“What a long strange trip it’s been.” – Jerry Garcia
Welcome to The Vibe!
The blog that refuses to get a haircut until this whole quarantine thing is over.
Each week we discuss ONE IDEA that will help you live a better life.
This week’s topic is A LONG STRANGE TRIP.
The Vibe: A Long Strange Trip
Last week I was standing in the produce aisle.
I looked up and saw a man quickly walk into the market.
He was wearing a camouflage jacket, camouflage baseball hat, gloves and a black bandana pulled up over his face.
My first thought was “active shooter”.
I was ready to dive behind the avocado table.
But then the man grabs a shopping basket.
He starts examining the blueberries.
All good.
No threat.
Just a guy buying blueberries while rocking out his version of pandemic gear.
The past 70+ days have been A LONG STRANGE TRIP.
No graduations parties.
Drive-by birthdays.
And the final insult…
Washing off your groceries (I hate you Covid-19).
Not fun.
To say this summer may be different is like saying the next Pope may be Catholic.
A friend asked me a question that really made me think.
“Do you want your post-lockdown life to look more like it did before or now?”
At first, I thought my friend may have had a high fever.
But when I thought about it, it was a real POWER QUESTION.
The past few months were rough.
An invisible virus shut down the entire planet.
Everyone’s life changed overnight.
But a crazy experience like this can be an amazing teacher.
What do we need more of in our lives?
What do we need less of?
Ben Franklin, no stranger to uncertainty, wrote, “Those things that hurt, instruct.”
Look back over the past 2 months.
What are you going to bring with you?
We need to take more out of this experience than just The Ozarks and White Claw.
3 Things I Learned from A LONG STRANGE TRIP:
Prepare the Night Before
I started the quarantine wasting a ton of time.
The lockdown blew up everyone’s routines.
I was unfocused.
Everyone was home.
Distractions were everywhere.
A few days in I stole an idea from Jocko Willink.
Jocko calls it PRE-STAGING.
I started preparing for the next day the night before.
It sounds simple (it is) but it’s also amazingly effective.
Each night I charged my MacBook Air, placed it on my desk and opened it to the project I was working on.
The book I planned to read was put on the table with my journal and highlighter next to it.
I scheduled the next day’s workout in my calendar.
My son and I confirmed a time for our BJJ session.
PRE-STAGING sets the tone for the next day.
It also makes the next morning way more FOCUSED and PRODUCTIVE.
Long Walks Are Magic
There’s a great quote by Nietzsche that’s says, “All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.”
We never walked so much as family.
Some were walks during sunset on way too chilly March nights.
Others were long, meandering walks through neighborhoods I never knew existed.
Walking may be the closest thing to a magic pill.
It makes you feel better.
Walking makes you think better.
The more we walk as a family, the more meaningful our conversations become.
You get to hear what’s on everyone’s mind.
You get to bounce ideas off each other.
Long walks are here to stay.
Work(out) from Home
It took a global pandemic to teach me that you don’t need to drive 20 minutes to the gym or yoga studio to get an awesome work out.
There are so many ass kicking workouts you can stream and rock out right at home.
Saves time.
No traffic.
No parking problems.
And you’re on no one’s schedule but your own.
Namaste Covid-19 for shining the light on home workouts.
Anthony Bourdain wrote, “Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts…But that’s okay. The journey changes you. You take something with you.”
A long journey can make you see the world differently.
We return home a different person.
We just have to be open to the lesson.
Keep traveling…
#ALongStrangeTrip
Joe Ciccarone
The Vibe 