Finding Daily Purpose

Since there’ve been significant changes to the daily lives of so many people that I know, I want to share what I’ve realized about finding daily purpose. I surveyed many people on my FB and IG accounts to find out what they’ve been doing with their days this week.

Here are the highlights:

My Italian friends were all in quarantine and none of them had been directly impacted by the virus itself, but they certainly felt a sense of duty to stay indoors. None were working at the moment, but one in particular was playing piano daily.

Nearly all the teachers were on Spring Break, so they were home anyway. But nearly all of them had plans to switch to some kind of online platform for video classes in the near future. All those working in medical offices (clinicians and front desk staff) were going in to work as usual. Retirees were pretty much living the same daily life, except they are no longer dining out at restaurants. Some were doing carryout. My high school English teacher, who had instilled in me an appreciation of the classics in literature, has taken up learning the saxophone. Pretty cool.

My initial motivation to asking about this was to see how real, everyday people in my circles were coping with their life changes. Almost 2/3 of people were at home, many adapting to working at home, and some not working. A lot cooking and cleaning has been going on, in fact much more than usual. Some started gardening. But of those who were home, there was a clear sense that they had extra time to reflect and could probably benefit from a clearer daily structure.

Finding Daily Purpose becomes easier with some well planned structure to your days. I’m currently staying with friends in Portland , and I’m remaining here in support of the travel restrictions and social distancing requirements. So like many, I’ve found ways to adjust to my new normal.

I’ve broken my daily tasks list into 4 sections:

Personal Tasks

Self Care

Service to Others

Self Enrichment

Here’s what a typical weekday has been for me this week.

Personal Tasks:

Vacuum

Cooking

Emails

Watch news (once per day, before 6pm)

Self Care:

9am meditation

12pm Lunch in the Sun, followed by a short walk in the park (still allowed in Oregon)

7pm Dinner with housemates

8pm Exercise: push-ups, sit-ups, squats, surf stretches

Service to Others:

Client Healing Sessions via Video Chat/Phone

Phone check-ins with friends and family

Asking Whole Foods employees “How are you doing?”

Make Blood Donation Appointment

Write and Publish Blog Article

Self-Enrichment:

Sign up for online Documentary

Class: Finding an Audience

For your movie

Read a chapter in Faulkner Book

What have your days looked like this week? Please share in the comments below.