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Finding New Things to Look Forward To
Even if they’re weird.
Sometimes living in lockdown mode reminds me of being pregnant. It seems like it’s lasting forever, there’s tons of scary information on the internet about it and all I want to do is binge on carbs.
Of course at the end of being pregnant, there’s a squishy little peanut baby to look forward to. I’m not sure what there is to look forward to at the end of this time where every day feels like the loading icon on my computer screen.
Sometimes, I look forward to the time when I can see my family and we can double dip the guacamole and squish together on the love seat in my parents’ living room and listen to my dad play Neil Young on the guitar. Other days, I just look forward to a time when I can go to Home Depot to pick up a new door latch for my chicken coop without having to wear a mask and wait in a fifty person line to enter the store.
One of the things that sets us humans apart from other species is our amazing ability to look ahead to the future and make plans. In evolutionary terms, as our prefrontal cortex got larger and larger, we started to realize that storing food up in the summer might allow us to survive through the winter. Our ability to think ahead is why we have cities, airplanes, credit cards and Evite.
