October 12, 2020

Monday 6:48am

I guess today’s a holiday. It’s always been easy to forget since working from home for so long, but also the daily drudge of this Covid time period is just incredible. Everything kind of just smooshes together into one long month and then, only because I have to pay rent and I have an alert reminder, do I realize it’s over and we’re into the next month.  Today’s just another day in the midst of it all though. But I know it’s a holiday. An alert told me so.

I was going to write in my hand-version journal – as I do most every morning but I ran out of blue pens. Crazy, huh?  I started to write with the Black Bic, but it was bothering me so much I had to stop.  So here I am typing…

And it hit me, I’m obsessed with alternating pen colors when writing. When da fudge did that happen? When did I become this crazed person who has silly obsessions that must be followed or they derail my day?  Have I become one of “those” people?  Is this being OLD?  Oh my God! 

Actually, I’m kind of laughing. I’m thinking of all the things I do pretty regularly and as much as I’d like to blame it on Covid and self-isolation or even being “old” now, I’m positive it’s always been just me. Covid or no Covid, I have habits that I never realized where a “thing” till just now.  Does anyone else have these kind of silly or not so silly rituals? 

When I write in my journal – I prefer to use my favorite pens which to most people’s surprise is an old-school clear Bic pen, one Blue and another Black.  I use a red pen or highlighter at times to emphasize things. Yeah, the cheap pens. Ha!  They’re getting harder and harder to find though. Generally, when I do find them, I buy a few packets but clearly, I’ve run out. Life would be much easier if I could just always choose to type on my computer. It would make it easier to go back and forth in blog posts and such and not having to retype what I’ve already written.

I make my bed every morning.  Since I was kid. Even the times I was able to afford a housekeeper and such (back in the day when the income was fierce, but my sanity was not), I always made my bed. I’m extremely organized. And there’s something about having to have my bed made before I work out or start my day that just keeps me on point.  I remember Admiral McCraven recently talking  about making your bed every day.  People were posting this all over social media and I remember thinking, “no disrespect sir, but duh?” His reasonings are about completely the first “task” of the day. For me, it’s all about habit. Organization. And yes, the need to end the day in what always feels like a fresh bed. Honestly, before I heard this explosion of “wow” over this first of ten lessons he shared…I thought everyone pretty much made their bed in the morning.  Seriously.

Coffee. That’s a normal, “most people do it”  kind of thing, right? I drink two cups of coffee every morning before 6am. Freshly brewed, from home – not at Starbucks or anything, but coffee every morning without fail. I’m thinking this is not that strange. Hoping maybe. I’m so obsessed with it though, that when I used to travel and stay at a hotel and such, I’d ask if they had coffee available before 6am. And if not, could they give me a coffee maker in my room (which most hotel rooms have anyways). But I’d check. I’d see where the nearest Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks was, just in case…  Worst case scenario – and I wish I was lying here – I’d have room service bring me coffee pot at 5am.  The last time I stayed in Boston at a very high end hotel, that pot of early morning coffee cost me $35, not including tip.  Worth. Every. Penny.  Oh, pre-Covid travel… I miss it.

I guess that’s it for this morning. I wish I was obsessed with running every day or working out in general – no, that stuff I have to push myself to do!  And with that, I need to get on that bike right now…

I hope today’s a GREAT day.

Carmen