Welcome distractions during a pandemic

As I was working on my calendar, I realized it has been almost seven weeks since I’ve left my home office to physically work at a client location. For me, that’s a long time to be in the office. Couple that with the limiting of personal trips out of the house, and it’s enough to cause major stress. I know you know what I’m talking about.

I decided to ask around and see what folks have been doing to relieve that stress. The most common response I got was enjoying quality, fun family time — movie nights, game nights, family dessert bakes or challenges, puzzle nights. 

Food

Most of the day revolves around meals and what the next one will be. Lots of experimenting is taking place. Dinnertime is important. Even though everyone is at home, everyone is still on different schedules, and dinnertime is the key time for family socialization. I like to experiment on my family at dinnertime. More on that later.

Pets/animals

There’s nothing like animals to provide some relief, be it quality pet time or birdwatching out the window. I’ve read that animal shelters are empty as people find the time to adopt or foster animals.

Exercise time

That’s a big one for a lot of people, although for me that tends to add stress to my life.

Books

I read a lot. Well, let me clarify. I listen to a lot of books, since I normally spend many hours in the car. I haven’t actually read a book in years … until recently.

Connecting with friends and friends from the past

There never seemed to be time for before. Now that there are no commutes, people are finding more time to connect and reconnect via FaceTime, phone calls, social media, etc.

There’s no doubt I have some unusual interests and hobbies. I have completed a couple of items I wanted to build that have been on my list of things to do for years (literally). I built a cheese press for making hard cheeses like cheddar and a modified beehive based on a picture I saw online. Sure, they look like they were built by a blindfolded five-year-old wearing mittens, but they are done. And I have the satisfaction of knowing I did it myself.

I have watched countless videos on historical cooking and have made recipes that originated hundreds of years ago, up through the 1700s and 1800s. (I’ve made my family suffer through many an experiment.) I’ve watched some fascinating videos about cooking during the Great Depression and will try some of those recipes.

The garden is set — or at least it is, for once, where it should be at this time of year. I have properly identified a couple of weeds and misidentified many more. I’d better stay away from foraging for now.

I hope this has given you relief from your stress for a few minutes and maybe even given you a few ideas. Me, I’m going to take advantage of this time, the best I can, to find new interests and get some stuff done. Who’s with me?