More than most, I am by, my very nature, a social creature. I want and need to be active. I want to be out. Running, alone or with J.P. Getting coffee. Having a drink and talking to a friendly bartender. Attending the boys' basketball games. Coaching Joe's basketball team. Coaching baseball. Taking the boys to D-bats for a baseball workout. Going with the family to a Belmont basketball game. I like to be on the go.
I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, a sit around the house person.
For the past five days, that's exactly what I've done for the most part. Sit around the house.
There are times I need solitude, for sure. But not forced, extended solitude. I've realized forced solitude is an entirely different animal from chosen solitude.
I like to be alone on Saturday or Sunday mornings for an hour or so, before everyone at home is up and about. I drink my coffee and I write. When I get home, though, I don't sit down for longer than a half hour the rest of the day. It's go, go, go!
I like to run alone, too. That's chosen solitude. Alone with my thoughts as I run. I need that time to decompress.
Interaction with people, personally and professionally, for me is like sunshine to a flower. Without it, I won't flourish and I won't grow. I'll wither and die. I'm uncomfortable with extended periods of time of little or no social interaction.
Truth be told, even this week I was in regular touch with the office. Unwisely, for sure, I worked quite a bit Tuesday and Wednesday, when I probably felt the worst. I had too, though, as I had two cases that were on the verge of settling, including one that was set for a three day trial the first week of February. Probably, I should have been resting, but with my legal assistant out with Covid-19, too, and my paralegal on vacation, I needed to be engaged to wrap those two cases up as best I could.
The hardest part, though, has been isolating from my family. I've felt like a ghost in my house. Through the closed guest room door, or the closed door of my office, I hear J.P. and Joe talking and laughing. I hear life going on, seemingly without me in it. I missed two of J.P.'s basketball games and, today, I'm missing two of Joe's basketball games. Being away from my family has been harder than being sick.
Maybe the lesson is to appreciate the time with my family more. Making J.P.'s breakfast every day and taking one of the boys to school. Dinner with the family. Watching NBA or NFL games on television with the boys. Playing hearts with the family. Watching WWE with Joe.
Maybe the lesson is to appreciate life more. All of it. Family. Home. Work. Running. Friendship.
I ran from Covid-19 for so long. It caught me. Now, I'm ready to run from it again for a while.
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