Today I realized that my natural rhythm is the defy everything. I was born this way, and I make no sense to anyone around me, and I am used to that. But man is it hard to want to stay inside, when everyone is telling you to just stay inside.
Unfortunately for me, staying inside is a necessity since I have a compromised immune system along with asthma and my food allergies. Because of this, I rely on myself, the herd and a lot of germ free environments to survive. My boss sent us home 7 days ago to work from home, she was worried about our team, and took the option of working from home and turned it into a mandatory for our team. I am truly thankful for that blessing in disguise. It gave me more time to take care of business that was messy (thanks to jerk robbers) and also to really prepare for this Shelter in Place. Luckily I was prepared way before this illness broke out around the world, but it did help that my little shoulder ghost kept nudging me to pick up a few extra items. Now I am definitely stocked for the whole three weeks! I am going to be so pale at the end of this.
I needed to go in for some treatment this morning due to a clavicle issue and a pulled muscle that is being exacerbated by my horrible home ergonomics (as in I have none). I might be comfortable as heck working from home, but my body says otherwise when I finally leave my makeshift office (currently in the kitchen). So I did depart from my home (aside from my daily mail run) and also decided while I was out to brave the crowds of Whole Foods. I only went to Whole Foods because I visited 2 Trader Joe’s stores before they opened and the line was around the block, with an estimated hour long queue. I am not standing in line to go into a store and buy 3 packets of taco seasoning. So alas Whole Foods saved me, and they had fresh leafy greens, so I grabbed some of that too. My trip into the wild was short, but I was surprised by the amount of traffic I encountered on this supposed Day 2 of the Shelter in Place. Feels like people gave up after 1 day, and are now no longer in fear. I hope we do a better job of sheltering tomorrow.
Today’s insider look into my brain…. I really hate change. I can’t believe how much I hate change until its been thrust upon in such rapid succession. As an adult, I came to realize that change is minimal when you control your environment, its much different however when you throw another human into it. Luckily, I have a human partner who was been really good at slowly offering change…. he learned the hard way early on how not to thrust change upon me quickly.
A defining moment of realization for me had to be when I concluded that I had not eaten but once the day before. I also had not had water but one bottle the whole day. That is not normal for me, and that is mostly because I am off my routine. I drink significantly more water, eat more consistently, and have a healthier balance when I am at the office, mostly because I spend more time there than anywhere else. I drink about a bottle of water every 2-3 hours. At home, I am drinking a bottle maybe once or twice a day. The routine is off, which means I am off, and when I am off, things never go well. Consistency and rhythm keep me running like a well oiled machine.
If there is anything I am getting from this, it will be the ability to cook meals within 30 minutes. I am glad I kept all those Rachel Ray 30 minute meal cookbooks from a decade ago, because now I can try something new and modify it to my food allergies.
So today’s meal of choice was Chickpea and Black bean tacos. I tried a new seasoning called Bearitos and it ended up being great with the Chickpea and Black bean mix. I did use the Spicy Black Beans from Whole Foods’ organic 365 brand, and I think that added a little kick to it which we all know how much I love my spice. I am trying to resort to cooking more meals than take out, but we will see. I don’t think I will ever pick up cooking Thai food, so I might need to use my 2 allotted take out meals a week to Thai food. Trying to keep myself to two take-out meals to support the small businesses I love, and still eat all the food I bought.
I think the one thing saving me through this all is, I have great friends and an awesome support network and a really great job. My co-workers and I are communicating on the platforms for chatting. My friends and I are having meals together using Facetime and Messenger and Skype. I even have movie watching parties. So all in all, we may survive this after all.
The Jayne Project 