How To Feed A Sailor

So, if you are following along with my story of Life After Caregiving for parents with Alzheimer’s and dementia in the pandemic era (see previous post), then you know that I am currently mid quarantine with some fellow crew members of the SSV Corwith Cramer. We have a few more days until we board the ship and my time has been spent preparing the food order for our month long voyage around the coast of Florida. I get lots of questions about the provisioning process and meal planning, so I thought I’d share a bit of what that’s like.

First I should mention the process of provisioning. Since I am typically providing three meals and three snacks a day for 30+ people, loading the ship with the necessary amount of food for a six week voyage is no short undertaking. Typically we work with a local supplier that delivers the provisions to the dock where the crew and I spend the entire day stowing it throughout the ship. While the crew works mostly on removing the excess packaging and sorting it by categories, I’m typically loading the freezer and reefer ( the boat refrigerator) in some semblance of organization. I say semblance because the volume of food we must carry results in a major packing effort. As much I hope to have specific zones for supplies, it’s often several weeks before the food has thinned out and I can reach for specific items. Until that point, it’s somewhat chaotic. What I mean by that is, meal “planning” consists primarily of items that aren’t easily accessible. The last thing I want is an avalanche of food descending upon me as I try to retrieve ingredients so my game plan tends to be “make whatever I can reach work” because just getting to the reefer/freeze is eventful.

What do I mean by eventful? Well, there is an element of gymnastic/ yoga involved when it comes to managing the galley territory. Items are stored in tight places and hard to reach spots. My day to day work routine is exhausting and beginning around 4:45 AM every morning, I make my way down this galley hatch which is literally a hole in the galley floor (aka sole) that leads to dry stores which houses the reefer and freezer. Now, I realize these aren’t the best of photos but hopefully they provide you with a sense of what’s involved. Every time I need to get something from either the reefer or the freezer I must crawl through this hatch, collect the items and climb back up. Unfortunately, the space below is only about 5 feet high so I also must manage an awkward posture while I’m down there, and remain vigilant not to bump my head. The engineers and I have had many-a-conversations about head banging. It’s a painful yet bonding experience that brings our two departments together forever! #LOVE

This brings me to the reefer and freezer themselves. I mention above that meal “planning” is somewhat out of question because they are both so full when we depart that it’s just unrealistic to assume you will easily find a particular item. Rather, I just grab whatever’s in front because, as you can see in the freezer photo below, there is not much space to maneuver things. (Sorry about the photo quality. I don’t have many shots of this kind of stuff.)

Just based on what I can see in this photo, I’d probably make something like:

• Breakfast: Blueberry danishes made with puff pastry (which is what I think is in that white box) and some orange juice cause there is a carton of it sitting in the door frame.

• Lunch: That bag of veggie burgers with roasted potatoes or something? I’d have to make some burger buns to go with them and any gluten free folks would get that Udi’s bread you can see sticking out up top.

• Dinner: Salmon fillets with whatever veg is accessible in the reefer.

• Snack: English muffin pizzas cause they are right on top and there is a huge bag of cheese right at the door.

This is a typical freezer situation when starting out on a six week voyage.

It’s not the most excited menu but as you can imagine, time erodes the supplies. This makes my life easier as the space opens up allowing me to shuffle items around and enabling more creativity with the things at hand. After about two to three weeks at sea I am able to “dig” for items that I know are I packed in certain areas. The issue at that point is the movement of the boat as items then have a tendency to move around. In addition to banging my head, my hands are vulnerable to being pinched between frozen meats and milk crates. Eek!

I should also mention that this is just the storage of fresh and frozen food items. All the canned goods and sauces and pastas, and cleaning supplies… all that stuff is stored throughout the ship under individual bunks (aka berths or beds on a boat). Again, I don’t have the best photos of this because I’ve been too busy taking sunset pics and not the various holes/cavities of ship storage so bear with me on these images. Below is a shot of my bed. Above is the bed for my cabin roommate. Under my mattress is a piece of wood which can be removed and leads to a space that’s roughly about 3 feet deep by 7 feet long by 3 feet wide and houses all those extra items I mentioned above. These compartments exist under each “lower” bunk throughout the ship and it’s my job to retrieve the necessary items for each meal. I delegate this task as much as possible but it’s safe to say that I am scurrying about the boat constantly throughout the day.

This is where I sleep when I’m on board.

Long story short, food management is a complicated component of sailing. The ordering process is terrifying for anyone that doesn’t love a good spreadsheet. #ME. But then the arrival of the food order several days later is it’s own special nightmare. Getting the food from the dock to their designated spaces requires a “can do” attitude that makes me love the sailing community. There’s a shared misery in getting the boat ready to sail but it’s worth it. There are absolutely trying times. Everything from bad weather, to equipment malfunctioning can ruin your day. The sense of real life urgency is unlike anything I’ve encountered in any other work environments and I find it humbling to be reminded of true priorities. The everyday distractions of life disappear when you are at sea and simple pleasures take over. Grated, my job is physically brutal. The days are long and loaded with challenges that no doubt shape my physical health and emotional character over the course of any voyage. It is however very rewarding to remember what you’re made of which after months of pandemic/caregiving stagnation is an absolute gift. When I head home after a journey I feel I return more confidant. I’m more satisfied with the person I am and grateful for having had the opportunity to explore the world (and myself) in such a unique way. It’s a hearty dose of tough love which can be hard to find in a world without my parents. There are not a lot of people that will deliver the honesty you need to set your life on a course correction but the boat always manages to do that for me. The ship becomes my home and the people aboard become my family. So, I guess the real question isn’t how to feed a senior or a sailor but rather how do you feed a family? It not easy but it’s done with love and I try to bake plenty of that into my meals to nurture everyone aboard until they return to their families and loved-ones.

Come back next Monday for one of my favorite snack recipes to feed hungry sailors!

The SSV Corwith Cramer is operated by the Sea Education Association and sails for science

PS-Sailors LOVE snacks but then again, who doesn’t? Until then, fair winds!

Life After Caregiving During A Pandemic

Hey Folks,

I have an update for ya. After nearly a nine month pause, this gal is headed back out to sea. Yep! This is a true story. Due to all things pandemic, my life after caregiving was postpone. No sooner had I graduated from the six year careship that was my parent’s battle with Alzheimer’s and dementia did a new health care crisis emerge. Covid-19, the ultimate set back. Obviously, all our lives were disrupted thanks to Covid but good gawd… the timing could not have been worse. I know that’s the case for many of us as no one plans for a pandemic but my short reverie as an international jet setter, sailing around the world cooking for the scientists of the future was one hell of a tease. In four short months I sailed the coast of New England and that of New Zealand before becoming sidelined. Again... In the house I just spent six years isolated in as a caregiver.

Early in the pandemic I felt well adjusted to being back home. The old habits and routines came back quickly and as many were struggling with how to deal with their new found time, I was busy cooking and crafting spoons with little difficulty. But as the weeks rolled on, anger brewed. The reality of another indefinite isolation period became a psychological haunt. I felt cheated. Again… of a life I wanted that was perpetually out of reach.. The old sense of defeat was back. Not only was the isolation factor getting to me, I also had the bills of inheriting a home with a huge mortgage, utilities, insurances, and bills of my own. The financial strain along with 6 previous years of unemployment thanks to caregiving was beyond comprehensible. It felt like the universe was pushing me towards a psychotic break. WTF?!!

Fortunately, life has that way of working things out. After months (years?) of wondering what’s next, there is a sliver of light on my horizon. Tomorrow I am setting out once again in an attempt to snatch a piece of that life I want. I’m joining the crew of C-295 for a quarantine period on Big Pine Key before boarding the SSV Corwith Cramer where we’ll undergo a very safe bubble merge with the incoming students before embarking on a month long trip around the Florida coast. (You can read the trip details and see the cruise track here.) It’s perhaps less exotic than past adventure but honestly, this experience couldn’t sound more perfect to me right now. The chance to safely escape everything from post election politics to the endless scrolling on screens for a chance to sail around the coast of my home state is an absolute privilege!

Rosebud, the best little girl there ever was…

I will of course miss my newly beloved Covid-19 foster fail pup Rosebud. She has been the best companion one could have throughout these last few months and it breaks my heart to leave her behind for a bit. Fortunately though, she will be in good hands under the pampered care of my brother whom I’ve drilled repeatedly about ensuring she remains my dog. I must also say how much I shall miss you, as it’s been this community right here that has allowed myself to cope with yet another season of chaos. Your support and encouragement have helped me weather the strangest of storms. I can’t believe how many of you purchased spoons and services over the last several months, helping me truly make ends meet! Your kindness and generosity have sustained me. I can’t believe that I’ve operated this little website as my full-time “employment” for the past eight months and I still own the house and the lights are still on!

In a show of gratitude, I hope to leave you with a few nuggets of fun while I am away. Every Monday I’ll be releasing a new post in this space. Recipes to try, crafty thoughts for your consideration, and of course, Full Moon Baking Club breads to get you through the year. Until then I will leave you with a few photos from my last sailing trip, giving you a little taste of my life at sea. And before you ask, no. I do not cook for a cruise line, nor do I work on a yacht. I cook for the Sea Education Association which operates two brigantine schooners. Trivia nerds should click that brigantine link. Might come in handy. ;)

Fair winds you fine folks! Stay safe this holiday season and I’ll catch-up with you in 2021!

(Un)Masking America

The shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for American healthcare workers and now, the population at large, is a concern. In fact, the irony of it makes me want to gag on a selfie stick. How does a society, obsessed with face filters for one, not have the necessary masks for healthcare providers and two, make it about politics. Between the virus and our obsession with self-righteousness, now feels like a really good time to start covering our mouths. And since masks have turned mainstream thanks to the CDC’s recommendations this maker’s gonna make! I’m slow at sewing so production will be gradual but the exciting part is that 10% of every sale of masks, spoons, or anything else sold from the How To Feed A Senior shop page will be donated to Direct Relief. Direct Relief is supplying healthcare workers with emergency supplies of PPE during the Coronavirus Outbreak and I can’t think of anything more important than taking care of the caregivers!

So, keep an eye out for masks here if you’re on the hunt. I’ll let you know when I restock. In the mean time just remember that there is no emergency in a pandemic. Without healthcare providers we are without health so take care of each other! It might take more than a village this time…

“Without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community. ”

— Anthony J. D'Angelo

May 2020: Simple Sourdough Recipe

This is a shout-out to all the new bakers that have embarked on the sourdough journey but feel defeated in effort. Hey there…I hear you. It’s a lot of flour feeding and discarding and questioning if the hobby is worth it or wasteful… Well, buck-up friend! If there’s one thing I can tell you about bread baking, it’s that the recipes themselves matter less than your relationship to the dough. Over time, you come to learn that a good bread is something you feel. You can tell long before it’s baked if it’s going to perform well and my advice to you is, just stay with it. Practice, make a mess, and enjoy the process regardless of result because you will get better with time. Breads take time… I’ve been baking for a while now and it’s the relationship I have created with time that makes bread such great company. And now, as we all sit idle in our quarantined quarters, where time escapes us and loneliness set in, it’s nice to have a friend, especially a nourishing one that provides a taste of companionship.

As for sourdough specifically, my fandom was born thanks to the pandemic and the sudden hunt for yeast. Albeit my yeast supply remains plentiful, I’m here for the herd. The thought of would-be-bakers being left behind due to yeast shortages was enough for me to join the sourdough bandwagon. I don’t care if it’s trendy because of the pandemic. The truth is, anything that enables you to provide for yourself reduces dependency at large. The fact that you can make your own bread means you don’t have to buy it from the grocery store, reducing demand on the supply chain which reduces the demand on factory workers which right now, are at the very heart of the virus outbreak. So, trendy or not, if you’re better able to shelter in place thanks to what might be a new hobby, by all means, go for it! Reducing your demand for market needs is one step closer to sustainability. Even thought it’s a small step, it’s still a step, and in times of crisis, little things matter.

So, don’t be discouraged by your bread flop, or shamed into thinking your’re just following a fad. Who cares? It’s fun. It’s therapeutic. And when you get the hang of it, it taste good! It’s a win for you, front-line workers, and the environment. Gawd… Just writing that feels like a sales pitch but honestly, this is not a hard sell. If bread baking is a coping mechanism for dark times then consider me an apocal-optimist cause I think its awesome!

As the sourdough starter ages, the holes get better and better!

Before I get into the recipe, I have to say one thing. Screw recipes! It’s so easy to get bogged down in how-to’s that quickly turn to overwhelm. That is how I have felt about all the sourdough recipes I’ve found so I’m giving up and going with what I know and chalking the failures up to learning along the way. I’m not getting into levain, or biga, or poolish and all the fancy names that boiled down, amount to “sponge” in my book. The semantics in bread making can leave a new baker confused, so let’s ignore that for now We’re keeping things simple. Ready?

Simple Sourdough Recipe

Step 1: Create the “sponge”

• 1/4 cup starter
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 cup flour

1. Mix sponge ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Cover and let rest for 4 to 6 hours or when a small amout can float when placed in a bowl of water. This is known as a float test.

Step 2: Create the dough

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 1/2 tsp salt

1. Add the dough ingredients into the sponge bowl and combine.
2. Mix until a shaggy dough forms and all ingredients are incorporated.
3. Cover and let rest 6-8 hours or overnight.

Step 3: Knead the dough

1. With a wet hand, reach along the inside edge of the bowl, lifting the dough up, so you can fold it onto itself.
2. Do this this three or four times and then cover and let the dough rest in the bowl for 30ish minutes.
3. Repeat Step 3, three more times.

Step 4: Shape the dough

1. On a lightly floured surface, dump out your dough and gently shape into a round form being mindful of the gas bubbles.(You want to keep those intact as much as possible. That's what helps give the crumb those big sourdough holes.)
2. Once it's shaped, place on a piece of parchment paper and place it in a clean bowl.
3. Cover and let rise in the fridge overnight.

Step 5: Bake

1. Remove bowl from fridge and let come to room temperature.
2. Preheat a dutch oven in your oven to 500 degrees F.
3. When the oven reaches tempurature, score the top of your bread dough with a few slits and carefuly place the dough with the parchment into the dutch oven.
4. Cover it with the lid and place it back into the oven. Lower the tempurature to 450 degrees F and bake for 30 minutes.
5. After 30 minutes, remove the lid, lower the tempurature to 400 degrees F and continue baking for 15 more minutes.
6. Remove and let cool on a wire rack.

Hot damn! This is me trying to simplify things but my head is already hurting so not sure it worked.. Good luck and remember that the Sourdough Support Group is here for you! I’m posting my updates over on Instagram so if you want some behind the scenes shots check the sourdough stories. Don’t hesitate to message me with your successes, failure, questions or requests. I’m just as bored as you are so lets get gaming and have some fun. You have one month to complete this recipe mission. The next full moon is June 5, 2020 so you got four weeks to give this a shot. Good luck. You got this!

Piece out!

A Guide For Life During Lockdown

What-up folks!

Isolation issues got you down? If the stay-at-home orders, quarantines, and and all things social distancing have created a blur of your life, fear not! I have cracked the code on tracking time and have some suggestions for how you can stay organized while staying at home. During my five years of housebound caregiving, I learned a bit about defining structure when time seems irrelevant. The Wednesdayness of days becomes a struggle when there’s no real beginning or end and that’s what this post will address. The structure below helped me conceptualize each week with an element of flow and thereby removing that sense of stagnation and monotony. It’s not rocket science but it still took me about two and a half years to find a formula that worked. What I realized was every day observed through the eye of time was inconsequential. What made a difference was having a rhythm to each week and applying that rhythm cyclically in the face of time. This is what restored my sense of purpose over the long term. I’m sure most of you don’t want to wait two plus years to figure-out a personal strategy so I’m gonna share my tips below so you can immediately attempt to protect your sanity. I’ve provided sections for how I like to think about both life and fitness within the days of the week, and then I cycle through the themes week after week. And please don’t mistake this as some productivity challenge or something. It’s not a tool meant to achieve everything on your list. It’s just a different perspective for organizing the day to day which for me, was the thing that kept my mental health intact for years when I couldn’t leave the house.

The Big Picture

Before we jump into the meat of this post, let’s get clear on one thing real quick. We all need to calm the F down. To think anyone can simply make a sweeping adjustment of lifestyle on a dime is absurd. We aren’t even a month into this Coronalife train wreck and I can sense the communal freak-out of everyone scrambling to keep life somewhat “normal”. Stop doing that! Just S T O P. Nothing about this is normal and you are wasting time living in denial. Although this might seem like a slow moving car crash as we watch it unfold day by day, in truth it’s a sudden and dramatic change that deserves a significant pause to check for life-altering wounds. Anyone that’s experienced whiplash knows, a pain in the neck can be a significant blow, even when the neck’s not broken. So, rather than dive into online work meetings and the home-schooling curriculum, take a good hard look at your situation and determine the safety and security of your family unit. Create a budget and assess your resources. And resources are not exclusively financial. Does someone in your household cook? Food security is important right now as we all try and limit our trips outside the home. Who’s the tech guru? Is there someone in the house that easily understands computers? (Might be your kid.) How about cleaning, or home repair, or just best at not touching their face? When you really start assessing your situation, different strengths and weakness will emerge that will help guide your momentum forward but it’s important to take in the big picture. You need that macro perspective of your new normal before thinking about thriving in it. Quarantine and social distancing measure might very well be here for months, if not longer, so I encourage you all to take the necessary time to asses your situation so you can, with a rational mind, make smart decisions.

The Day To Day

And now for your sanity…

I know many of you are falling victim to the nothingness of life in isolation and this was a huge problem for me until I figured out a schedule that helped me manage the time. I’m now acutely aware of how external accountability was the force behind everything I did prior to becoming a caregiver. We hold ourselves to deadlines, social norms, and even hygiene imposed by our relationships to others. But stripped of that external influence, it’s quickly apparent that we often take those things for granted as well as having little regard for personal standards. And now, even our self-discipline is being publicly questioned as phone surveillance highlights our (in)ability to follow social-distancing guidelines. Perhaps this is just proof that we are our own worst company… Escaping the house might be the craving for fresh air, or essential needs, or perhaps it’s the very real threat of abuse, in which case, you need to stop reading my suggestions and click here. But, another significant itch to break free from lockdown, is to relieve the frustrations around the nothingness. Seeking external stimulation is a way to stave off boredom because life has become either dissatisfying or uninteresting. But good news! Boredom is mental. With a little bit of structure and personal accountability you can beat the boredom and escape the nothingness! Seriously, addressing your mental health right now is the key to not only survive this pandemic but potentially thrive within the circumstances. You need to adapt and you need to do it quickly because we are all counting on you. The whole world is literally counting on YOU to uphold social order by social distancing and it’s time for us all to get our heads on straight and do our part.

Below are my suggestions for how to go about making your day to day more manageable. It’s one thing to say we “should” all become full-time homebodies but seeing as this is new for most folks it’s difficult without some sort of how-to outline So, here’s an outline. I can’t stress it enough when I say the structure needs to work for you so adapt it as necessary. It’s also worth noting that I prefer this structure, because it’s dynamic and changes every day unlike many of the suggested schedules I have seen floating around online. The feeling of flowing or having a rhythm to the week is important in regards to time and a schedule that offers the same structure repeatedly is going to lead right back to boredom. This structure is cyclical with its themes so it does repeat, however it requires unique brain work each day thereby supporting your mental health with a dose of self-care. You Ready?

Mondays-

Life: Business/ Administrative Tasks

Fitness: Cardio

Life:

This is the mail, the bills, paperwork, phone calls, etc... All the stuff that's keeping the household afloat. It's all the stuff of modern nightmares that feels overwhelming while it sits on a desk or counter-top somewhere keeping the clutter alive. I find dealing with this administrative type stuff frustrating and equally time consuming but it's important. It’s the last thing I typically choose to work on which is why I put it right up front, so I can get it out of the way and put the dread behind me for the rest of the week. Nonetheless, tackling this stuff is the flashlight for darkness. When you move through these tasks, you get a good picture of your state of affairs, allowing you to consciously move forward from there. And it really doesn’t matter right now if you are working from home or a stay-at-home mom. We are all stay-at-home people right now, trying our best to keep some level of normalcy. Attending to the tedious stuff and staying organized will help keep your situation healthy. Take the time to open and sort the mail. Take the time to create the zoom account, do your taxes, or download that delivery app. Make the day your personal administrative day and use it to manage the household as a business. There are a lot of moving parts right now but the most important thing you can do is get a grip with your housebound life. As the week unfolds and administrative affairs start to pile back up, make a note to address those things next Monday. Avoid the trap of dealing with this stuff throughout the week because it will consume you, you’ll get bored and then you’ll start ignoring it. That’s when things fall through the cracks. Just stay the course and I promise you that week over week, you’ll regain a sense of control and feel better about sheltering in place.

Fitness:

When it comes to physical health I like to make Mondays my cardio day. Why? Because similarly to turning on the light, cardio is the equivalents of turning on the engine. It’s the beginning of the week and I like the idea of firing-up the “machine”. Think of your body as your work computer. You start it up on Monday and typically leave it on till Friday. That initial surge of power is what boots your computer and I found it helpful to think of the body in the same way. If I can get the blood pumping early in the week, it sets me up for success. I call that a win! And when you “win” Monday you pretty much win the week. And I know how everyone hates Monday but as the days pass, and you find yourself living in the perpetual Wednesday, Mondays will start to taste a little bit sweet just knowing that they mark the definitive start to the next cycle. Oh, and speaking of machines… don’t forget to start your car!

Tuesdays-

Life: Research/ Learning Tasks

Fitness: Upper Body

Life:

I designate Tuesdays for research type stuff. By this I mean I take the time to “figure-out” the things. This might look like conducting an inventory, or Youtubing how to fix the dryer, scouring Pinterest for a new recipe, or ugh…researching unemployment benefits?! The investigative process also eats a way at our time and often keeps us from improving our lives in some way because we don’t prioritize the chance to learn. Researching things takes time and is an essential component in educating ourselves. If you want to learn the thing, you have to study the thing or at least give it some amount of research to develop comfortability.

So… Tuesday! If you had a successful Monday then you likely embraced some new information. For example, just because you downloaded the Robinhood app to start day trading or joined the Postmate Fleet to offer local deliveries doesn’t always mean your comfortable using them. So why not take the day to schedule in some learning. Or why not take the day to figure out how you are going to respond to all those emails? Or pay those bills? Unless you’re a healthcare worker or city manager of some kind, you can afford to slow down. Panicking won’t get you very far. It might even get you hurt so just slow down, take a deep breath and explore your options when it comes to doing X, Y, and Z.

Fitness:

Why should you do upper body on Tuesdays? Because it’s still early in the week. Obligations remain heavy at this time, meaning, you still have a lot to do before you get to the weekend. For me that feels like “weight” on my shoulders so I just go with it. Tuesdays in my mind are still an uphill battle and I just put that concept to work physically with attention to my upper body on that day. It might sound strange but this logic works for me. For the first time ever I felt a sense of… alignment? It sounds crazy but something about matching my body-work to the cultural work flow really meshed. And the best part is eliminating the “what am I gonna do today” headache. Previously, I would spend mental energy developing my “workout strategy”, somehow trying to devise my exercise plan, only to feel exhausted by what I was going to do, rather than the exercises themselves. This concept removed the issue of what. If its Tuesday, then I know I’m doing arms. I can drop and do some push-ups, or squeeze in some dips, and then move on to other things more deserving of my mental space.

Wednesday-

Life:Core Activities

Fitness: Abs & Back

Life:

Wednesday Shemednsday…

It feels like everyday is a Wednesday right now. But, this is why I think Wednesday deserves a little love. It’s the center of the week so why not make it the center of your life? Hear me out…

If Wednesday is the center, then it also implies balance and with so much talk of work/life balance, even before the Rona, why not let Wednesday become that day for things you love? For me this consists of spoon carving, bread making, pressing flowers, and other crafty endeavors that reflect my passions. They are only hobbies but with the consistent nurturing of them, they have grown into much more. Spoon carving has since grown into a small business and bread baking helped me connect with new friends through the Full Moon Baking Club. Neither of these things saved anyone’s life but my own, and I mean that in the sense that they gave me a creative outlet in which to enjoy the monotony of time stuck at home. I no longer make excuses for why I haven’t gotten to the fun projects on my back burner. I just do them on Wednesdays, intentionally allowing them a spot on my calendar, smack dab in the middle of everything, right where they belong.

The emptiness of this time will consume you without a plan that considers activities you find fulfilling. (Hashtag retirement?) It’s important that you hang-on to the things you love or else you could lose yourself to the tedium of routine. This entire schedule attempts to eliminate much of that dreariness but it also offers a chance for you to dive deeper into those forgotten favorites, and reshape priorities that better align with your personal values. That’s something worth exploring and you should take advantage of it while the time is available.

Fitness:

I’m guessing you know where this is headed. Core work! Yep. If you’re in the middle of the week, work the middle of yourself, and that can include the abs and back exercises of your choice. Personally, I don’t think it matters much which specific exercises you do so long as you do them. Again, for me the hard part was determining what to work-out and with that out of the way, I am free to just do the sets that pop into mind. It’s also fairly easy to recall the previous weeks exercises since I only do them one day a week and therefore switch it up a bit to keep things interesting. But this is not rocket science. This is literally as dumbed down as it gets because the whole point is not to over think it. It’s not that hard to come-up with a couple core exercises you can do at home. You got this.

Thursday-

Life: Community Outreach

Fitness: Lower Body

Life:

Community Outreach seems a bit weird in the age of social distancing but you’d be surprised how much of it remains. Remember all those emails you opened on Monday? Well, today’s your day to respond if you haven’t all ready. Give yourself this time to connect with the necessary people in your world. This is you being proactive. Send out the memo, schedule the appointment, make the phone call, do the launch… This is all stuff you are pushing out and into the world to give it shape on your own terms. If Mondays are the defensive days where you respond to what been coming “in”, then Thursdays are for playing offense and the ball’s in your court. Take your shot. Push your energy out. Exercise your own leadership by making things happen, especially on Thursdays!

Fitness:

At this point we are over the hump. If you can imagine the work week as this mountain and Wednesday was the peak, Thursday has us coming down the other side. And although the stress of that uphill battle is behind you, you still need to make it down the mountain without collapsing. For me, that means leg day! Squats, lunges, what have you. It’s a good day for leg work because again, the alignment is there to flow with the rhythm of the week, allowing for some relative ease in the process. Why swim upstream when you can float down it? It’s just easier. And I don’t know about you guys but I’m not in the mood for more challenges at the moment. Life is hard enough and I’m just trying to keep all the components intact. Go with the flow…

Friday-

Life: Clean-out/ Organize/Downsize

Fitness: Stretch

Life:

You are so close to the weekend at this point that chances are slim you have the mental capacity to deal with anything that feels “work” related. So why not just accept that? Even if you’ve managed to keep your job, working from home has caused everything to slow down. I don’t see the harm in accepting life for how it is. So rather than pretend you’re going to actually do work on this day, I would encourage you to switch gears and focus on making your house feel homey. If your gonna be stuck mostly inside, you might as well make the space comfortable. Spend some time organizing or tiding up. This doesn’t mean going on an epic purge, all Marie Kondo style. That actually sounds like a lot of f’ing work. Instead, take the day to focus on the weekend. Get your place ready for some downtime. I know many of you utilize the weekends for chores and such but that actually destroys the integrity of the weekend. And we’ll get to more on that in a minute but for now, allow yourself the virtue of easing into the next phase of your week which ideally is slower, less productive, and a well deserved break, in order to recover and start again. That being said, I find you must take initiative to protect those days or it doesn’t happen and the best way I’ve found to do that, is by being proactive before it arrives. Anticipate the weekend! Make it something to look forward to regardless of not being able to go anywhere.

Fitness:

Oh snap! It’s the home stretch so obviously, stretching is on the menu. Easing into the weekend with power lifting or some intense cardio just doesn’t do it for me. I’m more inclined to run to happy hour than run for health and that’s just how it it is. Can’t say that I’m proud of that but I’m also over pretending I’m anyone different than who I am. I’m not someone that’s in love with working out. It’s more like maintenance. It’s just something I have to do like vacuuming or paying bills and this strategy not only makes the whole idea of “fitness” more tolerable for me, it has also enabled me to stick with a “program” that works. I hate to even call it a “program” because I just made it up out of the desperate need to find a routine that both worked at home and my 10,000 excuses. And, if you are anything like me, you might have similar tendencies and to that I say, grab the wine and get on your mat! Take a sip, lay down and then roll around loosening all the tight spots. This doesn’t have to be a full blown yoga routine. It’s just a little somethin somethin to close-out the week with a small nod to health before the weekend debauchery!

Saturday-

Life: No Rules

Fitness: No Rules

Debauchery say wha?! Yeah. Pretty much…

Life:

Ok, here’s the thing about Saturdays. Remember above, where I said tasks and chores were ruining the integrity of the weekend? Well here’s why… When you neglect to protect a place for rest in your schedule then you always live from the place of “catch-up”. Meaning, if you always have something scheduled then you leave yourself no room to go back. You’re on a constant cycle of churn and burn and either exhaustion or boredom will squash even the best intentions. However, if you have a day that serves as a “free space”, that gives you an entire day to catch-up on anything you missed during the week. There is a difference between scheduling tasks that should get done, verse choosing tasks because you have the time. Although they may look similar in action, the difference is in the feeling when pursuing activities as a choice. The freedom of being able to say yes or no is the privileged you have over protecting your mental health. You can’t do all the things, all the time. To ignore your own desires, is you giving away your power to influence your environment. I’m not saying to ignore pressing needs cause again, you have the freedom to address them if you choose. I’m just suggesting you make room to explore your energetic slack. It’s not only ok to give yourself a break, it’s important to acknowledge the monotony of life right now has its own grind and can wear you down.

Fitness:

Dude. It’s no rule. If I were you, I’d up the ante on indulgence! Make cinnamon rolls and drink a beer, all while binging on Netflix in pajamas. Let go of regimen, just for the day, and relish in the chance to explore what you fancy. Take the day off so you can get back to the workweek recovered and with the strength for self-discipline. That discipline part is an increasingly important component in adapting to our new normal, so use this day as a life exhale. If you missed some exercises from earlier in the week then go for it, if you’re game. But if not, then don’t do it, and don’t feel guilty. The best part of this style of “cyclical” training is that you can theoretically skip an entire week of exercise but convince yourself you really only skipped a day. How ya like that logic? It’s good right?! ;)

Sunday-

Life: Prep Day

Fitness: Head Space

Life:

This is for whatever needs to happen to prepare for the coming week. For me this includes things like laundry, groceries, cleaning any common areas that got destroyed in my Saturday bender… I also tend to bake a bread, or make a big meal that will provide for a few days of leftovers. Most this stuff you could defined as chores but they’re the kind of things that prepare you for a strong start, rolling into the next cycle. A little prep on Sundays can go a long way to starting the week out on the right foot.

It’s depressing to think we lost our sense of purpose just because we’ve lost our jobs. That’s really just a misunderstanding. By redefining your schedule to reflect your needs, absent of the clock is a step towards reconnecting with your values. Jobs are not an indication of self worth. That’s just the mind f*ck and the confusion, depressions and paralysis you’re feeling in the shake-up is just the bangover between now and what’s next. The best thing we can do during the interim, is prepare ourselves for hard times but it’s hard to prepare anything without a plan. So take the time… Take the day to think about what you’re going to tackle tomorrow so when you get-up in the morning you have the beginnings of an action plan.

Fitness:

Meditate!

Yeah… I don’t do it either but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good idea. However, if that’s not your thing there are lots of other ways to use your brain. My go-to is books. I like reading and typically do so at night before bed which means I usually fall asleep on the same paragraph every night. I really only get ahead by taking some time on Sundays to read on the couch. Twenty minutes turns into two hours and next thing you know, I’m so sucked into the story, that I’m staying up all night just to finish. I’ve also gotten back into journaling. I’ve gone through phases where I’d keep a journal, mostly while traveling, or going through a break-up or some situation that I need help processing. Journaling helps me get the drama out so I could move on with whatever. And ya know what? This appears to be one of those times. I don’t know about you all but my mind has been racing with thoughts for weeks now and it’s nice to have a place to park them other than Facebook or Instagram. My point is it’s helpful to have a constructive distraction. Be it a puzzle, a book, or even a bath; engage in something that offers a mental escape.

Alright, I know this is beyond long and I’m trying to wrap this up while the pandemic is still relevant. But before I leave you to digest my mental vomit, I want to stress the importance of ADAPTABILITY during this time. We are not in a healthcare crisis or an economic crisis or whatever type of institutional crisis they are gonna throw at us. We are in a national state of emergency which means chaos is on all fronts. If you go to sleep now it’s going to be hard to catch-up so I urge you all to stay aware of the pace of change even if you don’t feel it directly. The lag in our cultural mentality is at threat with our cultural conscience. The fact that the virus is rolling out in waves means some parts of the country won’t understand the severity of the crisis until well after some states have peaked. The peak is not the end. Every state will have to come down the other side and just as we’ve seen some states lag in response, we’ll likely also experience fledgling anticipation to get back to life before it’s safe. The point of this post is to provide you with some tools for how to be ok with being home for potentially a very long time. It’s one thing for officials to tell us that staying home is in our best interest but without tools and coping mechanisms, I fear we’re set-up for failure. I am not an expert on surviving a pandemic but I have a lot of experience to adapting to sudden and isolating change so, these are my tips. I hope they are helpful and I hope some of you have tips of your own that you’d be willing to share. People are going to struggle with this and their success directly influences our ability to move beyond this virus. Share your thoughts! Share your feelings. This is a time to share and connect and guide each other with compassion. Comparisons don’t matter. Race, gender, class… none of that matters. This is a human experience; one with the largest unifying opportunity we might ever experience in our lifetime. It will include anger and grief, and perhaps most importantly vulnerability. How we treat each other during this time will shape our culture for years to come. I’m begging you to act with your heart.

Take love you good people!

What To Expect From Social Distancing

Day 11 in isolation:

Let me tell you folks, as someone that spent relatively five years in isolation, You. Can. Do. This!

Most of you that follow me here already know the story. My parents got sick and I had to abruptly leave my job, my apartment ,my partner, my new car, my everything, to care for not one but two parents with ALZ and dementia. Blah, blah, blah... It was the f’ing worst! It was my whole world and it crashed around me in an instant. Oh, and spoiler alert, everyone died. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do and in the wake of this crisis, you need to know you can do this, and it’s gonna f’ing SUCK!

I’m thinking about reviving this site to share more about the isolation experience as I see so many suffering with the dynamics of all this change. And I wish I could say being away from all your friends and family will be easy, but I can’t. It’s not. It’s the worst f’ing thing I’ve ever experienced and I did it for five F’ING years!!!!

But! And there is a really big BUT here... Isolation teaches you things about yourself that the world itself cannot and I encourage everyone to just take a deep breath and think about your fear. Is it loss of income? Is it loneliness? Is it the loss of your stability or worse… death?

Tell me what it is and maybe I can share what I gained when I faced those things alone. Maybe it will help calm you if you’re feeling scared. I was scared for a good long while and I still am... but perhaps not to the same degree. I’m not the same person I was when this journey first started. The years changed me but I’m better for it and I’m happy to share more of that experience if you think it might be helpful.

Tip #1: Get a hobby!
Stay healthy and stay home! Love to you all!

{Originally posted on Instagram on March 23, 2020.}

Senior Playlist For Coronavirus Comfort

Dear caregivers and friends,

As we are all experiencing these uncertain times I can’t help thinking about our most vulnerable population. My heart breaks at the suffering of both seniors and caregivers as you navigate the challenging recommendation of social distancing. The picture of loved ones being visited through windows; nursing homes and assisted living centers under a mandatory void of visitors… The isolation sounds awful. The alarm should have sounded for the elderly long before the threat of Covid-19 but here we are and the bell is ringing. I’ve been thinking a lot about how to help in this crisis. What can I do to help this community? I regret to say I cannot make respirators however I have made an age appropriate playlist for seniors and hopefully it can offer a slight sigh of relief.

As many of you know, my dad, Robert Look (aka #koolbob) suffered from dementia where daily he struggled with confusion facing the world around him. The only thing that soothed his soul was the sound of music and it is my hope that this collection of his favorites might also help to sooth yours or your loved ones. He passed in December of 2018 when he was 86 and that detail is relevant only for you to grasp his age. He was from a different generation. He was part of the “Silent Generation”, born between the two World Wars and part of a generation that we might lose rather quickly if we don’t slow the pace of this virus. I can only imagine how terrified they must feel as we practice this new concept of social distancing. So, if you are a caregiver for the elderly or manage a nursing home or assisted living center and finding yourself at a loss as to how to bring comfort to the seniors in your care, pause for a moment, press play, and turn the music up for our parents and grandparents whom we want to hung but can’t.

My dad in his prime.

I know caregiving is frequently a thankless job but I want to assure you that we are all beyond thankful for your service! You are the true heroes of this crisis and as the weight of the world feels entirely on your shoulders please know that we are standing behind you, ready to help.

Holding you in heart,

Ashley.