These are not normal times. So for the next little bit, I’ll be coming to you more often, for an even shorter amount of time.
Tsh’s free weekly email, 5 Quick Things
This is The Good List — I’m Tsh Oxenreider.
So on this show so far, I’ve been doing weekly, short episodes in a rotation of an idea, work of art, habit, and thing, and it’s worked great so far. But times are weird right now — the last three episodes I focused on thoughts related to what we’re all going through nearly worldwide at the moment — social distancing — and I’ve heard back from you that you really appreciated those things: creating a basket of comfort art, adding a golden hour into your routine, and keeping a quarantine diary. I’m glad you liked them.
And I don’t know about you, but one of my favorite things to witness right now is how so many artists and entrepreneurs are thinking outside the box, bending their usual rules, and going with what they have to work with to provide more than they usually do in the name of sanity and helping people feel less alone. I’m talking about Sir Patrick Stewart reading a sonnet a day, Steve Martin playing the banjo in the woods, all the late-night talk show hosts broadcasting low-res videos from their homes, artists teaching classes online, authors reading their books from their couches… you’ve seen em.
What I appreciate about them, besides their sheer talent they’re sharing with us, is their willingness to be off-the-cuff, non-fancy, and just regular people stuck in their houses, too. That provides some serious solidarity.
I’ve seen podcasters doing this, too — changing up their editorial calendars, reporting from less-than-stellar sound booths. Some of my favorite NPR shows’ hosts are recording from under their dining room tables. We’re all doing the best we can with what we have, and in a weird way, I almost like it more. I like the pretense being shed right now, you know?
For the next little bit, I’m gonna edit my usual MO on The Good List as well. I’ve been thinking a lot about the little things we all need reminding of right now to keep our sanity and our gratitude intact — and I’ve got a lot of ideas, and you guys do, too. And yet, most of them don’t need a ton of explanation; we just need the little reminders on a regular basis that, oh yeah, that’s pretty great.
All this to say… For the next little bit, I’ll be coming to you more often, for an even shorter amount of time. We’re talking several times a week, 5 minutes at a time — just simple reminders of the things we probably know to remember or do, we just need the solidarity and the reminders. I don’t know how long I’ll be doing this; recent news sounds like those of us in the U.S. will probably be social distancing through all of April, and I’m pretty sure a lot of you outside the U.S. are doing the same. But since this is our new normal, it makes sense for this show to follow suit, too.
I’ll be doing a variety of ideas, works of art, habits, and things, without much focus on keeping them in some sort of order, because that doesn’t really matter. I’ll also pepper episodes with voicemails and chats with many of you, so keep those calls coming — now more than ever, actually. And it’ll be good. This may last a week, or it may last longer; I don’t know. I’m looking forward to it.
Thanks for listening to this new show; I really appreciate it. And I look forward to connecting with you more over the next little bit. Now more than ever, we all need to remember that we’re all in this together, and we’re all doing our part for the greater good.
A little reminder that if you haven’t yet, sign up for my free weekly email called 5 Quick Things, where I share 5 things I either created or loved from the week. My goal is to make it readable in less than one minute, and thousands of you read it every Friday morning. If you don’t get it yet, go to fivequickthings.email and make sure you’re signed up, and you’ll get the next issue that goes out.
When I hang out online, I’m mostly on twitter @tsh and sometimes on IG @tshoxenreider. You can also find a transcript and the show notes of this episode, and all episodes, at thegoodlistshow.com.
And right now I’d like to hear from you about one thing you’re doing to stay sane during your quarantine and social distancing. Let’s encourage each other with good stuff — leave me a voicemail at (401) 684-GOOD, which goes directly to voicemail; or, simply record your voice and email the voice file to hi@tshoxenreider.com. Just state your name and where you’re from, and what’s one thing helping you get through this right now. And we may feature your thought here on the show.
Music for the show is by Kevin MacLeod, and thanks, as always, to Caroline TeSelle and Kyle Oxenreider for their help, as well as my furry intern, Ginny. I’m Tsh Oxenreider, and I’ll be back with you soon — thanks for listening to The Good List.
A Temporary Detour