Happiness, Even During a Pandemic

I went to the zoo yesterday. 

“So what?” you might ask. It changed my life, that’s what. 

Here’s how I got to the zoo and how it made my day.

It was Monday night. I had just finished a highly productive day of the new work week. Then something bad started to happen to me emotionally. 

I was transforming. 

Changing into a mood I didn’t want to be in. And I didn’t know how to stop where I was going. I began getting restless and annoyed with everything and everyone. 

I was slipping into a depression.

I was pissed off at the world and feeling emotionally heavy. I thought a good night’s sleep would fix me. 

It didn’t. 

After a restless few hours, I was up at 5 am.

Then I realized, nothing changed. I was still in a ratty mood. 

More to-do’s.

I got a cup of coffee. Went to my home office. Turned on the lights. Sat down. Picked up my phone. Then put it down. And said, “I have to do something different.”

My morning routine held no interest. 

I didn’t want to be productive. I wanted to be happy. 

Out of frustration, I went rogue. 

I picked up my phone and went to a saved article archive. I wanted no news. No pandemic. No financial forecasts. No more of any of that. And that’s when I saw it. 

“The three equations for a happy life, even during a pandemic.”

I am working from home. It’s been four months of working from home. 

Four months. 

I’ve worked from home for so long that when someone asked me to meet them for lunch recently, I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to. I knew I could help him. But I didn’t know where we could meet. The easiest thing was now difficult for me. I delegated this seemingly impossible task to him. 

The good news of the pandemic is my productivity. I go into my office in the early morning. I come out in the early evening. 

Work. Work. Work. 

The more I do, the more ideas I have, the more work comes my way. 

Last night, I felt I was drowning.

I started to read the article, and here’s what grabbed my heart.

“Happiness is love. Full Stop. People who have loving relationships with family and friends thrive; those who don’t, don’t.”

Working from home makes it really easy to focus on work. Which, as I said earlier, always leads to more work, more to-do’s, and even more work. To get so much work completed is fulfilling for a while. But not day in and day out, week in and week out, for four months. No. Enough is enough.

Kathy told me that morning she was going to the zoo with my daughter, Julia, and our grandsons. I asked her if I could go too. 

She said, “There is only one ticket.” 

Kathy always knows what’s best for me and gave me her ticket. 

Julia picked me up and off we went to the zoo. 

It was a beautiful morning. Julia and I had a great conversation as she drove us to the zoo. Then I held my grandson’s hand and we walked around the zoo and discovered all it had to offer. 

Julia made me a sandwich for lunch which I ate on the car ride home. She dropped me off at 11:30 am. I kissed the boys goodbye and went to see Kathy.

We talked about the trip to the zoo. I went into my office and worked until five. 

This simple change of routine, focused on my daughter and my grandchildren, changed everything. 

Happiness is love. Full Stop.