I started this series of posts at the end of October 2018. I had just cut back my hours from full time to 90%, and wanted to use my new free time wisely. Some of that time was to relax, but I also wanted to improve my fitness, make my home a more pleasant place to stay, and work on becoming a more well-rounded human being.
My last update was in March of this year, with a few wins, and a bunch of misses. I set new goals, based on my predictions of what life might look like with a pandemic sweeping through.
I had planned to follow up at the end of May. I’m a little late, but rounding things up after 13 weeks of dealing with COVID-19.
The Goals: Past, Present, Future.
Everything changed. The gyms closed, the library closed, stores and museums closed. We weren’t supposed to travel, both by order of the governor, and by guidelines from my employer. (I could travel, but I would be responsible for missing work for 2 weeks of quarantine.)
Nothing changed. We were asked to stay home unless we were essential workers going to and from our employment, or carrying out essential tasks (grocery shopping) or taking our daily exercise. My days looked very much the same as before, until I was instructed to “see” patients from home via telemedicine.
Exercise.
My goal continued at 150 minutes a week of exercise, with plans to ramp up my strength training.
I was skeptical that I would manage to meet my goals, as the gym was closed and I had no plans to attend a yoga class, where social distancing was not possible.
As it turns out, I did very well. Working from home meant I took a good walk most days, partly for stress management, partly just to get moving. My yoga teacher started Zoom classes early, and because I didn’t have to leave work and get to the studio, I practiced more regularly than I have years. I even started remote sessions with my strength trainer.
In 12 of the 13 weeks since my last update, I exercised at least 150 minutes a week, often surpassing that goal handily. If I count yoga towards my strength training efforts, I also achieved my goal of at least 30 minutes a week for 11 of the 13 weeks.
I think I would like to continue with my current goals, perhaps pushing a little: to get 150 minutes a week of exercise, with 60 minutes of strengthening exercise (weights or yoga).
Connecting with friends and family.
I had hoped to average one social event per week, seeing friends and/or family. I thought that this goal would have to go on hiatus because of the need for social distancing.
Instead, I discovered all sorts of technology to help socialize from afar.
I set up a standing friends “tea” with several girlfriends, which I have attended 10 times over this time period.
We had a “double date” with some old friends who live about 1/2 mile away. Instead of having dinner together, we chatted after dinner on Zoom.
During this time period, I played chess with my young nephew twice via FaceTime.
I might have also “coincidentally” run into a friend on my walks several times. We were careful to keep our masks on and chat from about 6 feet apart.
Overall, I think I am doing pretty well to have a social interaction at least once a week. It’s not the same as seeing people in person, but it still maintains connections while not risking viral transmission.
I would like to continue my goal of socializing once a week, on average. I think my stretch goal would be to reach out to my friends I am not seeing regularly with my internet tea. If I have to pick a number, I would say once a month socializing with someone in addition to these friends.
Adventures.
I had previously hoped to get out of the house to do something (explore a neighborhood, see a museum, go to a street festival), shooting for one “adventure” every 2 weeks.
I thought I would have to put this goal on hold, and here I was quite correct. My big adventures have been going to work and sometimes walking to the local bakery (an essential business).
I do not think this will come back into rotation until SARS2-CoV is no longer a threat.
Reading.
I wanted to keep reading, as I clearly feel better if I do.
I declined to set a goal for overall reading (no goal of X books per by June) to avoid spoiling my reading time. But I did want to work on “worthy” books.
My goal for this period was to finish one of the books given to me by friends or family. Or, if my first choice was totally unpalatable, to give that book away and start another.
Here, I did not do so well. I started The Yid, by Paul Goldberg, and neither gave up on it nor finished it. I would like to keep going and finish it, but some of the material is upsetting. I must confess, it was hard to concentrate on new books while worrying about hospitals overwhelmed by Covid patients.
However, I very much favor this sort of goal. I would like to finish The Yid, and at least one other gifted book (if I hate the second one, I can start a third and satisfy this goal).
Clear the Clutter.
I had a number of goals under this heading: clearing 14 books and multiple items from the bookshelf I have been trying to clear for the past year, working on clearing out my overstuffed closet. I planned to post one item a week in my local Buy Nothing group as a way to get started.
I decided I should put this on hold during the pandemic. I wasn’t sure how contagious this virus might be on books or other items, and I didn’t think I should be meeting up with strangers to give items away.
That said, I have a number of books, and some other random items, that I am willing to give away. Once I am sure I can give them away safely.
And, I did finally clear out my targeted bookshelf from my office.
I have two different types of goals for this category, I would be happy with completing either of these:
- If viral activity stays lower in my region, I would like to offload (donate, give away, sell) my culled items while I still feel it is safe to do so.
- If I don’t feel comfortable getting items out of the house, then my goal is to go through my overstuffed closet, and generate another large pile of things to offload once it is safe. The goal being to make my closet more manageable.
Creative Activities.
I was completely overwhelmed by stress this spring. I did not do any of the projects I had been thinking about. No knitting to make a baby blanket. No photo album; after all the computer time for work and social visits, I had days when I couldn’t face a computer screen for another project. The piano was only a pipe dream even before the pandemic.
On the other hand, I surprised myself with how much I worked on my adult coloring book when I was super-stressed.
And, although I slowed down, I did work on the blog.
Going forward, with the idea that it is good to have goals, I will put forth a few:
- Finish a photo book for either 2018 or 2019.
- Restart knitting, or possible restart quilting (it turns out one of my friends here is an excellent quilter).
- Keep blogging.
Connecting with the community.
I had wanted to attend services and be open to volunteer opportunities. Some of these were possible to attend via Zoom, but I (again) did not engage.
Considering that large gatherings are probably still going to be banned, I am going to have to figure out how to “attend” services before the holidays. I think my goal this summer has to be attending one service.
Financial goals.
I had quite a few goals, listed in my post in January; there were a few yet to be done when I posted in March. Some have to do with savings, some with money management, and some with spending money to make our lives better.
- Fund a spousal IRA for 2019 for Mr. PiN. Still not done, we have some expensive, non-optional, things to pay for coming up. My goal will be to fund the 2020 IRA once all the bills are settled. (When the bills will be settled isn’t yet clear.)
- Fund my Backdoor Roth for 2020. On hold for the same reasons, with the same timeline for completion.
- Have Mr. PiN manage the bills in February. Done in February, March, and May. You can read his thoughts about the process here and here.
- Fill out an instruction sheet with accounts and passwords for him. Finished before I went back to work in the hospital.
- Consider purchasing and filling out the In Case of Emergency binder. Not done. But I am pretty happy about #4 being completed.
- Work on optimizing travel rewards to make our next trip(s) more affordable. Our travel plans are on hold for the foreseeable future, so there is no real rush. But I have been thinking about this.
- Spiff up the house. There are a number of projects we have put off for a long time since they aren’t urgent: putting in overhead lights, replacing rotten window trim, replacing carpeting. Still not done, but I think one or two of these may happen before the end of the summer.
How about you? How did COVID19 change your plans? Were you surprised at what you were able to achieve while dealing with the pandemic and stay at home orders in much of the country?