I hate talking about Covid-19. Everyone and their mother posts 14 things a day about the virus. The last thing the world needs is another article posted about this virus. I wanted to avoid the subject so much that when I posted about my future bike plans when everything really escalated that I even spelled the virus wrong. I called it Corvid-19.
We live in strange times for sure. Very quickly I described this as World War 3. Except no damage to infrastructure and buildings. People are dying but fortunately for most places not in the streets (yet). Most industries and citizens are being hit financially like they have never been before. And not just in a few countries but all around the world. This truly is a world war. Almost everything is out of our hands and our future will look very different moving forward.
Enough with the crappy bad news. While much is out of our hands there is potential. We are “stuck” in our homes. That is out of our control but what is not out of our control is how we spend our time. There is potential right now. There is some real potential. How do you want to reflect and look back on how you spent your time? Did you know that during this time of self isolation that you have the potential to acquire a new skill? To learn a new language? Write a book or business proposal?
Our society is and has been moving/evolving online at exponential speeds. If you are reading this then you have a computer at your disposal. Use your computer and learn a new skill or start a new business. Or perhaps you always wanted to be an artist? Or a photographer? How you look back and reflect on your experience or time spent during this self isolation is up to you. Maybe you actually need this time to slow down. Maybe this is the time you need to reestablish your relationship with your kids or spouse. But then make sure that is what you are doing and not hiding in the basement.
I believe the secret to surviving this self isolation is the ability to see it for what is – an opportunity.
I am stuck in an apartment. For 6½ years leading up to this bike ride I drove a truck sleeping in a new city or town virtually every night and then I started this bike ride sleeping in a new city or town virtually every night. And now I have been stuck in an apartment for 17 days and who knows how many more days.
One thing I am determined not to do is look back on this time with regret. How many times have you said if only I had the time?
How do I plan on spending my time during this down time?
I have actually been very busy; probably too busy. I have just recently submitted everything that I was ever hoping to submit to my web developer for over 5 months now. But rather than list the 15 things that I have accomplished what I want to mention is the skills that I am working on to improve. During this down time I am going to focus on improving my writing skillls and my YouTube channel.
Writing – my aunt who I am currently living with has introduced me to a book from her college years called Wild Mind, Living The Writer’s Life by Natalie Goldberg. I plan to take this down time to work on my writing skills. The last time I learned anything about writing was probably grade 12 English class and yet I am considered a full-time blogger. I am going to attempt to write something every morning as long as my mornings don’t get away from me. I plan to post what I write titled Safari Arie Creative Writing Exercise #1 (or what ever post number I am posting next.)
Video – lets face it my Facebook Live videos have never been great and I want to improve on them. I have recently hooked up with my new YouTube producer Brandon McCaskill and we are going to see about transforming these update videos into something far better and entertaining. So my second main focus will be video.
On a side note my aunt inspired by this idea of being productive during this time has just pulled out all of her old sketching and art materials. She is taking this time to reconnect with a past passion and love. Don’t waste the opportunity that you are being given here.
