It’s hard to believe that five years have passed since COVID abruptly upended our lives. Since then, there’s been war, inflation, wildfires and a whole lot of “global instability,” as the euphemism goes. Little did we know that the “unprecedented times” would just keep going.
COVID, and the lockdown period, was an incredibly challenging time. Yet sometimes I look back at the silver linings: the unscheduled family time, the regular calls to family abroad, the pancakes on weekdays. The pandemic also brought us some coping strategies. These strategies are still useful, but some have fallen by the wayside as life’s stressors have shifted from panicking about toilet paper to being terrified of Trump.
Here are a few lessons from COVID that can help us as we move into the continually unpredictable future:
Go outside
Do you remember huddling around a backyard firepit in a puffy jacket during the cold spring days? Going on socially distanced walks to catch up with friends? During lockdown, my life revolved around the weather and which parks I could visit. I discovered new local gems in my efforts to find “beauty spots” without many visitors.
I recently took my daughter to the optometrist. She recommended that kids spend two hours everyday outside. Apparently, our eyes need to be exposed to bright lights that only exist in nature. I feel like the two hours outside rule is a good one for life, not just our eyes. Whether it’s walking, going to the playground or paddleboarding—time outside nourishes us.
Check in with your people
Remember at the beginning of the pandemic when all anyone would do was FaceTime each other before we got sick of screens? When one person would make sure everyone in the family got groceries? When we all asked, “How are you doing?” and talked about how strange everything was. Everything is still strange but now we’re busy again. I find myself assuming that friends are talking to someone else about how they’re doing. We’re back out in the world again—but is anyone okay now that the regular “coffee break” calls have stopped?
Everyone has a story
Remember the kids throwing tantrums in Zoom calls and cats popping their heads up during staff meetings? Remember how you never knew who your colleagues lived with before COVID? It was nice to see our coworkers transform from a cog in the machine to a multifaceted human being. Linda in HR went from the neurotic emailer to the gardener with a backyard sanctuary. Zoe in accounting ducked out of meetings to help her mother-in-law who was suffering from dementia. During COVID, the importance of staying home, getting vaccinated and washing your hands was also a stark reminder of how we’re all interconnected. How we rely on each other not only to live—but to thrive.
Change it up
Those first couple months of COVID felt like an eternity. Yet, looking back, I couldn’t remember what happened when. Did nana come by and sing a song outside our balcony during the first lockdown or a subsequent one? When did we first discover Music with Drew on YouTube?
In retrospect, so much is a blur—making cookies, the balcony visits, singing “She’ll be Coming Around the Mountain” in grandpa’s backyard… It was all wash, rinse, repeat until grandma was allowed to visit from Vancouver, and we spent the day at the beach building sandcastles. I remember that day because it was different. Routine is important, but everything is a blur when we do the same thing day-in and day-out.
Thinking back to the early days of lockdown, I can’t believe we lived through it. There was a time when we didn’t know whether we could hug people again, didn’t know if it was safe for grandparents to see grandkids, didn’t know when we could board a plane. There was a time when our “bubbles” were so small, when we missed sitting in a coffee shop surrounded by strangers, when we realized that Netflix isn’t a replacement for having a social life.
Be grateful
There is much to be thankful for now that the pandemic has receded. Let’s enjoy the simple things like indoor birthday parties, regular school days, sitting in a Dairy Queen with a Blizzard. We’ve come a long way, but it’s still worth reminding ourselves that when the going gets tough, sitting by the ocean with a friend helps, texting grandma helps, seeing each other as multifaceted people helps. I’m glad the “learning experience” of COVID is largely behind us—even if there are other challenges.
It’s time to make some memories again.
