As I penned the opening bit to my last piece, I was dwelling on the fact that 2020 was the start of a new decade and one that was often romanticized about as “the future”. I lightly touched upon “…a virus spreading…” just as a casual reference to something that has clearly blown up since I originally mentioned it. Never would I think the next couple days would play out the way they have. With the cancellation of all and any events and asking people to gather in groups no larger than 10, it seems like a quarantined world is looming eerily upon us and for our own good there isn’t much we can do about it. With how rapidly this virus has spread and the media hyping it up more and more, it seems like following the “social distancing” protocol isn’t a terrible idea. Many things will take hits while others might be able to blossom. I think the outlook we need to have on this situation is one of untapped potential rather than forced confinement. Some of the things that might take a toll: social life, sanity lost due to being confined to your house for both work and leisure, and much, much, more. While many will view this confinement as extremely negative (in reality, it is, as no one should shield themselves from the outside world and not engage in social norms [also, the situation with the actual virus is extremely negative]). But let’s shine light on some of the positives we can establish from this. This is a great time to work on yourself. Whether that is expanding your taste in certain areas, gaining more knowledge (from any outlet you may find), picking up things you don’t do nearly as often or have never done before, or just critical thinking about your past, present, or future. Now is a great time for reflection. Try not to dwell on the negative too much. Keep it positive and inspirational, rather than dismal and down. Also try not to be down thinking about the things you could be doing if you were not on quarantine. There is no way around it, and disregarding what is seen as best policy puts you and also others at an extreme risk. And you should be thinking about others more than yourself. Most of the people reading this are not the ones worrying. As age grows, so does concern and wariness. While improving on yourself, you should stimulate your mind and social skills while reaching out to people you might not speak to as much. Your social circle is going to be small and repetitive for quite some time, so reaching out to friendly faces far and wide will help cope with the stress and current state of affairs. Talk more with your roommates. Learn more about the people you care about. With technology, we have communication at our fingertips. Use it (just not in over abundance, and if you need tips on how to reduce screen time, check this out [TLDR: read, write, practice something analog, exercise])! Although we will be inside a lot more than typical, get outside. Sit on a deck (if you have one), go for a morning or sunset walk, surf (which cannot be stopped, and I am pretty stoked to just surf a shit ton while on quarantine), or even just sitting outdoors and in the sun will feel a lot better than inside walls. Take this post as just tips and tricks to stay sane in this wild and erratic time. People will spin it many ways, some truthful and others far from it. Thinking in a positive and rational mindset will give you the most success and clarity. It is a strange time in all of our lives, young and old. But it will all work out. It always does.
Tag: environment
East Meets West: Weather
In the world we live in, the year is broken into 4 quadrants of weather patterns. Named seasons, there is winter, spring, summer, and fall. Depending on where you are in the world, these seasons can come at all different times. Depending on where you are in the world, these seasons could be starkly different or pretty similar. In the USA, we start and end the year in winter (which now that I am thinking about it is kind of wack, imagine christmas and NYE in the summer? That would be pretty tight.).Out of winter it feels like we crawl into spring, sprint through summer, breeze through fall, and just like that it is winter again. Having grown up on the east coast and lived on the west coast for a little while now, I have experienced both types of seasonal years. While starkly different, I have my likings and dislikings to both. Read below, as I break the two coasts into a single con and single pro for the year:
EAST
Like: Layers and a Functional Wardrobe.
I love outerwear. If you opened up my current closet in California, you would first scratch your head at the sheer number of T-shirts I own. But once you looked past that, you would realize how many heavy jackets and thick coats that line the right side. In California, realistically, there are about 3 months in which you might need a heavy jacket. Most of the time this is only necessary at night, in which I am either firmly planted on my couch or going out for the night and do not want to carry around a bulky jacket or sweat bullets all night. So I can wear these nice pieces to work. But I am guilty of just throwing on a sweatshirt and heading out the door in comfort. To make matters worse, I own a ton of rainwear that gets little action unless we stumble upon a wet week. While I can wear them when it is dry, it just defeats the tech I so proudly love to sport. I also love to layer, which almost never happens since it rarely drops below 50. Being home lets me go from boardies and a T-shirt to pants and a long sleeve to bundled up for winter. And back around the spectrum again.
Dislike: The Ice-cold Wind Vortex
One thing in which I will NEVER miss from my hometown of NJ is something that is so unbelievably brutal that I truly do nothing when it comes around. When we reach the three months of January, February, and March, the weather dips to an extreme low. Both April and December can be quite cold, although more often than not it is around the 50-60s and sunny, occasionally dipping to the 40s and hopefully not the 30s. But you really never know. But for those three months, there are often week long stints of sub 30 degree weather with over 20 MPH winds. When it is cold, sometimes I can tough it out and try and do something outside. But when it is cold AND windy, it is just terrible. The wind chill drops the weather about 10 degrees, and also can really chap your lips and give you the runniest of noses. The only time in which this is not the worst thing ever is if the wind is offshore and there is waves, but even then I am not enthused to tug on 5 millimeters of rubber and bob up and down in the icebath.
WEST
Like: The Endless Summer
California truly can experience an endless summer. Although south swells, warm water, and summer crowds leave with the seasonal change, the warm weather tends to stay. Sure, every once in a while the temperature takes a dip and the winter and you can’t wear flip flops or not wear a jacket. But for the most part, if the sun is up, you can get away with being pretty warm with minimal clothing on. Although I like seasonal variety and being able to tap into a full wardrobe, I think I like being warm most of the time and never really having to shiver from the weather alone. In the Summer it’s hot. In the Fall it’s hot. In the Winter it can be hot. And in the Spring it’s hot. I truly loved the warm weather when I was at university, as pool parties were a plenty. I truly despised the warm weather when I broke a sweat walking to class or just breathing inside our house since AC costed an arm and a leg. But in the end, 365 warmth triumphs all faults and favoritism.
Dislike: The Occasional Wet Season
I have always disliked rain. I have come to not dislike it as much, as sometimes a day off just vegging out on the couch is necessary. But growing up as a hyper teen, I disliked it strongly. An avid skateboarder and BMXer, these were my vessels to roam the streets. When it was raining and I didn’t have a license, this meant I was house locked. I would ruin my skateboard in the rain and potentially rust my bike in the rain. The one thing I could do is surf, and always enjoy the tranquil conditions rain would bring. The waves are flat most of the time at home, so sparingly would I score this session. In California, rain brings dirty water. Dirty water means no surf. And no surfing means I get grumpy. Sure, I tempt fate more than most and take on the bacterial water every now and then. But even I know when it has rained a bunch and it’s a no go. I also just get bored not being able to go outside. And when it never rains even 3 days of rain feels long.
Seasons Change
I really have been hammering home the idea of change. When things stay too constant, it tends to turn real dry. We love to get ourselves into routines, but every once in a while we start to dislike the order of operations or even the certain practices we jam into an already crowded schedule. While routines and change can definitely be spearheaded by us, as we are in control of our life, many changes are out of our hands. Sometimes they might be in other peoples hands. Hopefully those peoples hands are tender and loving. Wishful thinking. There are also changes that neither us nor anyone can control. These changes usually are depicted by our ecosystem or are constructed by a set of norms that have been in places for centuries.
If you happen to also live in California, you have noticed something the past couple of weeks. Right after we passed groundhog day and Phil didn’t see his shadow, it was predicted that an early spring is upon us. With this, the past couple of weeks have been nothing short of beauty. Warm weather. Sunshine from sunup to sun down. Strong sun, heating up the climate and what felt like the ocean water climbing backup. Sunsets that have been beautiful, and that are also getting later and later by the minutes. South swell has poked it’s little head out from hibernation, but only to show us it’s still there. It seems like people have just had more pep in their step. Just because a slight change in weather (in comparison to my home state, NJ, which features severe weather changes that actually do lead to people going from insanely grumpy to happy).
You can start to tan again. You don’t need to layer up for the office or a work commute. You can go out to the bars in a T-shirt again. The boots are almost nocked off, and the neoprene is only getting thinner and thinnerYou don’t need to sit in your car with the heat blasting before a dawnie. Soon enough beach days will be upon us. For those that don’t indulge in the coast, you will leave work at five, six, even seven, and still have at least an hour of sunshine left. This is maybe one of the greatest feelings yet. While you don’t need sunshine for everything, it sure gives you a little bit more enthusiasm, especially if what you are trying to do is based outside. As adults, most of our days are spent confined inside. Getting out of work with the sun still high in the sky is a great feeling.
With Spring and Summer, we have a lot more to look forward to (especially in California). Easter. Coachella. The Del Mar Racetrack. Memorial Day weekend. The Fourth of July. Labor Day weekend. The month span of April to September just seems so much more eventful than that of October to March. While this is totally personal, I feel as though most would agree with what I am saying. Unless you like cold weather, or really just love Christmas and New Years. To each his own. We are ushering back in the months of sunshine and fun times. The months where every second we have we want to spend it outside. The months were the days reach their maximum length. When the beach sounds like a great idea no matter what the time is. Oh, what a time it is.
Essential for Development
It is often inevitable. If we thought of a world or a life without change, we would envision something incredibly dismal. Stuck in a rut of familiarity and also stagnant in growth. From physical, to mental, to perspective. Change in all of the above is necessary for survival. It is survival of the fittest, and we would all go down to natural selection if we do not adapt and change. Some loath it while others love it. Some remain impartial to change, and just ride the waves of ups and downs that come along with life. No matter who you are, what status you have, rich or poor, healthy or sick, change will be coming down the pipeline at some point. Sometimes you are blindsided, sometimes you can know about it for months in advance.
On one hand, change can implement a fear. You will very quickly be thrown out of your routine and into a new one. Familiar faces will be replaced with first encounters, and things you can count on will no longer be reliable. A learning curve will be implemented with change. Sometimes steep, other times meager. The best way to meet the challenge head on is changing yourself. While change often occurs outside of you, adapting on the inside is how you will conquer it. Whether it is changing your perspective and looking at the glass half full, or looking for the positives underneath all of the negatives, a perspective change helps conquer the biggest changes.
On the opposite hand, some meet change head on and love the challenge. Change breeds unfamiliarity and discomfort, which can lead to a person’s biggest growth and understanding of themselves. Instead of looking at a loss of your old routine, embrace a new and different routine. Maybe the best routine is a mix of the old and the new. Instead of looking at the loss of familiar faces, relish in the new relationships you will build and never forget about the old ones. If you think about it, you will just double your relationships and connections. Look at the learning curve as a helpful challenge. While you may be tackling unfamiliar tasks or daily activities, look to them for the lessons and knowledge packed inside of them rather than something you just have to do or deal with.
The craziest thing about change is in which the speed it can take place. Things can change in the blink of an eye. In this world we live in, you never really know what can be around the corner. Good or bad. For better or worse. Large or small. Change will happen. Like stated earlier, sometimes you can see it coming while other times you are blindsided. In anticipation of the random and erratic occurrence in which change takes place, the best we can do is have an open mind. While this helps in all aspects of life, it is especially essential in the face of change and adversity. Going into every day with open arms mentally (and physically [not in a touchy way] to friends, family, and even strangers) can help enhance day to day life and help you adapt to any challenge or change thrown your way.
Beating (The) Writers Block
It’s the Monday after a long weekend and I am definitely tired. It was a fun weekend, capped off with surf in good conditions and some delicious Indian food before I laid my mind to slumber at 10 o’clock. I would have a rude awakening to my 6:20AM alarm, and continued to snooze it to 6:40AM. Not a big deal, but I do like when I get up at 6:20AM and am alert and ready. Today at 6:40AM I was neither alert nor ready for the impending Monday. I robotically walked to the kettle, put on the hot water, went to the bathroom, and began to make breakfast. Literally every morning I walk to the electronic kettle and turn it on before anything, ensuring the coffee will be ready in a timely fashion.
By the time I was out of the house, I was awake. I never try to surf before work on Mondays, as I know how tired I tend to be and like to start the week off with energy. Unless the waves are pumping, I sleep in. Good morning surfs will energize me more than any amount of sleep or coffee. Fast forward to the end of the day and I am staring at my computer trying to muster up an idea to write about. I have all the ingredients: newfound energy in the form of a late afternoon coffee, good music in the background, and the time on my hands to carve out a nice little piece of work. I just can’t find anything good to write about. I have a couple ideas, but this is the not the week they would fit into. I quickly would dawn on the easy solution: The Writers Block. I pop it open randomly 3 times, hate all 3 prompts, and then scour the pages for the one I would want to write about.
Indulgence. Something that usually goes down on the weekends when minimal responsibility is present. When you think about it, is it a positive or negative word? Do you immediately go to good or bad indulgences? For me, indulgence often has a negative connotation. For some reason, I always think of vices involved with “indulging” in something. One can indulge in many things in many ways, which makes an already gray term even grayer. One way to indulge in something could be doing it daily. Pretty much in the form of a habit, but doing it every day without skipping a beat. Another way one can indulge in something is for maybe only one day but for multiple hours of the day. Again, we don’t know if indulgence is positive, negative or neutral. It definitely depends on what the indulgence is, but it ultimately comes back to everything needing moderation for a healthy and happy life.
Indulgence can be binge-watching TV for 6 hours. Indulgence can be having a couple beers every night of the week. Indulgence can be drinking one night a week but balls to the walls. Indulgence can be indulging in legal or illegal substances. Cookies or crack. Indulgence, in my eyes, is necessary. If you don’t indulge in anything, what are you going to enjoy in life? You must indulge. Hopefully you pick positive indulges. I indulge in surfing and working out and eating delicious foods. I sometimes indulge in things that may cause a negative reaction. But always in moderation. If it were not for indulgence, we would all be a lot less happy. Good indulgences can turn bad, and bad indulgences can turn good. You just never know. Only one way to really find out.
James Giordano 