Notes from Quarantine: Week 6

How are you?

This pandemic is affecting all of us differently, and I hope with all of my heart everyone is safe and healthy, no matter where you are. Be gentle with yourself during this time. It’s ok to be anxious or stressed.

It’s hard to believe that I’ve been in quarantine for 6 weeks now, going into week 7. The virus has hit NYC hard. My office started WFH a little earlier than most, which was reassuring and appreciated, but also means I’ve been stir crazy a little longer than most 🙂 I’m not usually an anxious person, but these days I always find myself stressed about something, so I’ve been trying to take my advice and be generous and gentle with myself. Like giving myself a break from my constant need to be productive. Letting myself feel any anger or frustration or anxiety. Even binge-playing Animal Crossing for hours (does anyone else here play? Let’s be friends!).

While everyone seems to be baking bread or doing plenty of quarantine cooking otherwise, I’ve picked up yoga. I’d never particularly enjoyed it before, but now I’m finding my daily practice incredibly soothing and meditative. I’m hoping to continue it even after our lockdown lifts.

Some quarantine reading…

My reading has been a little distracted lately, but four books I’ve finished are:

• Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah – Really enjoyed this! I wrote up a review here.
• The Starless Sea, by Erin Morgenstern – So, so disappointing.
• Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, by Lori Gottlieb – This was a great read. I like reading her columns in NYTimes and The Atlantic, and her book was hard to put down.
• No Time to Spare, by Ursula Le Guin – Le Guin’s writing never fails to impress me. This was my first exposure to her nonfiction work and she’s a startlingly lucid, eloquent writer!

Have you read anything good recently? I’d love to hear any quarantine routines you’ve started as well.

(Photo by Richard Foulser)