Today I painted my nails during a Microsoft Teams Meeting.

Today I painted my nails during a Microsoft Teams meeting.
👩‍💻💅

For a week now, I’ve been working fully remote—from home—and for a week I’ve been more chronically online than ever. Instagram is showing me the same reels as YouTube and Reddit. It’s like three people vomiting into each other’s mouths 𝕒𝕕 𝕟𝕒𝕦𝕤𝕖𝕒𝕞. Forever and ever. Till death do us part.
🥴💅

So, to counter this problem, I decided to try something different: every time I want to reach for my phone, I do one small physical thing for myself instead.
😬💅

I know, you’re already confused. But imagine—before I can open Instagram, I brush my teeth. I don’t even 🅣🅗🅘🅝🅚 about YouTube until I’ve sprayed on a little perfume. Just something physical first. Get into my body. Idk, read into that as much hocus pocus as you want.
🧙‍♀️💅

Maybe it sounds a little OCD, but it’s really not that deep. At most, I might have a little ADHD—but like, the c҉o҉o҉l҉  kind. Annoying but effective. Gamify life to make it a little more fun. Worried I’ll forget my basic needs. Can you believe I’ve forgotten to eat lunch—or even use the toilet—for an uncanny amount of time?
🤪💅

So this meeting. On Teams. God, I forgot how much I hate Teams. Feedback on a software launch...a software I haven’t even been trained on yet. Lol. I have nothing to contribute. Here to listen. I mean... *hear* to listen. What feedback can I even give, other than, “Can’t wait to get access and start working in it someday!” Honestly? I don’t want to listen.
👶💅

So I paint my nails. Camera on, hands below the screen. I know it’s stupid. It’s silly. But things like that make me feel ˢᴼ ˢᵁᴮⱽᴱᴿˢᴵⱽᴱ.
🥵💅

I’ve been looking at my nails all night. It’s the first time I’ve painted them in almost a year. Halloween’s Friday, and for a moment I almost felt sad—but then I was too elated. I get to rediscover life’s little pleasures again.
🥰💅

At dinner, my husband said,
“Thank you for being my best friend.”
We laughed and joked back and forth.
When I was done eating, I still had food on my plate. He pointed at it and said, “There are air traffic controllers not getting paid.” It’s funny because it’s true—there’s a government shutdown right now.
🥲💅

And suddenly it made sense why I hadn’t found time to paint my nails. But right now, we eat. And he says he’ll make meatballs from scratch this week.
😋💅

I can’t wait. The hard times always pass.
Fifteen minutes doomscrolling and fifteen minutes of self-care look the same to an employer, but they mean very different things to me.
😇💅

At least my nails look nice.
🤡💅