The silver lining amidst a global pandemic
When it started
I was on a solo trip in Edinburgh during December 2019 when I started hearing about coronavirus. The information was limited but all I heard was that it originated from human ingestion of a snake/bat? in Wuhan.
My naive self thought only a few people would be affected in that region and that would be the end. Similar to the massive Ebola outbreak from 2014-2016, I felt like I was so out of the loop "just because it didn't affect me".
However, this all changed on March 16, 2020 when we were given work from home orders because the spread in Canada had gotten out of control, and a state of emergency was declared. I work in public accounting at a Big 4 firm and from January to mid-March 2020 was our "busy season", meaning that I was leaving home at 0630 and coming home at 2200 for roughly three months straight.
The weekends were meant for literal recharging, and I barely had enough energy to meet friends, do anything interesting with my parents, or work on my passion projects. Why didn't I quit or find another job you may ask - but that's for another post, and I'm so grateful I held on, because I know this pandemic has resulted in many not having work.
Anyways, like I was saying, I was basically a zombie until March 13 (which is when our sign-off was) and then work from home/quarantine started on March 16. I almost couldn't believe the perfect timing.
All of a sudden, there was no commuting, no getting ready, no packing food for a whole day, no irrelevant meetings, no unnecessary spending, no coming home and rolling straight into bed - it was almost too much to take in at once.
Let me preface this by saying that whatever your routine is, it's okay. You're doing what's best for you and dealing with the uncertainty of a global pandemic is something that none of us have experience with.
The first month of working from home, I was sleeping 9-10 hours per day with minimal movement, binging Netflix (any Never Have I Ever and Money Heist fans out there?), and I felt so good and relaxed.
Commuting
Luckily, I only live a short 30-minute drive from my office and my dad happens to work in the same building, so I really don't have much to complain about here since I just had to sit in the passenger seat and try not to fall asleep in my sleep-deprived state.
My commute is now less than one metre from my bed to my desk which gives me back an hour to do so many other things (like working on this blog post at 0530 on a Friday morning)
Getting ready
My office did have a dress for your day dress code which means that I literally wore sweatpants, hoodies and my Ultraboosts every day. I wore a smidge of makeup (concealer to hide those raccoon eyes, and some eyeliner).
Although I still have daily video calls with my team and client, the dress code still applies and you can normally find me wearing one of the many free t-shirts I got in university. It's been almost 11 weeks of no makeup, and sometimes I touch my face and can't believe this is my skin.
Food
I get hungry, which means I needed to pack lots of snacks including my trusty fruit box, cucumbers, and a big hearty lunch. Around mid-April, I finally finished Ayurveda by Sahara Rose Ketabi and made a promise to myself to not use the microwave and to only eat fresh foods (less than one day old).
I now make/re-heat everything on the stove and it's made me so much more mindful of the entire process. I fast on Mondays but keep up intermittent fasting for the rest of the week, with my eating window being from 1100 to 1900.
Money
I've always prided myself on my saving habits and the use of my handy Excel tracker, but the limits of my self-control can only stretch so far. Working in downtown and having that constant buzz of consumerism around made me occasionally cave in to some super soft Uniqlo crewnecks, and my staple medium oat milk matcha latte from MosMos (the best coffee shop ever, not up for debate).
Not much has changed here except that all my coffee runs now consistent of me going downstairs and making myself a matcha latte. I'm saving 95% of my income, which makes me feel so grateful - I'm now hoping to achieve my goal of being a property owner sooner!
Time
I felt like I had no time to do things that actually mattered to me.
I was working my life away, had no time for my family or my hobbies (drawing, reading, baking, working on this website!) Apart from going outside for exercise and essential services, everything else was closed. We were all expected to quarantine (i.e. no more senseless/pressured socializing), which I understand, is very difficult for some people.
If this were to happen a few years ago, I wouldn't be able to stay at home - I just wasn't in the right mental space. After attending a 10-day silent meditation retreat in 2018, I'm so much more at peace with myself and comfortable with my own thoughts.
Now, I can pop in to my parents' "offices" to say hi and chat for a bit whenever I want, we eat lunch and dinner together, and do the washing up together too. This sounds selfish, but I'm so grateful that we're all at home. My family is very social and oftentimes, the weekends would be filled with going to other people's houses and hosting dinner parties, but now, I can have them all to myself and get that quality time in.
I've read more books now than I did during the entire 2019, averaging about 3 per week and I finally had a chance to edit and post my Japan and Singapore vlogs. I have a video-chatting schedule with my close friends where we catch up once a week and just talk, or test our language skills by playing pictionary in foreign languages.
I miss seeing my friends and co-workers, but I know that staying at home and practicing physical distancing is the best way to stop the spread.
Exercise
After reading Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, I learnt that getting 7-8 hours of quality sleep is more important than getting less sleep and trying to get a workout in so I prioritized that rather than going to the gym everyday. I did manage to walk about 45 minutes per day during lunch and dinner time.
These days, I make it a habit to go for two 45-minute walks per day - one in the morning and one after work. This gives me time to listen to my audiobooks or podcasts if I'm feeling up for it, or I just listen to music and take in the amazing country I'm so grateful to call home. I try to squeeze in a yoga flow if I'm running on schedule, and I love Yoga with Adriene's 30 day challenges.
Overall thoughts
Don't get me wrong, I do miss the "normal" life I used to have, but I can't help to think that just when I needed a pause on life, the Universe delivered.
Traveling is a big part of my life and in April I was supposed to go to LA for a week, and in June I had plans to go to Vancouver. My travel plans for the rest of the year and early 2021 will most likely be cancelled too and while I could complain and mope about it, I'm not really that upset.
This just a phase that we're going through, and it will pass. I'm not seeing this as a period where I'm locked up at home and not able to go anywhere, but rather as being free and having all the room to grow.
“The bad news is nothing lasts forever,
The good news is nothing lasts forever”