Corona diary – just about to get round to it

One lie that I’m being forced to confront is that I would change the world if only I had more time. Well, I’ve got loads of time now and I’ve watched an awful lot of YouTube. They say if you want something done, ask someone who’s busy. The converse is also true. If you have nothing to do, you’ll find you spend an awful lot of time doing it.

Of the things I have convinced myself I’m going to do while confined to the house, I’m intending to clean out the garage, write my next book, publish an app, learn Japanese, and write a history of clowns.

Of the things I’ve actually done, I’ve re-arranged my sock drawer, written a shopping list, downloaded some apps, read a wikipedia arcticle about clowns and got a really good score on Sudoku.

The problem is, to really achieve something, its not enough to want to have done it. You have to actually want to do the doing bit as well. Everyone loves the idea of have done something really amazing, but if we’re really honest we’d rather the skip the boring work bit and jump straight to the bit were everyone tells us how amazing we are.

If I’m really, really honest, what I’m really good at is not learning a language or writing an app, and definitely not cleaning the house. It’s lying in bed till really late, pottering around the house trying to think of something to do, then watching rubbish telly until its time to go to bed. Everybody else is just getting into it, I’ve been practising for years. This is my olympics.

But of course, the thing to really remember, is that everyone is feeling like this. We’ve all heard the stories, the great things others have achieved in similar circumstances. It’s natural to feel like you should be doing better. The reality is, however, that although it my feel like it, you really are achieving amazing things. These are hard times. Just getting through every day can be a struggle. If you’re doing even one thing on top of that, whether its trying to carry on working via video conferencing and a dodgy internet connection, or trying to keep together a household of bored children stuck at home during the Easter holidays, or even just trying to keep your sanity when isolated on your own with nothing to do and no one to talk to – well, then you’re already achieving something quite important and quite special. Heard about Shakespeare writing Macbeth while in quarantine? He was just doing his job? You’ve been doing your job too (and if you currently don’t have a job then you probably have even more to contend with than the rest of it). You could probably have written Macbeth if you hadn’t been tied up writing up the monthly paper clip audit.

So give yourself a break, give yourself a pat on the back, and be satisfied with whatever you’ve achieved today. You probably did a really good job making your way through that massive back catalog of box sets. That’s enough.

We’ll make a start on the Japanese tomorrow.