I have a confession to make: I'm enjoying being cooped up at home all day. Of course, I'd rather not be stuck inside, especially considering why we're all stuck inside.

But if I'm doing my part by staying at home, I might as well enjoy it. And for a homebody like me, that's not too hard. According to some of my family and friends, however, I'm completely nuts. How could I not fill my time with endless pining for the day we can go back to restaurants, movies, concerts and offices?

To be fair, I do miss all those things. Sometimes more than I care to admit. But I can't help but find a silver lining in the difficult present. And as it turns out, I'm not alone. In a bid to prove my sanity, I called around the legal tech industry to see if others, too, were able to find enjoyment while sheltering-at-home. What I heard was more than encouraging.

While challenging, the current situation has given many the time and space to appreciate certain things in their lives they were too busy for before. And despite the isolation, they've become closer to the family they're living with, and the co-workers they haven't seen physically in months.

But widespread sheltering at home has also brought more tangible changes. There's more cooking, more TV watching and, thanks to many young folk, more legal tech professionals discovering that technology isn't just about efficiency and automation.

"I've actually picked up a video game," said Mary Mack, CEO and chief legal technologist at EDRM. "I'm doing Animal Crossing, and [my grandson's] showing me stuff."

To be sure, it's not the first time Mack has hopped on a video game at the behest of her grandson—she's followed him along before on some Fortnite sessions.

"I figured, what the heck, if my grandson is offering to take me through this world, I'll go with him. But I never learned the ropes. Now I'm learning the ropes, and I got a new job at Animal Crossing."

Mack also isn't the only one at EDRM finding joy in being an anthropomorphic character charged with taking care of a virtual island. "Right as Minnesota locked down, my daughter made me buy a Nintendo Switch in February and preorder the game," said Kaylee Walstad, chief strategy officer at EDRM.

Fast-forward several weeks, and Walstad is hooked. "I still play Animal Crossing with my daughter, and we give each other gifts and visit each other islands, and it's been such an awesome way to connect without having to do a FaceTime call or a Zoom call." She added, "Now my daughter and I just connected with Mary so we can go visit her island."

Surprisingly though, there can be ways to connect with today's youth outside of the virtual realm. (Who knew?) There is also, for instance, television.

"I learned what 'Live PD' is,  I've never seen that show before,  and all kind of cop shows and jail shows that 21-year-olds always watch," said Leigh Vickery, founder of Level2Legal, who is quarantined with her son.

Of course, Vickery is learning more about her offspring than just his reality show preferences. "[I'm] really getting to know him in a different way and really listening to what his goals are for the future. … We're a great mother-son [duo], but this particular closeness would not have come but for these months the two of us and our rescue pitbull [spending together]."

It also helps that Vickery, who founded cheese brand Queso Mama, and her son have a particular interest in common. "He loves to cook, and we have been cooking together like crazy. He's bought me a Sous Vide— he uses of course my Amazon account—and [bought me] an Instant Pot."

Cooking is a popular pastime these days among many in legal tech and beyond. But for some, honing their cooking skills isn't nearly as enjoyable as bringing in another mouth to feed.

"From a personal perspective I've never been able to make sourdough bread, so I shouldn't start now," said Beth Anne Stuebe, director of Publications and Press at ILTA. "But I certainly have gone the other route: I adopted a new dog, and [I'm] trying to work her into the family mix after losing my dog last June. I think some of that is in response to certainly being in quarantine and being home more and just trying to find the little thing that can really make or break a situation."

But it's not just family (human or canine) that's helping make a situation. For many, it is also co-workers. The daily afternoon Zoom calls at Lawclerk, for instance, aren't always about business.

On the calls, "we've shared favorite inspirational quotes, favorite movies, music playlists, YouTube clips, best birthday memories and photos of loved ones," said Kristin Tyler, co-founder of Lawclerk and a partner at Garman Turner Gordon. "We've done a guided meditation session.  We had a 'Spirit Week' where every day we had a different dress-up theme like crazy hair, Hawaiian day and Formal Friday."

In fact, Tyler noted she's even become closer to her Lawclerk co-workers than ever before. "We've been there to support each other on the days when everything was just too hard. … I honestly know each and every person on our team better now than if we had spent the last two months in the office."

As it turns out, being isolated these days isn't so, well, isolating. Despite being stuck at home with others or being separated from them by distances that can seem insurmountable, relationships aren't being strained or lost. If anything, they're getting closer, which has given some a new perspective on their work-life balance. After all, maybe it's good to stay home more often.

"I can tell you this, I will not go back to that life, this 90-hour week, no matter what," Vickery said. She added that she spent "like five months in a Hilton last year, literally, [and] no way can my heart go back that. I'll still do my job and still do a great job, but I'm way more into the virtual, remote experience and traveling for fun. But that's something I've learned about myself, that I'm not going back."