Emily in France 🇫🇷 One More Month...

Deciding to roll with this.

I am an eternal optimist – and occasionally, it gets me into trouble.

I remember when I first started telling people that I was quitting my cushy, CDI job to freelance full time. Most reacted in shock and followed by a barrage of "what-ifs." What if I couldn't make a living freelancing? What if I lost all of my clients?

What if I failed?

Honestly... failure didn't even seem like an option to me, then. Maybe that's what made it all work out.

My positive outlook doesn't mean that I'm always in a good mood or even that I'm always right. It means I'm good at deluding myself. It means I'll look on the bright side even if I have to crane my neck to get there. 

It also means that, despite suspecting that lockdown wasn't going to be ending any time soon, when President Macron announced last night that we were in for another month of this... let's just say, I didn't take it super well.

Luckily, I soon rallied. All it took was taking a moment to think of all of the things I have to be grateful for: Zoom meetings with people I love; time to spend on my novel; my baby coriander plant; my incredible network of friends keeping me safe and sane. Things that, big or small, make lockdown just a little bit easier to swallow.

Here are a few more.

1. One of my absolute favorite fake-bands – the OneDers from That Thing You Do – (second only to Berko's band in Empire Records) are reuniting for a confinement concert.

2. If you need to see your quarantine-mates in a better light, this woman in Vancouver has been hunkering down with the world's worst houseguest. By comparison, yours are probably at least OK.

3. Where the government isn't... Cosa Nostra is. The mafia is apparently helping out struggling southern Italian families during quarantine.

4. If you are in the market for more books to tide you over during lockdown, instead of Amazon, try Bookshop.

5. Forks were once considered immoral (and 9 other weird facts about normal household objects).

Stay safe, stay INSIDE, and à bientôt !

Emily in France