No, it did not involve a skill or language. With more time alone and isolated, I have been learning new, little bits of information every day since the shelter-in-place has started. The lack of social obligations has really freed up my time to focus on doing things I want to do and being more observant of my surroundings. None of these things were hard to learn and sometimes a quick Google search can do the trick. Some things were learned from an embarrassing scenario or by random too. If anything, being imperfect has probably taught me more than actively trying to be perfect.

1. From hearing wild turkeys gobbling loudly outside my house for the past few days, I learned it is now mating season for turkeys this time of year.
2. The quote, “I am not a businessman, I am a business, man,” by Jay-z.
3. Bananas can be artificially ripen in the oven and then used to make banana bread.
4. There were a lot of SATs words that I looked up (but now have forgotten) in Elizabeth Gilbert’s new book City of Girls.
5. Investing is a fancy word for reallocating savings.
6. A couple of passionate 450-word emails to my city and local park district to close a park entrance in the middle of my neighborhood during the stay at home order worked.
7. A digital cleanse of unwanted email subscriptions can be mentally refreshing.
8. Homemade cheesecake and apple cinnamon coffee cake taste way better after a day in the fridge.
9. Washing my hair every other day and not blow drying it has made my hair appear healthier and stronger.
10. There is a keyboard shortcut to toggle WIFI on and off on a Windows laptop. (I accidentally pressed the keys in an effort to take a screenshot and I embarrassingly spent 15 minutes on the phone with our office IT guy trying to resolve my remote desktop connection. He was not amused.)
11. A new high yield savings account can be opened a lot easier than I originally thought through an online application.
12. A male barista at my local bakery shop is always chirpy and enthusiastic towards customers every time I grab coffee to go once a week.
13. Weeding is much easier to do in the cool, cloudy mornings than in late afternoon.
14. The unconscious fact that I have been touching my face a lot before the pandemic and now have roughly reduced the number of times by about half.
15. The podcast “What You Will Learn” is literally the audible version of spark notes on books in topics ranging from investments, lifestyle, non-fiction, and self-help.
16. Placing hot brown butter too quickly into the cookie mix can make the texture of the baked cookies flat and runny.
17. Social “dieting” and social distancing can go hand-in-hand and nobody is the wiser about your unknown whereabouts.
18. There is usually some technical difficulty when doing a virtual hangout session, but this can be resolved pretty quickly.
19. Reusable mesh produce bags can be washed in the washing machine on delicate mode and air dried after.
20. The quote, “We don’t make movies to make money, we make money to make more movies,” by Walt Disney.
21. Wear sunblock even when going outside on a cloudy day.
22. Salt and pepper are not the only seasonings that can make soups and curries tasty.
23. Installing a new TV wall mount requires locating existing wall stud locations and figuring out where to anchor wood screws to ensure a secure and stable wall mount installation.
24. The time to cook or bake takes longer than you think.
25. Washing my face in the shower with regular bar soap has helped cleared my skin (on top of washing my face in the morning and at night with a facial cleanser).
26. People appreciate receiving a direct phone call or voicemail message when I was attempting to contact a sales representative of a paving company for work.
27. Frozen kimchi pancakes are actually very flavorful and delicious when I stir fried them.
28. Correcting my posture with three pillows in my home office chair has done wonders.
29. Re-watching episodes of The Office on Netflix is a good default entertainment during lunch breaks. (It feels like I am in an office setting when I am working from home.)
30. Little joys like passing by spring blooms or not burning steaming vegetables can brighten up my day.

You can learn something new every day. It does not need to be a difficult mathematical equation or trying to solve world peace. Dial it back down and learn something easy and simple that you didn’t know or notice before. Learning something new does not have to be boring or tiresome either and should be something that excites you and lets you pause for a moment. My greatest motivation is knowing I am not perfect and that I don’t know everything, even with a masters degree and several years of industry experience. There is always something you can learn, you just need to go look for it.

Happy Monday and carpe diem!