Things aren’t good in the world these days, and they aren’t looking to improve much anytime soon. Yesterday there was a trend on Facebook for people to post 10 things they don’t like that other people generally do. I attempted my own lists — a darkly humorous version, an opposite version, a blatantly obvious version, etc. Looking for a creative approach to the things other people are posting online is something I’ll occasionally do to amuse myself. In the end, I decided not to finish a list, though. I found all the negativity that kept coming up to be fairly off-putting.
In the past, when life has been pulling me down, I’ve found it helpful to remind myself that there is still good to be enjoyed. Sometimes shifting that mindset a little bit makes it easier to appreciate the things in my life that are going well. I have to believe that’s true even during a quarantine so widespread that stories commonly heard on the news now sound too much like the first eight minutes of a movie set in a post-apocalypse dystopia. In that spirit, here is my latest list of 10 Good things:
(1) It’s April 2nd and the snow is gone. It’s still very possible that huge snowstorms could come this month, but we all know that if they do, they don’t last long.
(2) Since the weather is relatively nice and I’m home all the time, Freddie and I are able to take more walks. In fact, we’ve been walking so frequently that I will often let him set the walking pace (which is a bit faster than mine) and I can keep up. Unless it’s the morning walk and we’re almost done, and he knows that his breakfast is back at the house waiting for him. Because, that pace? Not casual.
(3) While we were out walking this morning, we saw our friends Dave and Wags. Freddie and Wags wanted some sniffing time, but Dave and I kept them separated and moving. We didn’t get to exchange more than a few words, but it was good to see them.
(4) One of my all-time favorite television shows, “Community,” just started up on Netflix yesterday. I know it’s been on Hulu or whatever for a long time, but since I only have cable and Netflix I’ve been left out. I do have the series on DVD, but — and believe me, I know what a pathetic first-word problem this is to complain about — it’s just so much more inconvenient to get up and change discs every three or four episodes than just clicking a remote to start the next one. On a side note, if you are looking for new shows to binge during the quarantine, seriously — check out “Community.” It’s brilliant.
(5) My cousin Kelly is basically an expert on infectious diseases. She’s my go-to with COVID questions these days, which she’s able to answer on occasion — she’s fairly busy at work these days. She says that ordering take-out is probably safer than taking a trip to the grocery store. I have a good amount of food still left, but I think I’m going to start giving my new Door Dash app a try. I’m not exactly a foodie or anything, but it will be nice to get a little variety.
(6) As much as I would love to have a big greasy omelet and a stack of pancakes decorated with syrup and a butter scoop and whatever else could fit on the top, I’ve recently discovered that a banana and a scoop of peanut butter makes for a perfectly acceptable Distance Learning breakfast.
(7) Working from home means I can play music all day long. I’m getting in the habit of crafting playlists for each day before my office hours begin.
(8) Normally I’m a news junkie. During a presidential election year, that would be even more accentuated. Because the news right now is all about how bad things are with the virus or how 45 made up a new way to fail in handling it, I’ve cut way back on paying attention and have so much more time in my day to get other things done.
(9) Late night talk shows have reformatted themselves to a few comedy pieces followed by one-on-one remote interviews with the guests. This format reminds me a lot of different interview podcasts I’ve listened to, so I’m recording a lot of these shows to watch the following day. I’m enjoying this quite a bit.
(10) Today is Day 4 of the distance learning experiment, and I feel it’s going okay so far. My grade level team has worked hard to put together user-friendly (and parent-friendly self-guided assignments, so I think we’re on the right track. It’s great having team members who work so hard, because they push me to work hard as well, even if only to try and keep up with them. It’s also pretty nice to end a work day by just standing up from the desk in my home office and leaving the room.
There. Ten good things. That took about twenty minutes to write; that may have resulted in some typos, but it shows that it isn’t hard when you stop to think about it. Good things don’t have to be huge to still be good. If you followed the link to read this from Facebook, I would invite you to keep the positivity going. When you go back to Facebook, please leave a comment about one good thing you’re experiencing right now. After that, if you feel so inspired, go ahead and post your own list of 10 Good Things. Maybe it will catch on and bring us some happier days.
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