Routinely deviate from routine advises Elena Paraskevas-Thadani (She/Her)

“I feel like someone took their thumb and smudged the calendar,” my 13 year old reported. “All the days blur together.” My kids are fully e-learning, and for the most part, still social distancing. This can cause the days to blend into one long, stretched void without demarcation. It’s not just kids feeling this way. Employees working from home feel it too.

While much has been said about “having a routine” to motivate oneself, little has been said about routinely *deviating* from the routine and creating much-needed separations in the days to give us reference. For example, Thursday nights, I socialize and have cocktails over zoom with friends. Sundays I wake up without an alarm. These planned detours help me appreciate and mark the passage of time.

While many lament “having lost the year” in 2020 due to the unprecedented isolation and working from home arrangements, we can all try to make the “smudges,” more like “happy little accidents,” as the painter Bob Ross used to say.

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#Covidculture