Inner Truths Revealed During Quarantine

I don’t know about you, Modern Philosophers, but I’ve learned a lot about myself while being secluded at The House on the Hill over the past month.

Apparently, the governor’s stay at home order was also one for personal reflection.

I thought I’d share the inner truths that have revealed themselves during quarantine…

Writing is definitely my passion.  I’ve always known that I wanted to be a writer when I grow up, but it’s one thing to talk the talk, and a completely different thing to deliver on that dream when handed an enormous amount of free time.

People have always asked if I’d have enough to do if I could stay home and write all day, and I have finally and emphatically answered that question.  Not only did I resurrect this blog by writing a new post every day (thereby reminding myself how much I enjoy blogging!), but I also got some serious work done on my novel.

I might have been furloughed from my office gig, but writing has been my full time job over the past month.  I write every day, including the weekends, and having that waiting for me on a daily basis has brought much needed order and focus to my days.

Sure, my office is the living room and the dress code is slacker casual, but I have the coolest boss in the world and I really love my job.

I don’t hate running.  Whenever I write a post about running, I make sure to mention that I have a love/hate relationship with the activity.

I’m not a huge fan, but I know it keeps me in shape, helps me lose weight, and prevents me from falling in with a street gang.

Since I’ve been home, my morning run has been my literal breath of fresh air.  Even though I’ve been dealing with anxiety about being outside or near other people while the virus is lurking out there, I’ve not hesitated to keep running.

Sure, I’ve had some problems with other people not complying with social distancing rules, which has made my runs more of a challenge, but who doesn’t love a challenge? Especially when life has gotten pretty boring.

I’ve increased my distance and speed, and look forward to seeing where my daily adventure will take me.  It’s fun to not know where I’m headed as I dodge other people and seek out remote streets on which to run.

The results are evident.  I’ve definitely lost weight, I feel great, and my resting heart rate has dropped from 61 at the start of the quarantine to 53 today.

Sweatpants are life.  I love sweatpants.  They’re so damn comfortable, and I don’t want to go back to khakis and jeans or anything else with zippers and buttons once life “returns to normal”.  I simply want to wear sweatpants all the time.

I really enjoy watching Gilmore Girls. As I mentioned in a previous post, this was a show I watched religiously with J when we were married.  I don’t think I’ve watched it in reruns since it went off the air in 2007.

I have been watching a new show on NBC that features Lauren Graham.  That made me reminisce about Gilmore Girls, and reminded me how great the dialogue was. Since I’m working on my novel, I thought it would be cool to watch an old episode to see what great writing was like.

My Google search for reruns turned up a goldmine.  The show airs in a four hour block every weekday on a channel that I didn’t even know I had on my cable.  I’ve gotten into the habit of watching and recording episodes on the regular.  Since I caught it in the middle of Season 6, I was able to watch the Series Finale and then the Pilot back to back.  So cool to see how the writing and the characters developed over seven seasons.

I’ll miss Rory and Lorelai when I go back to work, but it’s good to know they are on channel 124 whenever I need them.

I could eat better.  Quarantine has taught me that I don’t eat as healthy as I could.  Now that I’m stuck inside The House on the Hill with only the supplies in my fridge and cupboards to eat, I’m realizing that I give in to cravings too often, eat too many junk foods, and indulge in portions that are larger than necessary.

I’m sure I will still order comfort foods, or enjoy a bag of chips once it’s safe to go outside again, but I’m going to try to stick to a healthy menu and normal portions.  I’ve lost weight since I’ve been home, and not having regular access to Chinese food, pizza, and fried chicken hasn’t seemed to have had a detrimental effect.

I have an unhealthy dependence on baseball.  I really miss the Yankees.  I should be obsessively watching them, studying their stats, and discussing them on Twitter with fellow fans.  This giant hole in my heart cannot be filled with anything else!

What inner truths have been revealed during your stay at home experience?