doing. That makes doing things in the yard feel like work sometimes. But now since we’re home all the time, there’s more chances to do stuff in the yard. More chances to just putter around outside. More opportunity for it to be enjoyable. Doing yard work and landscaping, for me, is like a big version of those Zen sand gardens. I like moving things around and sculpting the environment around our house.
- Reconnecting with friends. Since we’re all stuck at home and feeling a little isolated, people are reaching out. I’ve been in more contact with several people who I normally don’t communicate with regularly. I’d like to communicate with them regularly but it just wasn’t happening before. Now we have more desire and opportunity to reconnect or stay connected with people. There are more cracks in the schedule. We aren’t seeing people out so if we’re craving that conversation we have to go after it and people are doing just that.
- ZOOM. This is really a point filed under the previous point, but ZOOM deserves it’s own spot. It’s been great to be more in touch with people but with technology now and being able to video conference, it’s a whole other level. We had a game night with four other families a while ago. Honestly, I wasn’t excited by the idea of that but it turned out to be fun. And doing a ZOOM call with friends is a trip. There’s people who I’ve talked to and stayed in touch with over the years but to be able to see each other while we talk is so cool and when you have a group of friends all on the same video it’s wild. We can all be in the same room when we’re really thousands of miles apart.
- Beer Karma. A group of local guys has been delivering beer to each other. Not only is that as good as it sounds but every time it’s happened it’s fallen on my day off. What’s better than an unexpected, unsolicited beer delivery? An unexpected, unsolicited beer delivery on your day off!
- Live shows. This is another technology thing. We can have video calls with friends and we can have live concerts or live comedy performances right on our own TV. We have a local friend who is a musician. He can’t play out right now because all the places he normally plays are closed. So, he’s playing in his basement and broadcasting his shows. We watch our friend play music on our TV and listen through the sound bar! It’s so cool. And bigger bands are doing the same thing. Even though we’re all isolated, we can feel like part of the crowd watching these shows together from home. And the kids get to enjoy it too because it’s not late at night out at a bar or something.
• Fudge Brownie M&Ms. At work, I’m surrounded by junk food. I try hard to resist and usually I’m pretty successful at it. But, damn, it’s Coronamageddon now! If I’m walking down the aisle and I see Fudge Brownie M&Ms, I am going to try them. They are good. Almond M&Ms are still my favorite followed by peanut, but these fudge brownie ones might be even better than the regular M&Ms.
- Limeade & Bourbon. Another indulgence. I haven’t done much grocery shopping in years. It just doesn’t fit our schedule well with me working. But with Coronamageddon, I’ve been doing some of the shopping. I’ll stop after work since I’m already out in the virally infested world. Lemonade was on the shopping list the last time I was grocery shopping. Right next to the lemonade was limeade. I like limeade better anyway and there was some buy 2 sale going on. Then it hit me…limeade and bourbon! So, I bought the limeade and yes, limeade and bourbon is great. It’s too great. I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to have limeade in the house regularly.
Ok, there it is. A few happy things that are happening right now in the midst of Coronamageddon. You’ve got good things going on too. Don’t forget the good stuff!
P.S. I don’t know why I can’t get the Fudge Brownie M&Ms point to format like the rest of the points. I swear I’m not getting paid by M&Ms to make that point stand out (but they are really tasty).