My COVID Diaries And What Has Rescued Me

So, how’s your pandemic going?  I entered 2020 on a pretty good high.  In 2019 I saw my business start to take off, I had my best year bike racing and fitness-wise ever, and I finally felt adjusted to my glorious new semi-retired lifestyle. 

Then COVID-19 entered the picture and, well… yeah.  At first it didn’t seem like too much of a change to me.  After all, I had only been going into my W2 job twice a week anyway, and I’m not the biggest social butterfly.  My graphic arts business takes up much of my spare time and is a solo affair that I can do from literally anywhere. 

So in many ways things didn’t change for me.  But in other really important ways they did.  Frequent readers know that cycling, climbing, and running are passions of mine, among other outdoor activities. 

All races were canceled, and still are.  My big cycling group rides all stopped immediately, and for a while the bass-ackwards state of Maryland was even forbidding you to go out on the Potomac River on a kayak or stand up paddleboard! 

So my outdoor fitness life – which is a huge part of my life in general – went from doing the sports I love in friendly competition with my friends to doing them solo, or not at all.   It’s really hard to get the same motivation or to push hard without friends to compete with.

 

Slow Downward Spiral

As April ticked away I was starting to gain some weight.  I blog about discipline with food and exercise frequently, but I’m also a very flawed humanoid.  It’s hard, as a former borderline obese person, I get it. 

I was also immersed in the amazement of watching a memey graphic of mine go crazy-viral around the world, which offered a fun distraction.  But that also kept me sitting on my fat ass clicking the mouse, working on nothing but my pointer finger strength. 

Things started piling up.  I found myself gaining weight, disconnected from my fitness friends, and worried about my Mom getting this stupid virus.  Even going out to run errands became weird and miserable. 

By mid-May it got to a point where I needed an intervention.

 

Going On Offense

The best defense is a good offense, or so the saying goes.  Since my outdoor fitness life was now more focused on running, which I enjoy more as a solo activity, I needed to fix my nagging hamstring tendonitis. 

YouTube did what an in-person physical therapist couldn’t.  I found this awesome set of stretches for my condition, started doing them religiously, and wham-o my tendonitis finally started going away.  In full disclosure, I also have a pretty huge crush on the girl in the video, so that made it easier to do 🙂 

Next, as a mostly endurance sports guy I needed to add more weights into my workouts.  My endurance workouts are just not as intense without the competition from my friends, so I wasn’t burning enough calories.  Yes, I could eat less, but that’s way harder 🙂

YouTube to the rescue again.  I started doing this workout once or twice a week with a 30lb kettlebell.  Holy shit.  If you can keep up with this guy with a 30 pounder, do all the reps he does, and not take extra time for the breaks, you’re in bomber shape.  It’s an awesome workout that leaves me in a pool of sweat every time. 

Gyms everywhere are closed, but the truth is you don’t need them.  YouTube and a kettlebell can kick your ass any time of day, in your house.  Or better yet out in the sun.

Sure enough, my metabolism between workouts started getting faster, and the weight started coming back off.  As of early August I’m back to my pre-COVID weight!

 

Monk Mode

On the food, business, and mindset side of things, I went into Monk Mode.  As the Escape Artist wrote “You don’t choose the hand you’re dealt, but you can always choose how you respond.” 

I already eat extremely clean and healthy, but I needed to crack down more.  So I stripped out any remaining processed foods and added sugars, and cut back on the snacking.  I don’t throw food away as a moral policy, but after I finished the remaining snack foods in my house, I didn’t allow any more in.  None. 

Almost every bit food in my house now has one ingredient.  Beef, eggs, brussels sprouts, apples, asparagus, salmon, almonds.  All pure. 

For my business, Monk Mode meant hitting it hard every day, staying focused on my goals, and showing up.  To be honest, I never struggled here.  I love the “work”, if you can call it that.

 

And how did I apply Monk Mode to my mindset in this stupid pandemic?  Gratitude.

 

I’m Grateful, And Not Dead

Last year I tried the advice of many therapists and gurus of writing down 5 things I’m grateful for every morning.  After a while it sadly became a chore and a rote exercise, and I found myself repeating things and just becoming lazy with it.  Plus my mind isn’t exactly optimized in the morning. 

So recently I decided to spread out my practice of gratitude to any time of the day, which is way more appropriate.  This pandemic sucks.  We’re stuck at home more than we want to be, worried about our family and friends, and sick of keeping distant from everyone. 

Places we love are closed and things we love to do are canceled.  And yes, many many people have died.  It’s so easy to get negative, and even dark.  But I can’t control what’s happening.

Here’s what I can do: 

• Still get amazed that I have 6 or 7 places in my house where I can turn a metal handle and watch gallons of pure drinking water come out, endlessly. Realize that billions in the world don’t have that. 
• Listen to the click of my thermostat as it magically turns on the air-conditioning to keep my house comfortable when it’s 100 degrees outside. Holy shit whoever invented that should be on the $100 bill.  Not only does most of the world not have this, I didn’t even have it until I was in my 20’s. 
• Fire up my Star-Trek device and video teleconference any of my friends, any time of day.  Are you kidding me?  Yes, of course I’d rather see them in person, but this ain’t half bad ya know.  If this pandemic happened even as recently as 15 years ago it’d be a whole different ballgame.  Think about how amazing this technology is and have gratitude. 
• Watch virtually any piece of video content that’s ever been created or read any book that’s ever been written, whenever I want.  Again, think about that…  it’s fucking amazing and should make us less whiny. 
• Remind myself that I’m financially independent, never going to run out of money, and don’t ever have to work a W2 job again if I don’t want to.  I put myself in this position through hard work, discipline, and smart money management.  

It’s funny that I often have to remind myself to have gratitude toward what I myself accomplished!

 

Going Forward

A strong offense, monk mode, and gratitude.  So far this triumvirate has gotten me through the pandemic in mostly good health and spirits.  But I’m not gonna blow sunshine up your butt and tell you it’s easy or I haven’t had bad times too.

This virus may be with us for a long, long time.  This may be the new normal.  No one knows.  Yes that’s kind of scary and sad.  But focus on what you can control.  We all have an incredible ability to adapt, and that’s what I’m trying to do. 

If this pandemic had to happen then I’m going to be grateful that it happened in 2020, a time when the world is frankly an amazing place.  And we in America have an almost embarrassing plethora of wonderful comforts and luxuries. 

I’m going to focus on being happy in this new normal, and harvest the good.  

Yes, things could always be better, but they could also be way way worse.