The days before social distancing

On June 8, 2020, New York City entered Phase One of its reopening from the Pandemic. It has been exactly 90 days since I last stepped into the office. As I started typing a minute ago, I was about to provide a view into my life outside of work. Then it struck me, I really haven’t experience that life in a while. So let’s talk quickly about what it was then, and what it is no.

A great place to start for me is food. As an avid watcher of the Food Network, I remember fondly, Rachel Ray 15 minute meals. So as a foodie, being in New York City is a delight because one can try literally anything. Yes, you can, I don’t. So, how am I a foodie? Well I am a foodie with dietary restrictions by choice, so there are large swaths of foods I don’t eat, but I digress. Generally, two of three meals a day was in the city.

Breakfast for many years was from a food truck near Wall Street. My favorite was Alan’s Falafel outside of Brown Brothers Harriman. Alan (His Americanized name) is an Egyptian immigrant who built a sustainable business and repeat customers, who continued to patronize the business although he had returned to Egypt. Lunch at least two days a week was enjoyed at Little Lads Basket. This interesting restaurant was located in the basement of the building that housed the New York City office of the Governor of New York. Little Lads was vegan. You could get a variety of dishes with a meat look and feel, but it was completely different. Additionally, lunch at Little Lads was affordable. Lunch for the remainder of the week was at the other restaurants in the Wall Street area (e.g. George’s, Sophie’s).

The routine of my life is that while most of my colleagues headed home at the end of the workday, invariably, I had at least 60-90 minutes of personal learning at events throughout the city about 3 days a week on topics of interest. For a period of time, Yoga was a regular part of my daily schedule. Weekday yoga was eventually replaced with long walks, where I would catch up on books, thanks to Audible. Some of my favorite audio books were, A Course in Miracles; The Four Agreements; Asanas, Mudras and Bandhas; No One Would Listen, and my meditative go to, Psalms.

When I changed roles from internal audit to consulting, my routine life as I knew it was over. My days revolved around client needs and project deadlines. My non-negotiable, however, was 31 hours of personal time between 5 pm on Friday to Midnight on Saturday. I have long been a proponent of work-life balance. One of my proudest moments was writing a proposal to the management of NYSE Regulation, which resulted in the Corporate Governance Team having a work from home day, once every two weeks. Come to think of it, I was ahead of my time.

I am a consultant because I believe in serving others. When traveling for work, I become a tourist after-hours. The goal in every city is to experience the area with oodles of local input. One such experience was a stint in Arizona where I experienced Sedona through the eyes of Native Americans. The vortices in Sedona are real, and can transport you to a different time, literally. If I weren’t a consultant, the only job I would thoroughly enjoy would be Travel Writer. I work to earn quarterly time off, to enjoy sandy beaches, and multiple ports in seven days.

Well, that’s it. My time of writing for today is done, and I never got to my shelter-in-place life. Luckily for you, there is tomorrow. I believe in tomorrow. 

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt

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