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Jun 18, 2022
In March 2020, Panama entered one of the most severe and lengthy COVID quarantines worldwide. My wife and I had moved here 2 years earlier and lived in the sleepy town of Puerto Armuelles on the Pacific Ocean near the border of Costa Rica.
But she was stranded in the U.S., unable to get a humanitarian flight home.
And for 3 ½ months, I was in total lockdown, save for a 2-hour window to scramble for food and necessities. With the ocean on one side of me and the jungle on the other, I felt incredibly alone.
Like many people, I spent days scrolling through COVID statistics, watching too much T.V., and sleeping.
Then one day, out of sheer boredom, I watched an interview with Robin Sharma. He mentioned “day stacking,” the notion that how we spend our day reflects our life in miniature. We stack good day upon good day to create a life worth living.
The interview was geared toward corporate types and not a retired music teacher who does art. But there were parts to which I could relate so I watched another about his 5 a.m. club idea and another about a 20/20/20 morning routine.
I thought about how my days were marching on in isolation. I wasn’t making art. If I looked at how my days were stacking, it wasn’t pretty. If each day were my life in miniature, I realized I was going nowhere fast.
I felt whooped. By lockdown. By rural Panama. By my lack of direction.
So I made a few changes. Being totally alone, I could be as eccentric as I liked. So I set up a strict morning routine.
I got up at 5 a.m. to watch the sunrise as I did sit-ups and sun salutes in my pajamas.
I journaled for 20 minutes about ideas and plans for the day and art projects.
And I started art study online for the final 20 minutes.
20/20/20. Exercise/Journal/Learn
I didn’t tell anyone about my new routine, so convinced that I wouldn’t maintain it for long.
But after 2 weeks, I was still getting up at 5. I even started extending my journaling and learning time. My notebook started to fill with sketches and new ideas from artist classes online.
I filled in the gaps in my art knowledge by learning more about perspective, color-mixing, constructivist drawing, and human anatomy.
The more I learned, the more I connected with other artists online. I started sharing my work to keep myself honest about my progress.
My art sessions increased, frequently lasting 6 or 7 hours. It seemed I had created my own intensive art retreat, one designed specifically for my interests and needs as a developing artist.
I had no time to feel lonely.
I was accomplishing so much and the proof was all of the art I was producing. Animal portraits, studies in perspective, texture, and color-mixing. Meditations with entangled designs. It was as if I were in art school with a syllabus tailor-made for my interests and needs for growth. It was wonderful!
My wife Melinda eventually got a flight back to Panama. It was great to have her home, but a part of me worried that I’d lose my beloved routine. That I’d resort back to the aimless me with no structure to my days.
My worries were unfounded. After seeing the change in me, Melinda was keen to try it herself. A talented writer and blogger, she was grappling with similar issues as far as structuring her days and getting things done.
Melinda started using morning journal time for centering prayer and a to-do list. She signed up for a course in blogging and studied SEO and social media. She was hooked.
So it’s about a year and a half into our new day-stacking lifestyle. We still find time to swim, surf, walk the dogs, socialize, and eat well, but we are still on the same path. And we’ve come so far.
Why would we ever want to change when it’s working so well?
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