Quarantining in a Modern Day Tower
It’s no secret that the pandemic is getting worse in the United States. Therefore it came as no surprised when I first arrived in Santiago that I would have to undergo a mandatory two week quarantine. My thought was, with all the modern day luxuries combined with the digitization of more businesses than ever it shouldn’t be too bad. The real question was what did I WANT to do with all my time in my new space?
The first few days filled themselves up between grocery orders and Youtube channels devoted to minimalism (a goal that I have been working towards for the past four years in various stages). When I first arrived there wasn’t even toilet paper in the house ergo many things needed to be ordered and quickly. I spent the better half of the first week stocking the fridge and learning about the voltages needed for adapters (more on both of these topics to come later). Once those tasks were accomplished that was it, my to-do list was - for the first time - truly done. As a person who prides themselves on carrying around a self made planner filled with to-do lists to check off, what was I to do?
I wanted to check out of life and just lounge but I also wanted to be productive. I wanted to eat fresh fruit while also downing a bag of salty potato chips. I was full of contradictions. The place Robert Frost references as two roads diverging in a wood felt like the exact mental place I was. I got down on myself and immediately signed up for live workout classes. Being an avid yogi (would we call me that?) I felt like I could handle it. I immediately cancelled at the end of the free trial. Turns out jumping around to badly mixed club music was not my jam after all. I bought Chilean wine and champagne with the expressed interest in becoming well versed in the various inventive uses of grapes here. Home alone I couldn’t bring myself to pop the bottle. Who was I trying to be? Every move to a new space whether across the street or across the globe causes us to confront this question within ourselves. I was a productive person with nothing to do. What I needed to do was learn to slow down, breathe, and let life truly flow. To-do lists - like the gorgeous Draper James dress I just had to bring with me - have a time and place. My place was in my apartment and my time was two weeks. Two weeks to reset, learn to be kinder to myself, and pick which road I want to go down. Either way, it will be an adventure.
