Pandemic Diary, Day 24

This is the first entry in this series. February 29, 2020, the day Washington’s Governor Inslee declared a state of emergency, is Day 0, and all entries are dated from that point.

I started working from home as my “new normal” on day 18. I expect to be working from home for roughly 3 months. In less than 48 hours, Washington will be under a “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order, which should have us all mostly sitting around our houses for at least two weeks.

I am lucky in that my job can be done from home, and while my employer, the University of Washington, may be closing down physical campuses (mostly), they are not ceasing operations. I have a job to do. I will collect a paycheck. We will not be in danger of losing our home, running out of food, or anything like that. Financially, we are solid.

This diary will be about my mental and emotional state during this time, what changes I am making in my home and my life to get through this. 

I am not an extrovert. But I am also not an introvert. I am an ambivert. For the most part, Zoom meetings, Google Hangouts,  and chats via MS Teams and Slack, will meet my need for socialization. (Plus, I have a husband and a roommate to talk to.) 

My biggest struggle will be with that lack of movement. When I work from campus, I take the bus. I am active for anywhere from 90-120 minutes on a normal day (depending on how many meetings I have in different areas of campus). So while I am absolutely a fan of not having a commute (getting 2.5 hours back in my day), I need to figure out a way to get out and move. 

I have started by taking the dogs for multiple short walks throughout the day. The ideal is:
15 minute walk at 6:40a
15 minute walk at 9:30a
30 minute walk at Noon
15 minute walk at 2:30p  
15-30 minute walk after 4p
But that is the ideal, and I have yet to achieve it, even once. Most days we’re doing 3-4 walks, but not 5.

So yesterday, we set the Wii up. It has been years since I used the Wii for fitness and exercise, but I did use to use it on a regular basis. It will be fun to do some bowling again. Or use it to guide me through come exercise routines. This will also be a way I get in movement on days when it decides to rain, and I don’t want to take the dogs outside.

The other major thing I need when it comes to my long term mental health is a neat and organized workspace. For those who know me, that may seem not quite right. At home, I am messy, not quite a slob (though I have been in the past) but definitely messy. However, at work. I really need to know where things are and everything has its place.

I am lucky to have a home office to work in. But it has been more of a storage space over the last year (as is our guest room). Since I am going to be in here for 3 months or more, I need to organize the space. I will do my best to track progress. I’ve already done a little bit, but here are some “before” pictures. Hopefully, in a few weeks, there will be “after” pictures where everything is more organized.

Today, my new monitor stands arrived. They come with drawers where I will be able to get somethings up off the desk or the top of the printer. I need to get my calendar hung on the wall, and we need to figure out putting up the curtain. (Which will require moving the desk, so not something we are looking forward to.) And then I need to build the filing cabinet we bought over a year ago. 

So that’s the starting plan. We’ll see how it goes.