The days keep going by. Those of us who are fortunate enough to be able to self-quarantine are have spent weeks inside.
It’s a strange sort of life. Every day starts to feel the same. There’s some interesting research on this – talking about how new experiences make time expand, or conversely how repetition can make time seem to drag.
We’ve found that keeping to a routine feels important, especially for Rosie, to help the days keep some sort of shape. But the consequence is that they all start to feel the same.
We’ve had some lovely times – with laughter and time together – and also some stress with work and other projects. But not being able to go anywhere or see people has made time feel static.
Today, I found myself dreading the thought of the chain of days that lay ahead. I imagined these carrying on exactly the same, particularly not knowing when this period of time will come to an end.
I thought, there must be some way to add a bit of sparkle back in.
This question popped to mind:
“What makes today special?”
I’ve held this in my thoughts all day. It’s been lovely.
It’s a helpful reminder look out for the moments where something lovely happened – and to let that moment’s magic colour the rest of the day.
Even little things – cooking a meal or watching a show – seem to take on a new significance where we try to savour and emphasise the ‘specialness’ of the events within a given day.
Today actually is a special today – I’ve got a song appearing in an online concert organised by some truly wonderful people. I realised that I was looking at this as a single bright spot in a day that was otherwise the same as any other, thinking of this as a bit ‘blah’ instead of using this as a focal point to help the whole day feel special.
We have to find our own ways to mark time during this period where the weeks pass, but life remains strangely frozen. Focusing on the sensation of novelty or differentiation is so important – this mindset shift helped change how the whole day felt.
Every day can have something special if we’re willing to look for it.
Photo by Skyler Gerald on Unsplash