Do you still remember when we used to go to work in the morning and our lives were planned down to the last minute?

How we missed a time when we could live following our heart. Try our hand at baking bread, write our first novel or make something using our hands. Naturally, as humans we have forgotten all about that yearning now that such a time has come. However, I believe I'm not the only one feeling like Lotte from Gadgetville going to bed at night, having trouble falling asleep because of all the ideas of everything that needs to be done right away.

Those who are quarantined can start first thing in the morning, while the rest of us have to finish the day's work in the home office first. Unless, of course, the current situation has driven home the painful reminder that one has no hobbies besides going out, eating and spending money.

My personal list starts with building a greenhouse and ends with practicing the great philosophy of Fred Jüssi who tells us not to plan every minute of our lives nor allow others to do it. Leave time for just being and looking at the clouds.

Here you go. No one is making our plans for us, nor can we make any ourselves. If this is not a sign from above, I don't know what is. We should quickly pack our tent and hiking gear and head for the woods to build a fire and immediately commence doing nothing at all.

I once discussed with my dear friend Navitrolla what constitutes a good life together. As a man of few words, he summed it up using the wise words of his grandmother: a good life together is where you feel good being together. Reading about how difficult people find having to spend every day with their family, one cannot help but think that many people do not have a good life together.

It's downright sad! Perhaps this is the time to ask yourself who and why you live with and why isn't it good? The search for the answer should start with a look inside.

We recently talked about poor mental health of children and acute shortage of specialists in the corresponding fields. I asked a child psychiatrist for the reason. Their answer was short: too little attention from parents and too much time spent with smart devices.

All things considered, homeschooling is the best thing that could have happened. At least as far as the mental health of children is concerned. We can no longer limit our interactions to sending the kids off to school in the morning and putting them to bed at night.

Whether we want to or not, we must pay mindful attention to our children. If only by explaining to them the difference between a centimeter and a decimeter. Whatever the case, parents are forced to sit next to their children and talk to them, even if talking to a child and listening to their thoughts seems novel and even alien at first.

Looking at it this way, it is nice to see social media posts suggesting that some parents have discovered that those strange people in their house are actually their children who have turned out to be wonderful people sporting an open mind.

While this does not rank high on the priority lists of capitalists and those worried about the economy, I am personally happy for the environment. We can already read about how our home planet is breathing a little easier. Perhaps we can naively hope that throwing away food and senseless consumption will also fall after the crisis.

Social scientists are sharing optimistic forecasts of how people will move back to the country. Not all of them, of course, but some will. After all, employers are seeing first-hand that remote work is possible and that people do not have to sit under someone's watchful gaze for work to get done.

It has also turned out by now that an email or a Skype call will suffice in place of lengthy meetings and the search for synergy in most cases, while people have rediscovered garden patches, manure spreading and even the basics of potato farming.

I'm left hoping that the day will soon come when I can bring together Ivi from Luhametsa as a top specialist in the field of milking and a recent country denizen who has just discovered that this creature with its large eyes can ensure the survival of their family in a crisis.

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