Paul Roth | #VEDA 2020 05 - Productivity and The Pandemic by @paulidin [OC] #QVEDA @paulidin | Uploaded April 2020 | Updated October 2024, 21 hours ago.
"Am I being very creative and productive during the COVID19 pandemic? Or is this all just an attempt to keep from losing my shit every single day?"

[music: Minor Swing]

"Both? Both? Both!

Hello PaulTalkers and other viewers! Welcome to day 5 of Q-VEDA and my 24th day of self-isolating.

Since you are on the internet, I hope you have seen some posts describing how you don't have to be productive right now. There are many! They are reassuring.

I like the posts that tell you that it's okay if you don't exercise.
That it's okay if you don't learn a new skill.
That it's okay if you don't do an internet challenge.
It's okay if you eat food and gain weight.
It's okay if you don't write.
It's okay if you don't do art.
It's okay if you don't change your clothes.
And so on.

I agree with all of those statements! They just don't work for me.

I am an introvert with anxiety and depression. In my case, that means that every day of most of my life before this pandemic hit, my tendency was to lie in bed all day doing nothing but maybe watching reruns of TV.

When the social distancing suggestion first happened in early March, I could have very easily gotten into the habit of doing nothing every day. And I don't think there would have been anything morally wrong with that.

The problem is, that would have allowed my mind to get into a state that i've been trying for years, not to get into.

So, 6 days of the week, every week, I exercise in the morning. I put on clothes to go outside. Every couple of days, I take very short drive to a nearby reservoir and run. At the end of March, I decided to post an old never-posted photo every day. Here in April, I'm posting a vlog every day.

None of these things make me a good person. None of these things make me any better than someone who does none of these things.

All I'm doing is trying to stay sane in a way that I hope works for me. If your best mental health is found in eating cookies in bed while wearing dirty pajamas, please do it. The fact that I'm trying to do a lot is not a recommendation that you do it, nor an indictment of you if you don't.

My favorite post on this topic has been reworded a bunch of times but essentially said, 'You are not working from home. You are staying at home during a crisis, and trying to work.' Whatever you are doing in this pandemic, if it is keeping you going, it is good. Fuck productivity, please don't worry about it.

What approach is best for you during all this? Let me know in the comments please.

And let's hope tomorrow is better."

Find me @paulidin most places except youtube where it's youtube.com/PaulRoth
Recorded using a Google Pixel 3's front-facing camera.
Scripted in Google Docs
Open Captioned with AutoCap.
Edited with Quicktime
Theme song: Minor Swing / I Will Survive by The Bitter Dose Combo with permission from Matt Henry
Title Card photo taken by Paul Roth, 2019