Positive and negative vibes are a powerful force. I’ve noticed this a lot with this extra free time that social distancing has brought, and it’s given me a lot of time to examine my own thoughts.

I spent the first half of my “quarantine” consuming the news during every waking moment. I would watch 30 minutes of a big network and then switch to a different one. The general consensus between mid-March and April: things. are. bad. People are dying. People my age are dying. Coming up at 7:00, an interview with a 30 year-old woman who just lost her husband who, before COVID, was in completely good health. I found myself feeling down, a lot. I was the guy in the group text, “Numbers don’t look good in China today. If they go back up, we’re screwed.” We watched the press conferences for maybe three weeks straight during dinner. I was obsessed. I was depressed.

So I turned off the news...

A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.
Paul Romer, Stanford economist

Today is Day 70.

It has officially been 70 days since I’ve been working from home due to COVID-19. It’s been 70 days since the reality of this started to hit me. It’s been 70 days since I first heard the quote above. And that quote has been on my heart every day since.

I will start by saying that I understand how fortunate I am to, at least up until this point, not have been immediately impacted by this virus. My favorite passion - going out to eat - turned into a good deed. I’ve been asked to take 80 hours of vacation over the summer. Jacqueline is still employed. We’re all in good health. The most raw impact that I have seen was this past weekend while attending a heartbreaking funeral for my Uncle Don, with dozens of people mourning, sitting every other pew, singing through mandatory masks and being reminded to...