Going Blonde & Other Quarantine Activities
At the beginning of this quarantine there was a very distinct air of ‘now is the time to do what you’ve been putting off’. There were references to Shakespeare writing in quarantine and Isaac Newton supposedly starting on the theory of gravity. ‘Write a book!’ ‘Start that project!’ ‘Finish that thing!’ These were all echoed from different corners of the universe/internet.
Now that’s not inherently a bad thing. A lot of people have found this situation the exact right kind of motivation to be productive and creative. However, I find it very toxic. When you put things like that out to people unsolicited you are inadvertently putting pressure on people. Quarantine is enough pressure. Trust me.
Psychologically speaking, we are all in survival mode. This virus threw everything into the air and said ‘deal with it’. For some, they are handling it like nothing much has changed and are powering through. To those people, I’d like to say congratulations I wish I was one of you. For others, this pandemic has brought out anxiety and depression and OCD tendencies and caused so much new stress just from the uncertainty of it all.
When you’re too overwhelmed to create and you have people telling you that this is your moment, you get into a little bit of a guilt/shame spiral of feeling like you’re wasting something and you’re not good enough. It’s a lot of fun!
I felt like that at the beginning. I sat and I stared at unfinished projects and fumed about everyone else being productive so why can’t I? It didn’t do me a lick of good.
Instead what I ended up creating is a new philosophy about my time in quarantine. Be a little thoughtful, be a little giving. Basically what I take that to mean is this: Take stock of yourself and think about what is going to be best for you, maybe that is driving yourself crazy and pushing and pushing until you’ve written a novel. Or maybe that’s getting a new cross stitch and sitting on the couch all day watching SVU reruns on USA. Once you know what is going to be best for you, let yourself have that, don’t feel guilty or shameful, give yourself a break.
Quarantine is the right time for a lot of things, but those things are not necessarily of the same ‘importance’ to society, and THAT’S OKAY!!! You don’t have to think about society right now (expect for when you go out, in which case wear a fucking mask and don’t be a dickbag).
Here’s a list of things I’ve done during quarantine:
Made a ‘Have A Nice Poop’ cross stitch for my boyfriend’s bathroom
Watched three seasons of Guy’s Grocery Games on the Food Network
Ordered another cross stitch kit, two felting kits, and a cheese making kit
Bought a pet stroller and took my cat for a walk
Adopted a dog because I was sad
Started a blog to kill time
And today? What did I do? Guess!
No I did not make sourdough.
I went blonde!
(Why are you so surprised? It’s in the title.)
This wasn’t totally a quarantine whim, I’ve wanted to dye my hair for years, but it was never the right time. Quarantine is the right time for a lot of things it turns out. Even if those things are just for you.
