How Has the Stupid, Annoying, (insert expletive here) Coronavirus Impacted Your Daily Routine?

Just yesterday, I wrote about the uptick in neighborhood activities. People of all types — and their pets — are getting outside to maintain a sliver of sanity amid forced closures and panic buyers hoarding all the toilet paper.

Besides wanting to throw your arms up and just install a bidet already, being restricted like a prisoner in your own home is undoubtedly taxing on one’s mental state of being.

I’m guessing that more and more of us are realizing why solitary confinement remains one of society’s harshest punishments. Stay cooped up long enough, and you start to feel like this guy:

All work and no play turns everyone into a maniac

Thankfully, I’m not having conversations with ghostly bartenders or seeing menacing twins ride tricycles down the hall. Jokes aside, I rely on mother nature to provide what humans can’t: fresh air, wide-open spaces, and panoramic views.

For example, here’s a shot from a trip to bigger, farther mountains taken two days ago:

The hills are alive with the sound of social distancing

But today brought a level of despair I never thought I’d never see outside a wildfire., which goes to show how quickly things are changing these days. The local mountain — the one with a trailhead 3.5 blocks from the front door — is closed.

Of course, I certainly understand the need for precautions. And, admittedly, social distancing is impossible on most of the trails around here. Good luck staying 6 ft. away from someone as you cross paths on a trail that’s 3–4 ft. wide.

Several weeks into the breakout and subsequent lockdown, I’ve become an expert at self-isolation. But now I’m stuck to sidewalks for my daily hiking fix. And if you’ve ever been up a mountain on which the only trail to the peak is a paved fire road, you know that it’s nowhere near the same.

There’s a huge difference between walking and hiking, and now I have a deeper personal reason for keeping to myself in the hopes of stopping the spread of COVID-19…

I want my hike back!

I hope this short story finds you safe and sane!

~BlockchainAuthor

How has the quarantine life been treating you? What surprises have you encountered?

Share your experiences in the comments below!