Sainte-Marthe (Québec)

© O. Langevin

Kotor Bay Montenegro Adriatic Sea

© Asa Steinars

An Ongoing Daily List of Good Shit Because I'm Tired of All The Corona Talk:

Hopefully I can add more day to day, but even the small stuff makes you smile sometimes. Yesterday at my coffee shop, a woman tipped me five dollars because, and I quote, "Just because there's a virus doesn't mean I can't tip you for my coffee."

The small shit matters as much as the big shit. Good luck, try to look at the good and also try and DO some good, and wash your hands.

While it's great if you can use the quarantine to learn a new language or write a book, it's also perfectly okay if all you can manage is scrolling through social media or binge watching Netflix. While it's great to make the most of this situation, for some of us just getting through it is an achievement by itself. So don't be too hard on yourself if you haven't managed to draw or write daily or if you have yet to dedicate hours to a new hobby. It's okay. You're doing good even if all you're doing is keeping yourself together.

No but seriously. Normalize finding love in your 40's. Normalize discovering and chasing new dreams in your 30's. Normalize finding yourself and your purpose in your 50's. Life doesn't end at 25. Let's stop acting like it does.

From a Goodreads review (via exhaled-spirals)

When this is over, may we never again take for granted the simple things in life. Coffee with friends. A Friday night at a concert. A handshake with a stranger. Time spent with your grandparents. Hugging those you love most. Conversations with your neighbors. The morning commute. Going to school every week. Full shelves at the store. A typical Tuesday night. Life itself. These times can be challenging, but may we allow ourselves to slow down and reflect on what matters most. Once the dust settles and the light shines brighter, may we find that we have become the people we have wanted to be, who we always hoped we would be, and may we all be better for each other having gone through the unimaginable. In this crisis, hold on to love, hope, and empathy. That is my wish - that we are left with and experiencing more love and humanity during and after all this.

Mason & Painter, London | Siobhan Ferguson

CEOs be tweeting “we’re in this together” from a germ-free soundproofed panic room in their Hamptons mansion 

remember to practice self care during this rough time. wash your hands, call or facetime your friends, hug your pets, binge feel-good movies, make art even if it turns out bad, summon spirits in your living room, go for a nice walk alone, restrain yourself from panic buying, read that book you keep putting off, buy and try out a bunch of board and card games.

there’s something about living life deliberately…wearing clothes that you actually want to and that you feel reflect you and your style not just because you’ve had them for years and don’t know what else you would throw on….listening to songs and creating playlists that excite you and represent your actual mood not just listening to songs that you’ve had downloaded for years that don’t make you feel anything special anymore…it’s VERY easy to stay with what you’re comfortable and it might take a bit of experimenting before you find what feels like a deliberate choice that reflects more of YOU but it’s absolutely worth the leap of faith you may have to convince yourself to make in order to stop feeling like a passenger in your own life

i feel like this thing where people are going stir-crazy and want something to do less than a week after being explicitly ordered to stay home under threat of disease and death kind of blows a hole in that “if we give people universal basic income everybody will just be lazy and won’t want to work” talking point

living in the united states is supremely fucked up cause we're one of the richest, most powerful juggernauts on the planet, but your average citizen has relatively infinitesimal access to that wealth and power, and very little they can do to improve things.

being poor in the US still makes you rich by some global standards, but often times The American Experience is like..... you're a passenger locked in the baggage hold of a very long train that's going very fast. and the people driving the train are running it off the rails and shouting CHOO CHOO MOTHERFUCKERS CHOO CHOOOOOOOOO as they thoughtlessly bulldoze this train through everything in its path. you want very badly to get off the train or bludgeon the conductors with a crowbar, because you don't like where it's going, but you're handcuffed in a duffel bag and the conductors have barricaded themselves in the engine cars with all the food, medicine, and tools that could be used to help you out.

and UNDERSTANDABLY the rest of the world is like "what the FUCK is wrong with that train??? it must be stopped! there are so many people on the train why is nobody breaking into the conductor's booth and stopping it??!" but most of us are just squirming for basic survival in the last few cars while billionaires sit on top of the train sniping anyone brave enough to crawl up from the cargo hold, all while shouting that you're lucky to be on such a luxurious, successful train at all.

I’ve never seen being an American explained so well.

And a lot of your fellow handcuffed passengers shout that you’re lucky to be on the train, too.

A tip for everyone who’s currently quarantined like me: indulge in self care. Keep your hair clean and tidy, don’t stay in your pajamas all day, wear something extra comfy but make sure you feel good about yourself. The thing is, it’s easy to spiral into depression when you’re stuck at home and start neglecting yourself. Also indulge into your favorite comfort food recipes, and stretch your body every once in a while. Our body and mind need all the love right now!