Exercise under the "shelter in place" order has taken on an entirely new meaning. Exercise used to be working out at the Pamplin Sports Center. Excercise now is walking laps around my uncle's living room. The things I would do to have 30 minutes in a proper gym might honestly scare some of you, but for those who are gym rats like myself, I'm hoping you'll empathize!
Schoolwork has been steadily trickling in now that Spring Break is over. The assignments and tasks are compounding daily, and I'm pretty sure I have a midterm or two in the coming weeks. Honestly, at this point, I'm getting so busy that I forget I'm in California! To remind me that this is not some fever dream, I turn to the closest window to admire the deep, ocean blue Californian sky and the redwood trees that are sprinkled around the backyard like oaken poppy seeds. I'm in paradise.
Out of curiosity, I pull out my weather app and swipe to Portland. Wowzers. It seems like the weather is just as beautiful, if not more so than it is here in California. I imagine what it could have been like if not for this terrible virus. There would be hammocks pitched between trees close to the Manor House, with laughter and lively conversation drifting through the air like dandelion seeds following a gentle wind. There would be casual games of frisbee played by the reflecting pool, the white disks sailing through the air like the streamline rowboats on the Willamette River. I would be on a jog deep in the heart of Tryon Creek State Park with the taste of the crisp afternoon air on my tongue and the burning heat of the sun on my exposed back. In desperate times like this, I think it's valuable to hold on to the hope that things will get better. Looking out the window at the calm April sky, it seems like the answers to at least some of our anxieties lie in the beauty of the world around us. So I ask you, readers, to take a quick moment to look at the world around you and appreciate the little things. It might not kill your stir craziness, but it might just give you a new and reassuring perspective on life.
Schoolwork has been steadily trickling in now that Spring Break is over. The assignments and tasks are compounding daily, and I'm pretty sure I have a midterm or two in the coming weeks. Honestly, at this point, I'm getting so busy that I forget I'm in California! To remind me that this is not some fever dream, I turn to the closest window to admire the deep, ocean blue Californian sky and the redwood trees that are sprinkled around the backyard like oaken poppy seeds. I'm in paradise.
Out of curiosity, I pull out my weather app and swipe to Portland. Wowzers. It seems like the weather is just as beautiful, if not more so than it is here in California. I imagine what it could have been like if not for this terrible virus. There would be hammocks pitched between trees close to the Manor House, with laughter and lively conversation drifting through the air like dandelion seeds following a gentle wind. There would be casual games of frisbee played by the reflecting pool, the white disks sailing through the air like the streamline rowboats on the Willamette River. I would be on a jog deep in the heart of Tryon Creek State Park with the taste of the crisp afternoon air on my tongue and the burning heat of the sun on my exposed back. In desperate times like this, I think it's valuable to hold on to the hope that things will get better. Looking out the window at the calm April sky, it seems like the answers to at least some of our anxieties lie in the beauty of the world around us. So I ask you, readers, to take a quick moment to look at the world around you and appreciate the little things. It might not kill your stir craziness, but it might just give you a new and reassuring perspective on life.