Bath
If you had asked me a week ago, “When’s the last time you took a bath?” I honestly couldn’t answer. And I guess it’s a little sobering to realize that some unknown timeframe ago, I was enjoying the last bath I would ever have. Well, until now. Frankly, no one would ask such a weird question.
I really like baths.
But I’ve been learning in my ECON class though that I might be lying. “If Jimmy says he likes going to the movie theater more than going to concerts, but spends all his free-time going to concerts, what does this tell you?” Well I’d say it’s pretty clear that Jimmy’s a liar. That or he’s a masochist in which case we’ve discovered something a little more intimate. In any case, I’m no masochist which is just to say that–like Jimmy–my pants are definitely on fire.
I actually almost sabotaged my first bath in ages. It happened that I had finished the last book I was reading on my phone and I had exhausted most of the content I cared for on YouTube: a lot of Office deleted scenes (no NetFlix life :/) and a lot of cute seal videos :).
(I feel obligated to mention that CGP Grey predicted this exact situation in his latest video Lockdown Productivity: Spaceship You when he said that despite the endless hours of content on YouTube, you’ll quickly run out of content you actually want to watch. (I paraphrase)
So half luck and half good intentions, I took a bath deviceless. Wow. Yes, what an accomplishment. Okay, look, it’s been quarantine and miraculously, my weekly iPhonetm screentime reports have been breaking some all time personal records. I do find it a little ironic that I never finished The Power of Off: The Mindful Way to Stay Sane in a Virtual World, but from the half I did read, her points seem more relevant than ever. (I promise I’ll go back and finish it, my library loan had ended)
Okay, forget the bathtub, what am I trying to say?
Life moves at a stupidly fast pace, and I wasn’t missing a bath as much as I was simply neglecting to slow things down. I have this misconception that productivity == speed. In reality, its often much more productive to first stop and plan. To plan out not only the assignments and tasks I want to get done in a single day, but also for the longer distance. What actually matters to me?
And the piece about technology is that it lends itself so easily to speed. Instant messaging is, well, instant and with various pings throughtout the day, it’s easy to confuse multi-tasking with high efficiency. My phone feeds information in these perfectly bite sized pieces too. I notice that I often eat snacks and my meals while on my phone, but I’m not really learning. (I will say though that these seal videos are too great)
I’ve been looking forward to Phase II when we can start hanging out with friends again and enjoy the beautiful Summer weather in Seattle. Though it was originally planned for June 1st, it’s looking increasingly likely that this will get delayed again.
And that’s fine, speed isn’t everything. Here’s a chance to slow down.