What’s most important to you right now? 

Moving forward with anything. Whether it’s continuing to read a book, or make improvements in my space. Continuing to do things instead of just becoming passive while this is all going on. As long as I’m doing that, then I don’t feel like I’m stuck. 

What was most important to you before you had to social distance? 

Work. Before this all was happening I was so consumed by work. I had long hours, and I travelled all the time. Before this we maybe spent one weekend together. That was always the priority. Now it’s just being forced to breathe and take a beat and enjoy being home and being present. It’s a nice change. 

What’s the first thing you’ll do when this is over? 

I’m going to get my eyebrows threaded! 

What are you doing to pass the time? 

Watching the birds and propagating succulents. More than anything, I’m playing Spiro. I’ve had this video game for months, and I never really let myself play it because I was like “you have more important things to do, you have work, you need to do your creative stuff, you need to spend time with your husband.” Now I’m just kind of like…I really want to play this video game. I’m project hopping a lot. I made a giant task list and I’m just working my way through it. 

What makes you happy right now?

Birds! I have a bird feeder that I put up. There’s some kind of bluebird that has been floating around here since we moved in and I love seeing him. I finally got this bird feeder and put it up. It’s right where I have my coffee in the morning, so I look out the window and wait for the birds to come. Every time they do, I sit there and watch til they go away. There was a hawk there the other day! 

What would you tell yourself two months ago with the knowledge you have today? 

Go see your mom. 

[My biggest lesson in this time has been] to remember to take a beat and not be so consumed by things like work, that I feel are so important. They are–it’s very important to me–I have a lot of career aspirations that I’m working towards, but that can’t be everything. There’s these layers of satisfaction that I get from work that I realized I can get from all the things around me. There are multiple things that you can do to make yourself happy and fill those little holes. It doesn’t have to be this one specific thing. There’s space for it all, if you can find it. 

Amanda M-San Rafael

DAY 47