Let us start with being honest: how many times did you say: “I wish I had time for …”? Well. That is pretty much, isn’t it? Now you have. Time. Here is what you have wished for… You are right, you do not only have time, but also your family around, your kids sitting in front of their digital lessons (if you are lucky…) and your other half is talking to invisible people while sitting in front of the laptop (as your super expensive wifi is not capable of transferring picture and voice in parallel…). Plus there is you, flooded with emails and conference call requests.

Before becoming overwhelmed and frustrated, you realize that you also miss – at least – the daily commute to work, shopping time (as you switched to delivery or stockpiled at your first shock), gym time, hairdresser and manicure. Not to mention your social duties – at least the live ones. Yes, besides all these you have to keep your kids busy with their digital lessons (instead of chatting with their other isolated mates), so having more time does not mean having more privacy. On the contrary. .. So what to do? 

BAKE.

No, I do not mean muffins. No, not from those pre-made things. Real things, like those you otherwise would bring from the bakery. 

You will realize, that it is far more fun to have your regular conference calls while you are preparing and blending ingredients. Headsets are so developed nowadays, that nobody will hear it over. 

You will feel even more efficient than ever in your life. Be honest: the washing machine and the dishwasher is running in parallel, right? Of course…. Sorry for asking…. Besides these two, you are completely caught up with the office things, and you are providing your family with fresh made things. Not bad. 

You will realize that baking takes much less time than you have thought. Actually, takes even less then dressing up, putting on the minimal make-up, getting into your car, driving down to the town, parking your car, queuing a bit, grabbing the fresh bakes, then going back on the same route. At least until putting on the minimum make-up. 

You will feel creative. Ok, over time, you will. At the beginning – being a perfectionist – you may feel some internal drive to develop – so you will do it as an exercise. Very shortly you will realize that eating (continuously developing) croissants, rolls or anything else, every day, is  kind of boring, so you will start to be thinking about variations. The next level comes when one day you bake in the morning and the other day some desserts after lunch or for the afternoon. 

You can control the ingredients. It is you, who puts them together, so you have no doubt what your family members are eating. No googling of unknown expressions, glasses on to read the fine prints and no hesitation about what makes less harm. You can also control the shapes. Just to get deeper into creativity. 

You can invigilate your kids in front of their laptops. Without actively participating, meaning listen to all the things they do when in their “digital school”. Actually, depending on your kids personal needs, you may want to, if you would like not to be very humiliated once entering into discussions with them.  However, If you feel confident and you were smart  enough (not to mention to be quick, as stocks were really low) to buy headphones, you only need to control the location of the laptops, as the kids cannot go further than 1.5 meters. Unless, you were not smart enough not to buy wireless ones. Well. Bad luck then. You do not only have to control the location of the kids, besides the laptops (and the lessons running on them, not only in the background), but also the location of the headphones. When not on the kid.  You have just generated an additional source of stress for yourself… Next time, pay more attention to small practicalities….

You will get attention. Working, studying in a slight fresh-bake smell will make the impression. You will feel appreciated, even when you would otherwise be disappointed about the things you have heard on the conference call. Although, humans get used to positive things very quickly, at least you created one more thing to be happy about. So use this smartly. And the most important: ENJOY IT.