Full Disclosure, I am a planner.   In fact, I would often feel compelled to get way out ahead of things because I could not cram at the last minute whether in academia or to meet a work deadline.  I often jest “I am not good enough to procrastinate.”  Over the years, I have enjoyed planning dinner parties, small unique events, trips with my gal-pals, holidays, overseas adventures, educational pursuits, and my entire career. But in recent years, some of my best moments were the spontaneous ones – totally spur of the moment and unplugged.  At least for now, these are few and far between. In the present Pandemic paradigm, even those of us who love to plan in advance could never have imagined how it would feel to have a totally planned and predictable schedule with no room for spontaneity.

Scheduling Overload

Most of us who work do expect to have a calendar full of appointments, but that discipline is now extended to literally everything in our lives.  Let’s take simple things like going to church.  That needs a reservation by Thursday morning for Sunday service.  Beauty services, no more “walk-ins.”  Tennis, no more walk-ons, that’s a 2 day in advance online reservation.  Golf, reservations 7 days in advance.   No waiting in  “waiting rooms”  at the dentist, doctors, or urgent care. Better just not to have to go at all.  No browsing at the library. Order online, call between 9 and 12 to let them know you are coming between 1 and 5.   The list goes on.  Even Beach Yoga needs to be booked in advance and in some communities you need to reserve your place on the beach. All entries to Museums are timed.  Our recent “Open Studios” encouraged appointments but didn’t require it.  Worth noting, most did NOT make appointments –  hungry for flexibility. So here I sit with my fingers tied to a keyboard trying to get online before anyone else to grab a reservation for anything. 

Trading Places

A colleague who had worked for a tech company in the city is a newly minted work-at-homer, like many others now spends a good portion of the day on video calls.  Yet, she shared yet another perspective. “Gone are the break room and coffee machine conversations.”   However, this topic “sheds some light on the fact that for someone who has been less social and less involved in communities, whether that is going to restaurants or libraries or galleries, my life has been much less affected by need to plan and reserve spaces etc.  I’ve actually been given more space in some ways for spontaneous moments by not needing to be in a city and not feeling compelled to engage socially [after work] when I’m more at home in nature and find adventure in  boating and fishing and exploring.”

There’s no place like home

Travel near and far has become interesting at best.  Now one has to think “if I go, will I be able to come back.”  How close in can I take a Covid-test so that it’s still valid when I arrive?  Can I stop in the state that is low-risk on my way back?  Or do I need a 14 day quarantine?  Is there a restroom somewhere that I can use while I am on the road?  Easier just to buy an RV.  Even more bizarre is the list of countries you CAN visit on the US Department of State website.  Really? It’s hard to read it without wincing.  Perhaps the one thing that has temporarily become easier is canceling a flight – that is if it is still even still flying.  Recently a family member received a confirmation from Expedia for a flight, but the airline claims the flight never existed. 

The technologically disenfranchised

On the business side, technology that powers scheduling and tracking is flourishing.  Additional benefactors are marketing and operations which have gained the most “control” in this new world.  Let’s not forget that all these online engagements require logins and passwords.  My spouse barely uses a computer.  He cannot reserve anything.   So now I am managing two different sets of logins and passwords and my head is spinning.   It’s a growing issue.   It’s no joke for critical services – tele-medicine, food delivery, house maintenance, and the list goes on.

Spontaneity is in the Eyes of the Beholder

For now, this is our world.  Spontaneity is in the eyes of the beholder.  For some the new paradigm has created an opportunity to enjoy the simple things around us.   For others, it has created boundaries. It leaves me curious as to how this will have permanent impact and concerned for those who don’t have the tools to adapt.  

I for one will have a new found respect for the chance to have a last-minute getaway and walk freely into a Museum just to grab a seat at the bar of my favorite restaurant.   There’s a certain freedom to being spontaneous that we all took for granted.  Let’s try to imagine a post-Pandemic period where we can open our doors widely and welcome back these precious moments.  The term “last minute” may never fully come back, but I would be happy to at least dial it forward to “last hour” and hope that some degree of spontaneity returns to all aspects of our lives.