Pandemics suck. I think we're all in agreement on this by now.
I'm no stranger to spending a lot of time at home. As a teenager I was the queen hermit of indoor individual entertainment, computer games ftw. The thing is that after a lot of growing up, reflection and work on my own mental health, I realized that I felt a lot better about myself if I introduced variation to my environment, if I went out and spent time with people and actually developed friendships, if I made sure to have some fun. Not that computer games aren't fun - THEY ARE. (And yes I fully acknowledge my own bias). But there is something about the spontaneity of physical fun, that steps away from the computer screen and involves being in the material, tangible world, that touches a different part of the soul. It's this kind of fun that (at least for me) has gotten vampire-sucked out of life by the pandemic.
I started realizing my lack of fun a little over a month ago. I suddenly had a revelation it was the middle of March 2021 and OH MY GOD it's the middle of March 2021?!!!! How had time passed by so fast and yet so slowly?! How had the year managed to suck so much that I could barely remember a moment of actually feeling true appreciation and excitement for life in almost three months??? The monotony was too real: the same places, same activities, the same things every day, day in and day out. That was what life had been reduced to.
Since then I've been looking for small ways to bring fun into my life. It's challenging, I admit... especially when one's only daily companion is an 85 year old half-deaf Italian roommate with whom there is almost nothing in common... but today I went for a walk by the river. And in the course of walking by the river in the middle of this bustling city, I saw a small dirt path that left the paved trail and I decided to act on a whim of spontaneity. Let's explore and see where this goes. I ended up walking through weeds to the edge of a small unpopulated peninsula that led straight to the water. I saw a duck in a tree. That was weird. | |
| Don't tell me this isn't weird |
And then after enjoying the silence, reflecting and praying, I began to seek the opportunity to get the ultimate selfie, because... why not? 😄 I found myself engrossed in moving back and forth from the camera trying to get my phone to perch perfectly on a branch of a tree because I was nothing if not determined to get my picture, never mind the mortal risk to my phone from being in such a precarious position. And I let myself get lost in moment, in the fun, because for me photography is a form of play. And play these days, especially in the middle of a pandemic, is in such precious short supply.
So whether you think that selfies are vain or not, this photo was worth it because it allowed me to engage with the physical world and get some joy out of life today. I hope that you can find your fun too.
💗
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| CHEESE! |
