April 17, 2020 - 217 - "Living on Covid Time"

(*I know I alluded to doing a Weekly Check-in on Fridays, but I've decided to do that on Sundays instead.)

Making A Plan

     Every December I print out the 12 months of the next year, tape them together, and hang them up in my office.

     Michael and I take an evening or two to rough out travel plans for the coming year.  It's nothing definite - just vague plans about when we'll be going to San Miguel, when we'll visit family  (/grand baby!), etc.  We'll add other wishlist trips like a couple of photo-adventure trips for Michael, and a camping trip to Fort Davis State Park and Big Bend.  We usually have one big trip planned too.  For 2020 it was a fall trip to explore Croatia and the Dalmatian Coast.

An Ever-Changing Plan in the Best of Times

     We don't usually do all of these trips.  A Chicago get-away weekend has been on the calendar for three years running, but has yet to pan out.  Croatia was going to happen last year, but that was before we funneled all of our energy (and cash) into the new house in Mexico.

     Then there are trips that pop up unexpectedly:  a wedding we didn't know about back in December,  an out-of-town friend's milestone birthday party, or we might just get a random idea that suddenly sounds like a brilliant plan.

     Since I work for an airline, planning for, and more critically, buying tickets for trips isn't necessary.  We just hitch a ride anywhere that has an open seat, so we're pretty casual about the whole thing.  We just do the planning so the year doesn't pass by without seeing the people we care about most.

    Even though we're pretty lackadaisical about it all we've been averaging at least one non-work trip per month for the past few years... 

Covid Had Its Way With Our Travel Calendar

     ...until Covid came along.  

     Covid said "Ha ha!  I scoff at your plans!  There are no guarantees in life, people.  This year you’ll do what I say:  nothing!"

Here's how our calendar looked Pre Covid-19:

     (Each Post-It note indicated a planned trip and was placed somewhere around it's  planned date.)  

And here's how the calendar looks now, Post Covid-19:

     We've left one lonely little stickie note on the calendar in August.  We have our big yearly vacation planned with the kids (and, for the first time with the grand baby too!).  We have until mid July to cancel our Airbnb rental.  It's not looking very likely, but we don't have the heart to take it off our calendar quite yet.  

Rethinking 'Long-Term' Planning - Let's Try a Weekly Plan!

     So...travel planning: out.  Yearly planning:  out.

     At this point there's no point in making many plans at all since there's no telling what might happen, or when whatever happens might happen.

     Even plans for next month seem pretty hazy.  That seems so far away, what with each day lasting a week and all...

 




     So, what's a self-isolated, but goal-oriented person to do?:   Focus on making a daily and weekly plan...and be prepared to adjust those too.

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"Don't be fooled by the calendar.  There are only as many days in the year as you make use of."

-Charles Richards

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"I love seeing blank days in my calendar."

-Allison Williams
(This girl must be thrilled about now!)

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"Calendars and clocks exist to measure time, but that signifies little because we all know that an hour can seem as eternity or pass in a flash, according to how we spend it."

-Michael Ende

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"The less one has to do, the less time one finds to do it in."

-Lord Chesterfield

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