These are strange times we’re currently living in. Time spent indoors has skyrocketed for a lot of people and we’re all looking for more activities to fill the time. Strangely, my day to day life hasn’t changed that much. Since the new year started I created a new daily schedule for myself which included studying, going to the gym and not much else. Not having a job and us living off of one salary means being in super savings mode and an easy way to accomplish that is to simply not go outside. Be content with what you have make it work. That was going on for about two months. An entire week would go by without me leaving my apartment building and I wouldn’t even notice. Now I did have my few days where I felt myself going a bit crazy but that passed quite quickly.
My mornings start around 8am. I get to wake up naturally to the sun peeking through my blinds or simply from Nick rolling around in bed or snoring in my direction. Either way it happens around the same time everyday and its a relaxing way to wake up. I don’t feel too tired and most days I’m excited about breakfast (I dream about it sometimes).
I spend about an hour in bed doing things everyone says not to do. I pick up my phone first thing in the morning. I look at my 
Fitbit data to see how I’ve slept. I aim to get 8 hours of sleep but I usually get about 7 and a half. Then I check my 
Timehop as a way to reminisce and see just how much my life has changed and how much I’ve grown up. Then it’s on to 
Twitter to see what everyone is up to. It’s a quick way to catch up on news headlines and get a laugh from friends. From there I head over to 
Instagram and get more laughs and catch up with friends without really making any effort. Something new I’ve added is after that is 
Lumosity. For those of you who don’t know, Lumosity is a brain game app that is basically a small brain workout in the form of mini games. I find that the days that I do this in the morning my thoughts and ideas are a bit more organized throughout the day. Once I’ve done all that I really have no excuse to stay in bed anymore so I open up the blinds to make the decision a little bit easier.
From bed I go and make breakfast and hopefully it’s only about 9am by now, I can get away with 9:30am on the days I only make cereal but it might be a bit of a rush. Breakfast is either eggs or cereal on weekdays. It’s simple, easy, and quick. I have a bad habit of playing COD while eating my cereal which makes it take a bit longer but I’m eating Alpen original and need a distraction from the constant chewing.
After breakfast it should be about 10am and that’s when I go take my shower and I dress for a workout from the waist up. That means I get to put on my sweat pants and be comfortable but still look like I have all intention to be active. Win win situation if you ask me.
I spend the rest of my morning, it should hopefully be 10:30am, at my desk going through emails, reading the news and applying for jobs. Oh and watching copious amounts of Youtube videos.
I feel like I’m coming up to the point where I’ve watched everything on Youtube since my recommendations are now videos I’ve already watched. I may have a snack of some fruit if I still feel hungry after downing half a bottle of water but I usually don’t eat again until lunch, around 2pm. I’m working on doing a bit more than apply for jobs and Youtube before lunch but sometimes it doesn’t work out like that. Ideally, I’d like to get at least an hour and a half of studying in before lunch. Or take lunch early so that I have more time to study.
During lunch I take the time to catch up on a tv show that I’m not watching with my sister. Usually that would be Madam Secretary, I’m sooooo close to finishing, and on Tuesdays that is Roswell New Mexico. I found this is a great way to make sure I take a long enough lunch and not just rush down food and get back to work.
After lunch comes studying!
I found it really hard at first to study. It’s been 5 years since I’ve done any sort of studying and I knew it would be difficult. Somehow during that time I migrated from our office/study and decided studying on the couch would be a good idea. It wasn’t. We rearranged the office, giving both of us some extra desktop space and it’s turning into a great place to study again. I try to start studying by 3:30pm (allowing some cleanup time in the kitchen) and work through until about 6:30pm giving myself until 7pm to unwind on Youtube before I go back to interact with others. I find that I tend to be a bit snappy or just not present if I don’t do that.
I would LOVE to get in a workout everyday at 7pm after studying for so long but there are nights when we have to cook dinner so yoga or pilates is forgotten for that day.
For the most part we’ve been doing really well with cooking all our meals and having them be healthy choices. Once a week I make soup which gives us a couple meatless meals and gives us a break from cooking the next day.
It’s also a great way to sneak in some vegetables but please, do not blend up sweet potato with the rest of the soup. Been there, it tasted so wrong.
The rest of the night is spent on the couch catching up on tv shows (we currently have a deal that if I watch Lucifer, Nick will watch Black Lightning) or re-watching the Marvel movies that we can find. I fall asleep on the couch around 10 and I’m woken up around 11 or 12 to go to bed. Surprisingly I get a lot of deep sleep on the couch.
I’ve reserved my weekends for non-studying, things I don’t do during the week activities. On weekends I may decide to make pancakes for breakfast or Nick and I may randomly decide to put a bit more effort in and make some brunch.
I loaf around and watch other tv shows like The Magicians, put on some laundry and find anything else to do except clean the floors. I don’t understand how they get so dirty and dusty so quickly! I’ve been slowly getting back into colouring which also allows me to binge on some tv shows on Netflix, not the same ones I watch during the week though.
I have soooo many shows to catch up on and this way I can mix it up a bit. While Nick plays video games I usually get through the majority of a book and look for all the new ones I can start. I’ve been going through books a bit slower than before but I’m enjoying finding new authors.
Every other week I make the trek to the supermarket with Nick to do a big shop. We stock up on snacks, meat, and things to cook with that he can’t bring by himself. He still goes every week but on the weeks he goes without me it’s a much smaller haul, only the necessities. This way, me being sickly and all (I have asthma and a heart condition, MVP, among other things) I am a bit shielded from going outside so often.
As you can see, my daily life hasn’t changed that much now that we’re all in quarantine and I feel a bit guilty for always saying that. I know that others don’t have it that easy and in a way being unemployed I’m lucky that way. Here’s to hoping that we all come out of this with all of our wits about us and that we still remember to wash our hands often even if there isn’t a global pandemic.
Carla Jones 
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