On Thursday, Oct 1, Storyvine Co-Founder/CEO Kyle Shannon created his 200th video diary documenting his home quarantine.
He’s an extrovert, so he knew this type of isolation was going to be really hard for him, and a daily diary was a way for him to cope and feel connected. He filmed his first video on March 18th while packing up his office to work from home, and you can see the anxiety in his face.
He thought quarantine would only be a couple of weeks, but it soon became obvious that it would last much longer. As viewers, we watched him gradually accept this and slide into a new normal, just like all of us have. On Tuesday, June 23rd, Kyle marked Day 100, and in our blog post about it I wrote, “Slowly his videos became less about the pandemic, and more about his daily life – successes, failures, home projects, what his family was up to, etc.”
Now here we are, 100 days after that, and Kyle definitely needs a haircut. But what’s been interesting to see is just how far he’s slid into his new normal. There’s much less visible anxiety. The ambitious COVID projects (remember when we planned to learn the CAGED guitar system?) have been replaced by mid-day errands and the occasional afternoon nap. He bought a new desktop computer because he won’t need a portable laptop in the near future, plus a larger screen makes his video conference calls feel like interactions with real people. I wouldn’t go so far as to say Kyle is enjoying working from home, but he’s certainly adapting and seeing some benefits.
Life moved on, and Kyle moved along with it. As someone who has watched his videos every night, I’m starting to feel like I’m part of the family. I definitely know him better. So while the initial purpose of these video diaries was to make Kyle feel more connected, the end result is that we all do.
Watch each episode of Kyle Shannon’s “An Extrovert’s View From Within” here. Some day Champ will catch that snake.