I have been accused (mostly by myself in moments of self-criticism) of not using time wisely. I don’t mean that I am always late for things. That is almost never the case. Instead, I mean that when I have time to fill, I don’t always make the most productive use of it. Maybe I mean more often that not always.

Today, I was different. I knew that I wanted to Zwift after work. I skipped yesterday and didn’t want to skip two days in a row. However, I also had to get out to the store to pick up some essentials (something you are allowed to do during lockdown). I also wanted to clean up, make dinner, watch hockey, sit through a less than enlightening union meeting, write a blog, and get some rest. I had a pretty full schedule. Adding to that, I didn’t want to be at the store when a lot of people had the potential of being there.

Old me would have gone after work. This would have pushed my exercise time back and might have led to some…choices. Knowing me the way I do, I might have shaved a few minutes off the workout time because I wanted to watch hockey. I might have been tired from rushing out to the store and come back less in the right frame of mind to work out. Is this certain? No. There are no certainties, but based on honest self-reflection, giving myself stress or time issues makes it easier for the less motivated side of my personality to come up with excuses.

Instead, I made a plan of what I was going to get a–yes, a shopping list mentally mapped out to the store layout, went to the store on my short break and bought only those things on the list, barely deviating from the course I had set myself. I even managed to avoid the ice cream section and the chocolate section. I did linger over some electrolyte boosting powders and stuff in the fitness aisle a little longer than I should have, but still pretty quick for me. A happy coincidence was that the store was almost empty and I had the checkout line to myself.

Will I always be able to do this? No. There are going to be times where I wander the aisles unable to remember what I came for or what I actually want to eat for dinner. There are going to be times when every bright bauble catches my eye and delays me even further. That it didn’t happen today and I could get all of those things done is why it gets the title of Today’s Perfect Moment.