It’s Been a While….

So I’ll admit. I’ve been seriously slacking on my blogging goals. For the last 3.5 (ish) months, I have been sheltering-in in the epicenter of a global pandemic. One would think that a logical move would be to really dive head first into writing with all of this unplanned “free-time” on my hands, but somehow my days have been relatively filled with activity. I will always remember the final days before the stay-at-home order was issued in New York City. As a model, I have to go on castings in order to get booked for work (editorials, advertising campaigns,commercials, etc), and they were becoming less frequent, more restricted, and with more sanitary and occupant guidelines. The last casting I went to was for an Olay skincare commercial.

The subway ride to lower Manhattan was sparsely populated, which was somewhat comforting as I wasn’t keen on traveling underground for half an hour in a car full of passengers to begin with. I follow current events and get Reuters alert on my phone, so knew that a city-wide lockdown was eminent, and wanted to get in one more work opportunity before my window closed. Upon exiting the Wall Street/Fulton Station, I got an email from my agency confirming that the agency would be temporarily closing, and implementing at-home casting and submissions. I went over my lines, signed in, and then finished my casting with a cloud of uncertainty hanging over my head. I stepped outside and really took in my environment. A usually bustling Tribeca was noticeably different. Sidewalks that would normally be filled with pedestrians trying to squeeze past those without places to be, people to see, or stopped in the middle of the flow of traffic to snap a selfie or picture of a building, were reduced to civilians who were keeping their distance from each other. Busy streets filled with honking taxis, frustrated drivers, buses, and the occasional cyclists were almost empty. An almost unearthly silence filled the air. I decided to walk uptown to the Brooklyn Bridge station, knowing that while I should get back in place, I didn’t have anything else on the day’s agenda, and might never experience New York City this barren in the near future.

During this time, I have:

*Read 3 books and listened to 4 (shoutout to Audible!)

*Learned to thread my eyebrows and worked on perfecting my box-braiding skills

*Rearranged my home base just shy of 10 times with the assistance of my tall dark and handsome roommate (hashtag blessed.)

*Dove even deeper into researching specialized skincare, and perfecting the perfect hair oil and conditioner recipes

*Rewatched the entire Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and You series and started a few others.. The Handmaid’s Tale, Homeland…any suggestions?

*Caught up on my sleep, hydration game, and overall self-care

*Elevated my cooking game and sub sequentially put on some muscle ( I’m not mad at it)

*Gotten closer to some and gained distance from others, and in the process learned a lot about myself

I loved discovering new restaurants and spots to eat in the city. Since eating out is no longer an option, I am learning new techniques and becoming more and more creative in the kitchen to create the dishes I crave while putting new spins on basics. I was a bit of a gym rat, visiting different studios and trying out different methods throughout the city. Now that their doors are shuttered, I have embraced at home workouts using equipment that my roommate and myself have (we converted a space into a fitness studio at the a couple of months the ago), have begun to create different routines based on muscle groups that I want to target, and am utilizing my rooftop and a set of stairs nearby to get in the cardio that I used to achieve from runs around Central and Riverside Park. While museums and galleries are closed, I am still able to get a healthy dose of culture through online platforms, and motivated to contribute to the collective creative community that is the worldwide web.

I have gone from the initial panic of not being able to go to work, castings, meetings, the gym, events..or hanging out with friends, and realized that this time cannot be beneficial if I focus on what I am “missing”, but can be a pivotal period in my life if I am focus on gratitude for what I have and use my time to gain insight and skills to be a better, more effective, put together, grounded, and well-rounded human being when a sense of normalcy returns.

So today I am making a public promise. I promise to myself, and whoever is reading this to continue to work on improving myself. I promise to come out of this a healthier, happier, and more skilled woman. I promise to remember where I came from, why I am here, and what I need to do to get me to the next level. I promise to do a better job of sharing the journey and things that I learn along the route as it unfolds, AND I promise to do a better job of UPDATING THIS BLOG.

Stay tuned,

xxTiffany