I'm Paul Muldoon, a poet who over the past several years has had the good fortune to record hours of conversations with one of the world's greatest songwriters, Sir Paul McCartney. The result is our new

podcast McCartney A Life in Lyrics. Listen to McCartney A Life in L lyrics on the I-Heart Radio App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

Good morning. This is Laura.

Welcome to the Before Breakfast Podcast.

Today's tip is to record what makes each day special.

One of the most common observations I've heard from people about this spring's long season of social distancing is that life started to feel like the movie Groundhog Day.

The main character lives the same day over and over again.

Without the usual markers of time, days can merge into each other, each indistinguishable

from the last.

Quarantines are obviously extreme examples of this, but even during normal times

people can get caught up in the daily grind. Tuesday's commute is indistinguishable from Thursday's commute and you have to look at the calendar as you

wonder is it Friday yet. But today is not Groundhog Day. Each day can be its own little jewel.

Noticing and writing down what makes each day distinctive

helps us value all our days during disjointed or normal times.

In April, our Jewish friends celebrated Passover.

At the Seder, the youngest person traditionally asks,

why is this night different from all other nights?

The response focuses on features of the meal that commemorate the deliverance of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.

Now, of course, Passover is a major holiday, and so of course this night is different from other nights. But as I wrote in my book

off the clock I believe this is a worthy question for ordinary days too. What distinguishes this day, today, from all other days of my life? Even if you

happen to be sheltering in place, what distinguishes this day from all other days of sheltering in place?

...