When New York went into Covid lockdowns nearly five years ago things got… odd. Beyond being stuck at home for months on end there was that anxious malaise that seemed to permeate everything while we waited to find out if the bad situation was gonna get worse. Seemed like every time I checked the news there was something new and seldom was it for the better.
Been thinking about those days again, for some reason.
Amidst the ennui of not doing much, I made a point to try and do something to have a bit of a routine. And so I found myself making a cup of pour-over coffee every morning. Coffee made, I sat on my couch and did the New York Times crossword and then read for a while. Small things, small routines, a brief moment of normalcy and quietness in a time that felt like anything but.
We’re a month into 2025, a year that, though young, is already shaping up to be an… interesting… year in the States. The sort of year that makes one anxious about what will happen next, about what’s to come, about what this year will bring. There’s a familiar anxious malaise about everything, one that has me wondering where things will be a year from now.
And so I think back to the small things. Writing this blog. Making coffee in the mornings. Looking around and seeing the things that bring me some modicum of joy and sanity throughout the weeks. It’s been cooking, it’s been grinding out some Destiny 2, it’s been making martinis and watching Severance. Writing about it helps to take stock of what’s going on with me (and is a reminder that I should journal more), to acknowledge my own experiences and not get lost in the flood of awfulness. Because there is a time to push back, a time to fight, a time to behoove to action.
But there is also a time to enjoy what you have, to recharge, and to remember those small rituals and why they mean so much. And today that meant drinking my coffee on the couch, doing the crosswords, and reading the appendices to The Lord of the Rings.
Essays, Not Rants! 