One of the odder things about quarantine is that time no longer feels linear.

You get out of bed, you brush your teeth, you start working, and then the rest of the day stretches out into four different dimensions simultaneously and before you know it, it's time for bed. It's like floating in a tesseract, except all you're doing is sitting in different chairs and ripping weird farts and eating your meals over the kitchen sink because the thought of doing the dishes twice before noon leaves you crestfallen.

We're all dealing with this in our own ways. We're all trying new, mundane shit on the daily. One trick that's helped me reclaim some semblance of control over my schedule, and it's hardly a novel idea, is to save my daily shower for right after lunch. Like a little treat.

Pre-COVID, I was a morning showerer. I get the appeal of the night shower and flopping into the sheets all slick like a seal, but my morning hair always ends up looking like I just stuck a fork in an electric socket, so it's more practical to just hose my entire person down before hoofing to the office.

For me, at least, the post-lunch shower has been a tiny saving grace. If you're privileged enough to be able to work from home (like I am), showering midday is a little bit like taking a siesta. It's a respite. Something you can't ordinarily do in an office-office, unless you work at Google or you're one of those CEOs with your own entire en-suite bathroom. The phase change recharges you—especially if you take a colder shower—and you get to slough off all the tortilla chip crumbs dipped in ranch or whatever that you consumed for sustenance.

But even better than the oddly nice sensation of arriving in an afternoon Zoom with damp hair, the lunch shower introduces some structure to the day. It gives you a reason to change out of your musty morning sweatpants—or, more realistically, a reason to stop Winnie the Pooh–ing it. The lunch shower breaks up the day on your terms. It's certainly helped me, an idiot, feel like a more fully realized version of himself.

Embrace the post-lunch shower. Feel like a new you, however temporarily. Show up onto other people's screens like a wet dog.

Read MoreHow to Unplug When You're Working from Home

Quarantine threatens to become one never-ending work shift if you don’t establish some boundaries.

By Clay Skipper



Chris Gayomali is a GQ articles editor, where he works on features and other stories for print and web. Prior to that he was the site editor of GQ.com. His stories been anthologized in the Best American Sports Writing, have been selected for Longform’s annual Best Of lists, and have... Read moreArticles EditorXInstagram