It was interesting for me to step back this weekend and reflect upon my daily life after being self-quarantined for about 9-weeks. Although the days of the week and weekend blend somewhat together, my children’s school schedules virtually create weekdays and weekends, so there is a different feeling to Saturdays and Sundays.

Aside from helping my younger son launch his day with online schooling, I start most weekday mornings with the following tasks:
a brief look at the news over breakfast (if I feel up to facing the details of our current situation), a walk with the dog, maybe a crossword puzzle, and the creation of my daily “to-do” list. My list includes a wide variety of items – house chores, food planning, photoshoots and edits, support for my family, phone calls, creative pursuits, etc. Sometimes, I check SLACK and emails and respond to them.

At this point, I have noticed two different trends. I either continue down a maze of intriguing stuff on the internet, or I get up from the table and start to tackle my daily list. The things I explore on the internet are useful, educational, humorous, and most of the time, enjoyable to explore. I dive deep into emails that I have flagged, read up on new photo inspirations and techniques, do a Sudoku, or play an online version of Set. I reach out to friends, too. All of it is worthwhile for me.

However, if I start my day on this track and don’t set a boundary on when I will stop, I end the day frustrated that I didn’t tackle more of my “to-do” list. When my days were more structured pre-quarantine, the schedule of taking one of our sons to school forced me to start my daily tasks. Now, I have to be much more disciplined about it. Sometimes, I even choose to set an alarm or timer. I have to commit to leaving the table and working on my projects for the day.

I notice when I do that, I feel much more at peace at the end when I sit down to relax before bed. I have chosen what I will tackle for the day, and while I rarely complete every item on my list, at least I know that I have moved toward some of my goals!

Below is a photograph from my current project photographing flowers with an infrared camera.