What to Keep

The world is in various stages of re-opening, but it will probably be months here in NYC before it probably feels like life-before-COVID. But now is a good time (for me, anyway) to think about what I want to bring from this experience forward into “normal” life. I recognize this has been- and continues to be- a difficult time for many. But I also hope that there have been bright spots. For me, here are a few:

1. Waking up naturally- without the alarm. I probably sleep an additional 30 minutes or so on some days, and on others I get up just as I would have if I set the alarm. But there is something so jarring about the blare of an alarm clock- and living without it is so incredibly peaceful. Although I would like to bring this with me into the post-COVID world, I don’t see it happening because even if I could arrange my work schedule to allow me to start later, as long as there are kids in school, there will be a need to get up and have the morning routine underway. However, this is something to look forward to in the not-too-distant future.
2. Time to play with family every day. We may have missed a couple of days — but for the most part we play a hand or two of bridge, and a board game every day. It is somewhere between one and two hours a day of real family interaction. It’s lovely. Maybe it will reduce a bit in the future but I am planning to keep it as much as possible.
3. Zoom calls with people who live far away. Why weren’t we doing this before? I have no idea. But now we will enjoy each other’s company face to face regularly. Netflix parties and online game playing is also part of this. Leveraging technology to really spend time together is probably the best use of technology I can think of!
4. Hobbies- I rekindled my love of guitar playing, crocheting, and puzzle making in these last couple of months. I tried oil painting (meh), and also expanded my culinary exploits to include things like homemade cauliflower gnocchi, coconut milk ice-cream, and coconut yogurt. It has been so long since I have spent time on these sorts of activities- and I am not sure why. Watching a little tv in the evening with family is a great time to make a sweater!
5. Volunteering- I had started doing quite a lot of volunteering before this all happened, but I have found that there are more ways than I would have thought to help and support people even when we are quarantined. Calling people who are shut in is one way, and it turns out it is really enjoyable!

When the world does open up, I think there will be some new things that we will add into our activities, such as:

1. Going to restaurants — we aren’t much into eating out, but that is one part of the economy that will likely be harder to bounce back, so doing what we can to help is the right thing to do.
2. Visiting family more- Realizing how wonderful it is to just be together makes me want to do it more!
3. Sitting outside. No explanation needed.

Life may never be “back to normal” in the sense that “normal” is a very difficult thing to identify. Life is ever changing, filled with ups and downs, not certain, but with joys and things to be grateful for- and that is about as normal as I can imagine.