Quotidian Address

In truth I find I have not put this time to as good of use as I would like. My reading habits have tended towards popcorn, and overall my efforts and energy have largely gone into work. A key cause, I think, is the first factor on your list: Flexible work conditions and the temporal freedoms that come with them. I have found that factor to be a hindrance, rather than a help. Work has been busy for me, partly because I'm temporarily filling two jobs and partly because with the sudden move to remote work there have been a host of management issues to resolve as everyone figures out new ways of doing things. Working from home has blurred the boundary of work and life in a way I find difficult. That is somewhat my fault, I think: I could do better about drawing a hard line between the two. It was easier when I could get to work, sit at my desk, and be in my work headspace for the next ten hours or so. From home, even when I try, the fact that it is at my home environment tends to mix t...

One thing I have appreciated about the enforced self-isolation that has come with the pandemic has been the quiet. I'm not talking about a reduction in purely physical sound, although there is that as well, but the reduction in the mental noise in my head. The cacophany of warring ideas and opportunities that used to fill my mind, aspirational habits, goals of making new friends in a new city, restaurants to try, gyms to sign up for, all of these have dimmed to a quiet murmur. Now, it takes quite a lot of effort to initiate any new endeavour and so I find myself taking careful aim at the few I care about and slowly building out systems and habits to support just those. I hope that after we are able to go a little more I am able to maintain this sense of quiet and purpose. To do so, perhaps I should reflect on where it comes from. Some contributing factors surely include: Flexible work conditions and the temporal freedoms that come with them. No social pressure to go out and d...

I worry we can't put the genie back into the bottle. I look around this weekend, and people are leaving social distancing behind them: streets are busy, people are out. Restaurants aren't fully open yet, but I understand in provinces where they have reopened they are packed. Even the recent protests seem to suggest attention is moving to new things, past COVID (though there is a relationship, given the pattern of impact COVID has had in the U.S.). Attention spans are short; people move on. We see this in all sorts of things, from fashion to video games, and it takes a lot for crises to be different. COVID has been a heck of a crisis, but if there is a second wave, I don't know if countries can get people back in their homes, especially now that it's summer. Social distancing one is a tough new experience, that people can try to fight their way past: doing it a second time is a grind. Part of me wonders if that's ok. The first round of social distancing let ...