It is the start of another work week during the “New Normal”. I could not sleep last night, so I got up about five hours ago and started my work day. Now, getting up in the middle of the night is catching up with me in the form of a head ache and sleepiness. Brainy Bird is laying on the couch, reading a book. He will go to his computer to get logged in for his first online AP exam in about thirty minutes. Little Chirp just came in inside from a two hour session on his basketball court. Little Chirp has the important job of having lunch ready precisely at noon today, so Brainy Bird can eat in the 30 minutes between his first exam, and the time he should be logging in for his second exam. Little Chirp takes this job as seriously as one would take marching orders from a general.
Trooper is laying on the floor under my desk in the small section under the desk that the dog bed does not cover. Potatoe got a little possessive this morning and kicked Trooper off his dog bed. The two had been laying there together while I worked most of the weekend. Trooper is fast asleep and does not seem to care. Potatoe is now outside with me; he is lounging in the sun with Pumpkine. Pumpkine somehow appears to be relaxing and on the hunt for critters at the same time. Storme was out watching Little Chirp play basketball. He then followed Little Chirp inside the house like a loyal dog, I mean cat, would.
The morning is peaceful, and I am feeling good about all that I accomplished early this morning. Now, I just have to get through the normal hours of the work day. I would call it a day at 4 PM, given how early I started, but I have an internal meeting at 4. It is routine for me to have a 4 PM meeting everyday of the week, including Friday. I should be starting my work day later not, earlier. I am a morning person, and that is never going to change. Instead, I still start super early, and I take one or two breaks during the day to exercise, write or cook. I am learning work life balance from home.I think the key word is balance.
The news continues to be peppered with reopening activities. Apple stores are opening in some states; the NFL is setting forth guidelines for the return of players to practice; Texas is now in phase 2 of the reopening, with no major issues reported. We have a long road ahead, but the progress is real.
There is a mini outbreak of the virus among key White House staff that is making headlines, and Fauci appears to have been sidelined. I am of the belief that things are under control in Washington, but the media definitely wants to paint a different picture.
I am trading stocks again. I love researching and analyzing the markets. So far, my biggest win is Mercardo Libre, up 34% and my biggest loser is American Airlines, down 12%. Overall, I am up 6.5%. There is another huge sell off today, which is commonplace after two strong days in the market, which is how we ended last week. Analysts are predicting one more big drop. I am not so sure. We will see. Ack! There is that phrase again.
In all of this, there is so much uncertainty. Uncertainty is something that weighs on me emotionally. Yet, there are things that are certain. The things that are certain are life priorities and the things in life that really matter. My biggest priority is my boys. They are first on the list of things that really matter in life, followed by my family, my fur kids and my friends. Everything else in life could go away, and we would still be left with what really matters.
Some of my family members and friends are going through some extremely difficult times right now. I find that they are on my mind, so much more now than they would of been in the past. Yes, I am deeply blessed to have a career that I love, and this will always be on my list of priorities, but I am learning to shift my mind at the end of each day from work to the things that really matter in life. I have never been able to do this before.
I have learned a great deal in the past 56 days, and for this I am grateful.
It is the little things in life….