I have to admit, I watch YouTube quite a lot those days. I mean, what else can you do? OK, joking a bit here, but still lockdown has its toll. It's important to admit that almost no one can be expected to read about philosophy or complex topics every evening (especially when you have small kids).
What I found is that YouTube is a never-ending source of excellent calming videos that can help me get my head free or better focus. How? Let's see:
Lo-fi hip hop
The first time I got to hear lo-fi, I didn't like it. Can't remember why, but I think this was also because of the rather low playlist quality.
After getting tired of hearing song lyrics while working, I gave it another try and found the channel Chillhop which to these days is my favorite one. They provide super beautiful artwork and even sell their music in physical form. Even our toddler likes those videos, it sometimes help to get him asleep when he's nervous.
There is hours and hours of lo-fi available, and not only on YouTube but also on your favorite music streaming platform.
Train videos
Those days it's very hard to travel. But thanks to 4K and user-generated content, travel videos have changed a lot. Away with the "best of" travel tour with historic context and monument tours, and instead welcome a "first person view" of travel.
It all started with a recommendation of a 1 hour walk in rainy New-York. As I missed being there for a long time, I clicked on it and there I was hooked
Turns out there are lots of variations of that. There are videos from the head of people walking or biking through cities, but also dashcams from cars, and from trains or boats. You can even find some from gondola in Venice. Crazy!
One that I found the most addictive is looking at a train travel from the eyes of a driver cabin. The ones through Switzerland are the best. They are usually taken on sunny days with either snow or a beautiful green landscape. Looking at those allows one to see the roads, the homes, the landscape. It is just a very meditative exercise. Even our small kid loves to watch those too. In fact, he's becoming a real train fan (he prefers steam trains though!).
One thing is for sure: when everything reopens, we'll probably make a big train tour through Switzerland!
– Stephane