Newsletter #11

The lockdown was mentally challenging for me and others as well. The hardest part was the complete lack of social interaction in the real world, aside from saying “Bon dia” to the cashier at the store. Being indoors all day, every day, brought a whole new set of challenges. A bad habit I picked up was watching YouTube a lot, and I started playing video games. A few weeks into the lockdown, I realized that my 7-year-old graphics card couldn't handle new games. I bought a new one along with a 1TB SSD to install more games on my computer. To this day, I still use that graphics card and SSD, not bad for an aspiring minimalist.

Not all new habits were bad. I started doing indoor workouts and bought resistance bands, which I used frequently. Once we could go outside for 1 hour a day in the morning and evening, I started running and walking. At the time, I was reading Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins. David mentioned that when you feel pain while running, continue, and it will go away. Surprisingly, it did. Now I know it’s better to listen to your body; at the time, it felt amazing.

The lockdown made me mentally tough. I started to see the lockdown and the later COVID measures as a test, which I was determined to pass. I completely overhauled my diet and became mentally and physically stronger. I achieved this by doing 75 Hard (more in later newsletters), eating meat, adopting new habits, starting my self-improvement journey, going without AC, taking cold showers, being practically alone, and wanting to pass the test. The first warm shower I took in over five months was while visiting family in the Netherlands in July of 2020. Traveling to the Netherlands from Spain was difficult; it was feasible only when one PCR test was required, instead of a quick test, max 4 hours old, and a max 24-hour PCR test.

One of the good things that came from the pandemic is working from home. Working from home five days a week sounds good, but with only a fan in the hot summers in Barcelona, not so much. For meetings, I wore a T-shirt, and outside of meetings, just sports pants. I was sweating a lot just looking at a screen and helping customers. Before the pandemic, I worked one day a week from home; now, on average, I work in a hybrid model, two days a week in the office.