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| Dale Carnegie |
That's Dale Carnegie. He was born in 1888 in Missouri and died in 1955 in New York, aged 66. He wrote the very famous How to Win Friends and Influence People which was published in 1936. I have not read that. He also wrote How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, published in 1948 (when he was 60), and I have read that. I may write a more detailed review at some point, but, until I do, the main tip as I understand it is to keep busy.
This is harder for some than others in isolation. As I mentioned quite a few of my high achieving women friends are carving their domestic lives like a hot knife through butter. I am certainly living in a domestic environment, but warmed cutlery is not in hand just yet... Well, today I did the dishes and baked something, but I'm not optimising. I have spent today having more fun than the last two days. Perhaps I have now adjusted to the New Deal. I have also spent today inventing a theory for me to write about to keep busy.
It's called the Evolution of the Isolated Human. Most of us have been isolated now for about 3 or 4 weeks. In some countries, it's longer, in some, it still hasn't started in earnest. After the initial shock of it all, we stop wriggling and figure out how to do it and start to find grooves. We start low, often starting basic to find our own progression, especially when our normal sense of things like productivity or achievement have been either removed or delayed. We like progressing.
This was a very long lead into telling you I did the perfect poo this morning . There's actually nothing else to say about it, if you know what I mean. It made me happy. I won't say I felt like a winner, but, there was a spring in my step.
I had also asked friends for song recommendations, and came across a band called Violet Skies. I sat in my front room and played it. Most of the songs were about lurve and breakups and loneliness, so naturally I had a small weep to lonely love songs. Fuck that!
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| Atheist Buns |
I went back to the window and read my Honey & Co At Home cookbook. Got some nice ideas for all those cans of chickpeas. I'm going to make hummus soon. I can feel it. I discovered today that I can/could totally tan in my front room. I also discovered that some helicopters come with sirens and that's disconcerting... when you discover that. I think some people might have been tanning on the Green near my place.
Then, I did a cardio workout. There's an app called Zombies Run, and, although I try never to run, I cracked it open today because I heard they'd made some stories designed for isolation mode. It was good! I did bloody 40 tricep dips, which, I've never done before. I was punching the air! I was stepping up the steps, I was dancing along to no music because I couldn't work out how to connect my music -- actually that was weird but I persisted -- I was not wearing workout gear. I mean, I wasn't naked, but I wasn't wearing workout gear. Another first! Yay, pandemic.
See? Busy!