I don’t like social distancing. I grew up in a small town, where everyone knew everybody. I grew up in that same small town as a relatively plump, unathletic, dorky kid with a predetermined future as an IT professional. Trust me when I say, I clearly know what it’s like to be socially distant 🙂 But this kind of social distancing is definitely a first for me, a first for all of us. Seems it’s the new normal, at least until we can get past this Coronavirus, which I pray we do, and do quickly. One thing I’ve learned in the short time since this has started, is that social distancing is hard. Most days I’d love to be able to just relax, do nothing, see nobody, go nowhere. But somehow, when it’s not my idea it’s not all that fun anymore.
You see, I’m the type of person that likes distractions when things are uncertain…and right now, being on social lockdown, the only distraction I really have to take my mind off the ongoing news updates is counting my remaining toilet paper rolls, which is far closer to zero than it was when this whole mess started. Much like my retirement savings has become over the past two weeks.
Times like these can make us feel quite helpless. Aside from giving an elderly neighbor a call to see how they’re doing, or checking in with friends and family online, or being willing to spare a square when necessary, it’s hard to really do much that feels like you’re making a difference.
Here at Relatively Random, we’ve been relatively lazy over the past six, twelve, oh OK, the past eighteen months. The only thing good about this is that we have a bunch of half baked ideas floating around in our heads, on our laptops and in old tattered notebooks. We’ve decided that the one thing we can do during this stressful season is to provide some necessary distraction. So, we’re kicking off “Social Distancing Days”, where for the next couple weeks we’re going to finish off some of those half baked ideas and get them posted for folks to read. We can’t guarantee that everyone will be interested in everything we write, but we do hope that each article captures the attention of at least one person, so that for a short moment of time, maybe they can take their mind off the uncertainty of the days we’re living in.
So, keep an eye on our page for updates to new articles…share it with your friends…and let’s see if we can spread a little joy in a world so desperate to receive it. …and if you read something that makes you happy, no need throw any money in the tip jar, just send toilet paper.
