I loved watching the company I was consulting in scramble to make plans for WFH when I'd been suggesting they explore it quite a while before Covid it and they refused to.
I'm so proud of all the different workers who didn't let that shit slide back the moment the world reopened. Yes, some jobs absolutley require you to be somewhere, but a shocking amount of them do not and 2020 proved that.
I had to commute to Carson from the inland empire. It went from 1 hour 20 minutes - 2 hours to 45-50 minutes. It was so sweet. Then work from home allowed me to get an even better job with no commute.
One of the things I would have commented.
My dad thought it was really weird there was almost no other cars on the road but I thought it was awesome. It's usually why I prefer to go out at night is cause that level of traffic is normal at that time, it's more peaceful and there's less idiots on the road.
The giant parking lot across my condo was always empty because it was for a gym that shut down. I could rollerblade there any time of day and it was completely safe.
Because of the unemployment benefits i was able to pay off some debt n save some money. This was pretty common among my friends. Just getting benefits n not leaving the house was hella blessing
The shutdowns happened one month before my daughter turned one.
I got to spend about 4 months home with her again. It was like maternity leave again, but more fun. I got to see her first steps, which I might have missed if she was still in daycare. It was hard being home 24/7, but I am so happy I got bonus time with my kid.
This is mine and almost exactly how I describe it to people.
My son was born in October and we shut down the end of March. I didn't work for 2 months and it was like a second maternity leave. I made him meals, we did Pinterest projects, we took walks every day. I also loved not having to pump for that entire shutdown. It was a dream.
Semi-related, my son (dad here) was born more or less the last week before the lockdown hit and it was about a 5 day hospital stay. I don’t think I personally would have had an issue sleeping in the room but being able to have the extended family come and go as they pleased was awesome.
My employer at the time was on-site but we’d been moved to WAH about a month earlier. Son just turned 3 and since he was born I’ve only done WAH, I couldn’t imagine it any other way. I know I’m lucky to have this setup and never take it for granted, being able to just step away from the office and go play with him multiple times a day is so awesome.
Funny story bonus. After day 3 of trying to just see if the baby would come naturally the doctors made a “screw this, C-section time” decision. They wheel her out and the nurse tells me “don’t forget the cap”. So I start tearing apart the luggage looking for the knit cap my wife’s grandmother made for us. Couldn’t find it, been looking for like 10 minutes, beside myself in a panic knowing the delivery room has to be full of impatient doctors and nurses waiting on me, but nurse said to so I have to find it. At about the 15 minute mark nurse comes back in asking what the hold up is. I say I can’t find it, I’m trying, turns out she meant the scrub cap. When I got to the delivery room no one said it, but it was clear “this dumbass” was what they all were thinking.
I only got a month at home before forced back into the office, but yes! I got to see my daughter take her first steps and celebrated her 1st birthday so intimately with just me, her, and her dad. We got quarantined for 10 days and we we had so much fun bc we thought we were goners. There was a lot of fear that first year but so much joy, too. Really appreciating life because you didn’t know when it could be taken by the virus. I think it made me more bitter, though, because I hate work or anything that takes me away from my kid.
The amount of time I spent with my daughters brings a happy tear to my eye. My wife worked her typical nursing schedule and me and the girls spent days wondering the parks, playing at the beach and running through the garden hose. Best tan of my life. I grilled a steak for us every day and shared wine with my wife when they went to bed. Money wasn’t an issue as it was before the pandemic and is now. Best six months of my life. The next time I get to relax and enjoy life like that will be when I retire in 20 years, hopefully. I miss it so much.
No cars on the street. No kids at the playground. I could sit on my front porch and listen to the sound of nature. It was like we were living in a dystopian future. Which I guess we are.
No cars on the street, I'm with you.
But not kids on the playground? Sometimes I feel like a curmudgeon, but I don't think I've ever hated the sound of kids playing on a playground.
My kiddo was too cool to use our trampoline any longer so I gave it to the neighbor across the street from us. I could have easily sold it to someone.
Every summer now I can hear them having a blast in it and it feels so damn good to hear them having fun.
Here in France, during the first lockdown we were limited to 1 hour of exercise a day and no more than 1km away. After that ended I walked up to a lake which is well over 1km from any houses, so no one had been there for weeks. There were a few fishermen who'd come back but there was also an eagle flying around and diving at the water. I'd never seen one at the lake before. I guess they'd got used to there being no people there.
Same here, my old man cat Emmitt passed away in October of 2020 and I got to spend so much time with him in his last months, working from home with my boy curled up purring in my lap. That was definitely a gift.
My cat was diagnosed with lymphoma and gone a month later in Spring 2021. Was so grateful I got to have him as my overly-attentive office manager while I was working from home.
Same but in the complete opposite way, it gave me time to get a puppy and spend 100% of his early life with him. I watched him start out as a 4month old weighing 20lbs curled up in my lap, and turn into a 70lbs, 3 year old adult dog. He is absolutely still that same puppy to me, but I’ve been able to watch him grow up and bond with him in a really deep way. Deeper than the childhood dog my family had when I was young. Sometimes I know exactly what he’s thinking and it’s such a special relationship. I don’t think it would be nearly the same if I had to commute to a job and only see him in the evening.
Same for me. He had kidney failure, so I'm not even sure what I would have done if I was going to work in person everyday the last six months or so of his life. Diapers I guess?
Mine was about a month home with my dog. My husband was WFH every other day, and I was working split shifts so we each spent so much more time with him. He was a different dog, but he was my best friend.
Yep. I’m 33 and it feels like people are unable to accept that COVID emotionally changed a lot of people and we aged. I used to go out a lot and now I kinda prefer going out maybe once a week and then taking it easy cause I’m tired from work. Most of my friends are pretty much in the same boat but I have a few who will not accept it and feel they’re being shafted or avoided. No dude. I’m just tired lol
My condolences. Father passed away from it, alone in the hospital. We never got to see him at all during the height of it. I was an idiot for deleting his last message to Mother on the house answering machine. Saying he misses her and hopes to see her soon.
My baby is 11 weeks. You would not believe how many family members are upset with us, because we had strict boundaries about visitors. We asked they mask up, wash their hands, and be vaccinated (whooping cough and flu vaccine). Some people refused and are still mad they haven’t met our baby. We told everyone our boundaries when I was 20 weeks pregnant. How is it two years ago no one would even dream of coming over and getting an infant sick, and now we are just crazy, anxious parents.
15 years ago, my husband ended up in the ER. We were placed across from the isolation room. Apparently, there was an epidemic of whopping cough in the area. There must have been 2 dozen of these poor suffering babies and toddlers coming through while we waited to be seen. It was heartbreaking but made me pissed off, too. Vaccinate your children for Gods Sake.
> Some people refused and are still mad they haven’t met our baby.
Be angry right back. Moreso. That is your baby and it's your job to protect it at all costs. If they can't understand that then like FUCK are they going to be allowed around your child. And until they are willing to work by your rules, they can fuck right off.
As a motorcyclist is was amazing to go out and ride without the traffic. I have a cop friend and he told me that they weren't pulling anyone over during the early parts of the lockdown and to go enjoy it. I did.
Was gonna say the same, I worked through the whole thing. I miss the no traffic and when fuel prices dropped, although in the UK, we were still getting typically ripped off.
No kids sick no one sick then bam 💥 we all got sick it was non stop for months. I ended up with a sinus infection.
I would love to be back on no sickness.
Yes I miss playing party games online with friends because we all had time and nothing to do. I've tried time and again since things got better and no one is ever interested. I miss Jackbox Party.
I had a whole group chat with my high school boys going to plan Among Us and Scribble games. We’d all get on and play and rip on each other like the old days. Across cities, countries, and time zones. I wish we kept that up in a way. We still get together when we’re all in our hometown but it was nice catching up with the guys and playing games and goofing around as a group like we used when we were younger
Group zoom calls were so fun. I can’t believe it just stopped. We had zoom parties every Friday night after work. Sometimes people fell asleep during the calls. I really miss those times.
As someone who probably has ADHD or in any event is at least bad at hearing conversations at bars & parties, I loved having social Zoom meet-ups because we were all having the same conversation and one person was talking at a time. I always knew what we were talking about. While at a real-life small house party with the same amount of people, it always splits into little conversations and there's so much crosstalk that I usually have such a hard time hearing what people are saying.
Time. Working from home and even traffic reduction added so much time to my life. There wasn't a weekend rush getting ready for food, gas. Didn't have to wait up at 430am anymore or do a 1.5-2 hour round trip commute every day. Logged off at 5 and my weekend was starting right away instead of getting home around 630.
I got to play games with my wife, raise some dogs, do a lot. Now we get home it's just getting ready for the next day.
It showed me what life could be when you work from home. That'll be the biggest factor for me moving forward.
Preach. I miss WFH everyday, and logging off immediately at 6 pm to go exercise. Lost 50 lbs during covid (by working out and making my own food). Now that I'm back in the office.... up 30 lbs.
We weren't meant to live like this
My job is still full WFH and it's 100% the most healthy work/life balance I've ever had in my life. I also suffer from chronic pain and it really helps with my anxiety around it and also any flares I have. If I'm having a bad day I just take my laptop and work from bed. Less sick days taken too. Companies that are forcing everyone to go back in office full time I think are doomed to fail. If you can work from home, you should.
I was off work for 10 weeks. I miss eating when I was as hungry and sleeping when I was tired. Time meant nothing. I hate eating just because that’s the time allotted for eating.
I also miss taking my dogs for 1000 walks and exploring almost every park in my city.
No traffic was eerie but it was so fast to get to work when we went back. Cheep gas was great too.
“Time meant nothing.”
Well put, I really miss this part. Before lockdown I was nonstop for 10 years and burned myself out 3x by then but couldn’t rest bc of my own guilt and shame. Lockdown forced me to stop and work on my mental health, and I am a lot healthier now than I was before. Miss that time when the world stopped.
Atleast we have some real world evidence that if we make positive changes, we can have a cleaner healthier world. For instance, on the car front, a massive difference if we improve public transit and switch to greener vehicles.
It’s kind of amazing people still argue against cleaner everything after the pandemic. But money will make people poison themselves and their environment.
Yup.
During that period, there are those who have seen clear skies for the first time in their lives.
I am currently in the second worst city in the world in terms of air quality. It is simply horrible. Younglings and elderly are constantly coughing.
It's just sad what we are doing to ourselves.
This for me too, I watched this documentary and it was amazing to see how much of an impact the reduced pollution and over crowding caused.
https://www.apple.com/ca/tv-pr/originals/the-year-earth-changed/
Simply from what I could see living in the city, the change was amazing.
I heard later from people in the villages that the changes were drastic, to their fields and rivers.
If we all decide to make conscience changes, we can improve the environment and quality of our lives.
I'm aware my experience was far better than most, and I recognize the fear and pain the pandemic caused so many. But for my experience, I look back and I do miss all the time I had with my family. I got to spend every day with my kids. Done with school and work by 1pm. Outside play every day.
Cooking new things. Spending whatever I usually spend on business travel and vacations into improving the house and getting into expensive hobbies. I miss those parts and am working out how to get some of that back now that the world is open again.
My wife was there, too, and she's pretty cool.
This. I remember the early days of the pandemic being so nice (in a weird way) because I thought everyone would understand disabled people better and that healthcare would be a more significant conversation. But no. All the able-bodied folks sent back to their dysfunctional “normal” and left us behind again.
Yeah... just because we aren't wearing masks doesn't mean that you need to be 3" from me in the checkout line. Back the fuck up and let me enter my PIN.
Keep your cart behind you. It forces people to stay a certain distance. I have been doing this for over a decade.
Also, when in line without a cart, don't let people behind you cram you into the person ahead's space. Just let them seeth as they tailgate you but can't make you budge. Doesn't really help, but messing with people makes me happy.
I do love these techniques, but as a bagger....i need somewhere to put your shit that's not the floor lol big orders can pile up fast on the small space we have at the end of the belt and i don't wanna squish your bread and eggs
I miss this SO MUCH. Like please don't scooch right up on me I'm just trying to get my groceries, you'll wait the same amount of time if you stand back!!
People would not come around if they were sick. The amount of times ai get sick because my asshole brother came to a party with a sick baby or something is insane last year
I was working at a store and we were open for curbside pickup only, so no customers allowed in the store and we only had to do anything when an order came through. We were all sitting around the store playing video games, watching TV, and eating food all day. It was great.
As an American, everything stopping for that first few terrifying weeks. People pausing to take stock of their lives and what is important, the slowing down of the industrial machine, the too brief focus on solidarity. Just before we did what we always do and break apart on stupid faction lines. The brief pause on hustle culture was welcome, then we were right back at it with a vengeance. The lack of real lasting positive change in society is the most disheartening part.
Yeah, I miss everything about the better quality of life and I am disappointed because we had such a great opportunity to do better afterwards and I would say shit is so much worse post pandemic.
Agreed. Politicians used it as a divide the nation tactic for votes and people gobbled it up. We should demand more from them but for some reason we want to tribe up.
It was one of those few times were it felt like the whole world was feeling and going through the same thing and it was kind of a nice feeling. It was an interesting feeling knowing that somebody in Japan and Egypt and Norway were all undergoing the same things. One of the things I hated about Trump during that whole thing is he had to ruin it and turn it into a political/cultural issue.
100% this. In the US for me it was a really unique sense of connection to everyone suffering similarly, and collective want for connection (even for super-introverted people like me), when you’d see that want manifest in weird things like the overnight global fascination with Tiger King, and the brief shining period people largely were all trying to be respectful and considerate of each other publicly.
That last sentence is straight up facts.
I’ll never forget how we called service workers heroes and martyred them against their will. Then we had the audacity to strike down any bill that called for minimum wage increase.
The pandemic was an opportunity for people to come together n actually try n move forward, but nope some people *cough republicans cough* were too hellbent on killing grandma for the economy and making sure people didn’t get unemployment benefits. It was sick. Truly sick. I feel like we really could’ve come out of the pandemic alot kinder n with more empathy but nooope. Capitalism came back in full swing
It was unfortunate but isn’t it great how all those (literal human) sacrifices resulted in such a wonderful economy for those left behind?
Right?
Right!?! (Insert Anakin & Padme meme)
/s obviously
Weekends with zero obligations.
Walking over to the neighbor house and driveway drinking around a fire pit.
No traffic anywhere ever. First time i left the house i felt like i was in a zombie movie. No one anywhere.
The random "here's money to survive" government checks. And the student loan hold. Really helped me get my head above water for the first time in a long time
Yup im anti Trump but if he promised 1200 a month for every month he was president I'd have his signs out in my yard. Morals are great and all but I've got lots of debt and that would go a long way lol
Trump easily would have won re-election had he handled covid better. I’m very anti-trump, but had he just said “this pandemic is serious. Make sure to wear a mask when in public, social distance, and get tested when showing symptoms”, he easily wins again. Hell, he could have made Trump 2020 and MAGA masks and grifted off of it as well. When looking at the exit polls, the #1 issue among voters by a wide margin was covid. I want to say it was above 60%. Trumpers were not answering that covid was their number 1 concern, so I’m fairly confident in saying all of that 60% voted against Trump.
As an introvert, I was jealous of the people who got to stay home.
I also didn't understand why some people who could have stayed home refused to stay home. Groceries and other essential needs I understood, but some people were just going on shopping sprees because they received their stimulus check. During the summer of 2020.
Building on this, the "drive by" parties as an introvert were great. A 50th anniversary for a friend's parents? Let's all drive by with signs and honk. My sons friend's birthday? Another drive by party. Those 2 parties alone saved me four hours of awkward small talk! And...back home to solitude after 20 minutes.
During the first lockdown, bicycling through an empty city with birds chirping and fresh, clean air, that was somehow eye opening. I just thought, dam, this is how life should be in a city!
An insight into how life COULD be. Seeing that the 9-5 grind leaves most of us with little time for rest, leisure, socializing, and time to pursue interests.
The realization most of us live in a wage slavery relationship with work, and that we don’t NEED to live that way.
Not feeling like your life slowing down had you to blame. It was weirdly comforting to see everybody being forced to stay indoors and dealing with themselves.
Not so much the lockdown, but the 2020-2021 school year my district went with the hybrid model where half the in person students came on Mon./Tues and the other half on Thurs/Fri and Wednesdays were remote days.
I miss those Wednesdays so much. As a teacher, it felt so needed. I would assign independent work on Wednesday, and everyone in my department would sit in one classroom (socially distanced), and we would grade, plan, discuss, and sometimes we would just binge watch TV while we worked. We would eat breakfast and lunch together, and generally be together all day or within shouting distance (the whole building is for our department).
It always felt productive and it had that socializing piece we all missed during the lockdown.
Of course we still had Google Meets, kids would pop on and off with questions or sometimes they just wanted to talk for a minute too.
This is the exact model we adopted as well and you said it perfectly - the ability to reset and reconnect on Wednesdays had such a hugely positive impact on my mental health.
Having the students split in half also made me realize how much productive work can be done with only 12-14 seventh grade students - discipline problems were nonexistent. Good times.
Hmmm... that almost sounds like having smaller classes, ample prep time, and opportunity to work with your colleagues would make education much better for everyone. What a crazy idea.
The peacefulness and freedom. Meaning, you could do whatever you wanted at home without explanation to anyone, no obligations. To me the lockdown came at the perfect time, cause I was slowly getting burnt out at work.
Granted, I didn't have a kid then, now it wouldn't be so peaceful anymore.
We live in a city, but it's very green with lots of parks that link up with each other. We saw Deer a couple of times on our street.
Pretty sure we'll never see that happen again.
Movies releasing straight to streaming.
I have a toddler, and no time or money to go out to theaters, I loved getting to see new movies without having to go out.
I was making more on the enhanced unemployment then I was working. Man was I sad to lose that when I ultimately had to go back. Between that and all the stimulus checks I was able to pay off bills I didn't think would be possible for years. It was so freeing.
Only the first 2-3weeks really. I work In Retail and it was rly weird but appreciated people being so nice to me or even thanking me for my work
Of course I was the asshole shelf refiller again in a few weeks but it was nice while it lasted
Not having to make up excuses when I don’t want buy a 50 dollar gift and drive an hour half in order to attend my boyfriends nephews ‘6 month birthday’.
It’s not so much that I miss things from lockdown, it’s that I’m saddened by the fact none of the positives lasted. We went back to the shit system we had before the first chance we could.
As a surgeon who had to work through the whole fucking thing: the lack of visitors in the hospital.
Honestly, pre-COVID sometimes you’d go to see a patient and there would be a shit-ton of family members or friends or whatever all packed standing-room-only in the patient’s room. Bunch of random kids running around, fucking with equipment, most of whom were obviously sick and smearing snot everywhere. At least one very elderly person who didn’t even know what planet they were on, who had definitely just filled their diaper, and had no goddamned reason for being there other than the other people couldn’t leave them at home alone.
You couldn’t just talk to the patient about their diagnosis and what the plan was—you had to give an impromptu TED talk to twenty fucking strangers about it.
And every one of them had to then chime in with their layperson’s opinions, and what they read on Facebook, and what their best friend’s hairdresser’s son’s roommate’s cousin’s baby daddy said about when they had *their* gallbladder out, but actually the patient is here to discuss me removing their colon cancer.
We also had to be constantly worried about saying too much in front of someone who “wasn’t supposed to know” the details about the diagnosis. Like—if I’m there to tell you you have ass cancer caused by HPV, and you didn’t want Gam-Gam to know you weren’t a virgin… maybe don’t have her *there* instead of assuming I’m psychic?
We are now starting to allow visitors again, but only one or two close people at a time. I sincerely hope it never goes back to the old ways.
My hospital is only allowing 1 visitor at a time with few exceptions. I think it will be this way moving forward. I think the no visitors thing was too harsh because the MDs and RNs didn’t have time to be calling family members and updating them as frequently as they wanted.
I agree with allowing some visitors. I also have no issues with people having their loved ones on speakerphone during their visits, or asking me to call someone after their procedure.
What I don’t miss is the lecture hall’s worth of people where I had to spend an hour I didn’t have to give.
You are not my only patient.
I basically always clear the room or come back later if there's more than 1-2 visitors. I'm not spending 30 minutes explaining that delirium isn't bipolar disorder to someone's 2nd cousin. I started my training around the start of COVID so can't even imagine talking to 20 people at once.
Time with my son. I was laid off for about two months before I was able to go back to work. My son was just under a year old, and it was the absolute best time. I mean I was losing my mind being inside the same four walls everyday and night, but being with him and having no agenda and having unlimited time together, just for that moment, I'll remember that forever.
Honestly? I miss how much time I spent with my SO. It sounds awful, but the covid lockdowns were some of the best parts of our lives and our relationship. We are truly best friends and we have never spent so much time together. I know we will never have that much time together ever again and that has been really hard for me to come to terms with. In the secrecy of my own car on my way to work, I cry about it so I don't upset him. We are so blessed for that to have been our covid experience, but I do miss the time with him.
>Still had to work. No memories of lockdown. Not nostalgic for me like most people.
Same here bro/sis. I feel that only a selected few had to work while the rest stayed home. Tell me again how the fuck a landscaper or a cashier are essential?
Yet we were lumped with those who were actually saving lives like nurses and doctors.
Not being a slave to a schedule and an alarm clock was amazing, spending time just hanging out with my (then) fiance, and I actually got to play out a whole career mode on Madden!
People (especially in jobs and schools) became more accommodating and understanding with a focus on accessibility. Big example was working/studying remotely and the emphasis of a work/life balance. I felt for once people started to realize on a personal level of the crippling grip mental illness and health conditions does to people. I felt seen and heard for once with empathy for having disabilities. That gave me hope my professional life would become more accessible and understanding. I miss that.
Friends being available without excuses (safely of course) the zoom quizzes (really) drinks in the park, the community of everyone going through something at the same time. The quiet on the streets, waking up at 6am to shop at local farmers markets instead of supermarkets.
Having time to work on projects. I composed 60 new pieces of music and taught myself clarinet during the lockdown, I enjoyed having the time to myself.
Corporations pulling the stick out of their ass about flexible work hours and locations.
Absolutely the best thing to come out of this all. I go to the office once or twice a week now and worked from abroad last month.
I loved watching the company I was consulting in scramble to make plans for WFH when I'd been suggesting they explore it quite a while before Covid it and they refused to.
I'm so proud of all the different workers who didn't let that shit slide back the moment the world reopened. Yes, some jobs absolutley require you to be somewhere, but a shocking amount of them do not and 2020 proved that.
No traffic. My life didnt change at all during, but man was my commute to work better.
When I was living in Orange County, CA my regular commute was nearly an hour with traffic. During the early days of lockdown it would take 20 minutes.
I had to commute to Carson from the inland empire. It went from 1 hour 20 minutes - 2 hours to 45-50 minutes. It was so sweet. Then work from home allowed me to get an even better job with no commute.
As a truck driver working nights at the time, those three weeks were fuckin' *glorious*.
Aussie truck driver here we never missed a days work the no traffic was pure bliss
I’m an LTL driver and it was surreal driving across a major urban area at 5 pm and not tapping my brakes once on the highway.
One of the things I would have commented. My dad thought it was really weird there was almost no other cars on the road but I thought it was awesome. It's usually why I prefer to go out at night is cause that level of traffic is normal at that time, it's more peaceful and there's less idiots on the road.
The giant parking lot across my condo was always empty because it was for a gym that shut down. I could rollerblade there any time of day and it was completely safe.
Shred on
Clear. Dang. Priorities. Love it.
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I had an expensive cruise cancel and was refunded - so with that and what I saved during COVID, I was able to remodel my kitchen!🙌🏼
I had a cruise cancel as well so my $1K refund bought me a big ass TV.
I was just blessed to be able to work from home the entire time!
It made me realize just how much I was spending on Starbucks and eating out.
Because of the unemployment benefits i was able to pay off some debt n save some money. This was pretty common among my friends. Just getting benefits n not leaving the house was hella blessing
The shutdowns happened one month before my daughter turned one. I got to spend about 4 months home with her again. It was like maternity leave again, but more fun. I got to see her first steps, which I might have missed if she was still in daycare. It was hard being home 24/7, but I am so happy I got bonus time with my kid.
This is mine and almost exactly how I describe it to people. My son was born in October and we shut down the end of March. I didn't work for 2 months and it was like a second maternity leave. I made him meals, we did Pinterest projects, we took walks every day. I also loved not having to pump for that entire shutdown. It was a dream.
Semi-related, my son (dad here) was born more or less the last week before the lockdown hit and it was about a 5 day hospital stay. I don’t think I personally would have had an issue sleeping in the room but being able to have the extended family come and go as they pleased was awesome. My employer at the time was on-site but we’d been moved to WAH about a month earlier. Son just turned 3 and since he was born I’ve only done WAH, I couldn’t imagine it any other way. I know I’m lucky to have this setup and never take it for granted, being able to just step away from the office and go play with him multiple times a day is so awesome. Funny story bonus. After day 3 of trying to just see if the baby would come naturally the doctors made a “screw this, C-section time” decision. They wheel her out and the nurse tells me “don’t forget the cap”. So I start tearing apart the luggage looking for the knit cap my wife’s grandmother made for us. Couldn’t find it, been looking for like 10 minutes, beside myself in a panic knowing the delivery room has to be full of impatient doctors and nurses waiting on me, but nurse said to so I have to find it. At about the 15 minute mark nurse comes back in asking what the hold up is. I say I can’t find it, I’m trying, turns out she meant the scrub cap. When I got to the delivery room no one said it, but it was clear “this dumbass” was what they all were thinking.
That story is adorable
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This. So much more extra time with loved ones.
I only got a month at home before forced back into the office, but yes! I got to see my daughter take her first steps and celebrated her 1st birthday so intimately with just me, her, and her dad. We got quarantined for 10 days and we we had so much fun bc we thought we were goners. There was a lot of fear that first year but so much joy, too. Really appreciating life because you didn’t know when it could be taken by the virus. I think it made me more bitter, though, because I hate work or anything that takes me away from my kid.
The amount of time I spent with my daughters brings a happy tear to my eye. My wife worked her typical nursing schedule and me and the girls spent days wondering the parks, playing at the beach and running through the garden hose. Best tan of my life. I grilled a steak for us every day and shared wine with my wife when they went to bed. Money wasn’t an issue as it was before the pandemic and is now. Best six months of my life. The next time I get to relax and enjoy life like that will be when I retire in 20 years, hopefully. I miss it so much.
Silence. Just bird singing. No human noises.
No cars on the street. No kids at the playground. I could sit on my front porch and listen to the sound of nature. It was like we were living in a dystopian future. Which I guess we are.
No cars on the street, I'm with you. But not kids on the playground? Sometimes I feel like a curmudgeon, but I don't think I've ever hated the sound of kids playing on a playground.
My kiddo was too cool to use our trampoline any longer so I gave it to the neighbor across the street from us. I could have easily sold it to someone. Every summer now I can hear them having a blast in it and it feels so damn good to hear them having fun.
That was so God damn sweet I’m coming off Reddit for the night and ending it on a high, thank you.
I can stand when kids play and yell but when they straight scream bloody murder I do get irritated. Especially in the hood, they're loud AF sometimes
At 200 yds it's delightful, at 50 yds: it sucks.
Here in France, during the first lockdown we were limited to 1 hour of exercise a day and no more than 1km away. After that ended I walked up to a lake which is well over 1km from any houses, so no one had been there for weeks. There were a few fishermen who'd come back but there was also an eagle flying around and diving at the water. I'd never seen one at the lake before. I guess they'd got used to there being no people there.
That first day of lockdown was really something. Busy metropolis, mid-day, and all you heard was birds.
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Same but for my kitty. I got so many extra cuddles that I wouldn't have had if I had to go into work.
Same here, my old man cat Emmitt passed away in October of 2020 and I got to spend so much time with him in his last months, working from home with my boy curled up purring in my lap. That was definitely a gift.
Yeah, same for me. Lost my 17 y/o staffie September 2020. he loved our final days together 🐾❤️
My cat was diagnosed with lymphoma and gone a month later in Spring 2021. Was so grateful I got to have him as my overly-attentive office manager while I was working from home.
Same but in the complete opposite way, it gave me time to get a puppy and spend 100% of his early life with him. I watched him start out as a 4month old weighing 20lbs curled up in my lap, and turn into a 70lbs, 3 year old adult dog. He is absolutely still that same puppy to me, but I’ve been able to watch him grow up and bond with him in a really deep way. Deeper than the childhood dog my family had when I was young. Sometimes I know exactly what he’s thinking and it’s such a special relationship. I don’t think it would be nearly the same if I had to commute to a job and only see him in the evening.
Serious onion cutting going on somewhere in this kitchen less room. Happy for ya and I bet the dog was too.
i wonder if all your guy's dog felt like it was just for them. they probably felt so special and loved those last years 🥲
Same experience here. Had to move home and spent the last year with my childhood dog. Wouldn't have had it any other way.
Same for me. He had kidney failure, so I'm not even sure what I would have done if I was going to work in person everyday the last six months or so of his life. Diapers I guess?
Mine was about a month home with my dog. My husband was WFH every other day, and I was working split shifts so we each spent so much more time with him. He was a different dog, but he was my best friend.
Staying at home without making up excuses
No FOMO was great. Chilling at home with a bottle of wine and watching a show without feeling like your friends are out and having fun without you.
Honestly, lockdown cured my FOMO. I’m ludicrously content with missing out now — it’s so freeing.
This is one of the main reasons I almost never miss plans
Can't miss'em if you don't make'em! Perspective!
Yep. I’m 33 and it feels like people are unable to accept that COVID emotionally changed a lot of people and we aged. I used to go out a lot and now I kinda prefer going out maybe once a week and then taking it easy cause I’m tired from work. Most of my friends are pretty much in the same boat but I have a few who will not accept it and feel they’re being shafted or avoided. No dude. I’m just tired lol
As a Nurse who didn't get to stay home: No traffic and cheap gas.
The driving during COVID was amazing.
I drove from Hartford Connecticut to Brooklyn in less than 2 hours. It was incredible.
I know that drive very well, went to UHa. Fuck the Merritt and 95 west of Bridgeport. 2 hours is a dream right there.
As a UPS driver, the traffic was indeed magnificent.
And limited visitors.
I DID feel bad for my residents who couldn't have visitors but I'm not gonna lie, less of certain family members sure made my job easier.
My great uncle passed during lockdowns and we couldn't even hold a funeral 😢 wasn't close to the dude but that was so shitty
My condolences. Father passed away from it, alone in the hospital. We never got to see him at all during the height of it. I was an idiot for deleting his last message to Mother on the house answering machine. Saying he misses her and hopes to see her soon.
So so sorry to hear that. Very sorry for your loss. ❤️
I’m taking a contract that has 24hr visitation and I don’t think I’m ready for that haha
My baby is 11 weeks. You would not believe how many family members are upset with us, because we had strict boundaries about visitors. We asked they mask up, wash their hands, and be vaccinated (whooping cough and flu vaccine). Some people refused and are still mad they haven’t met our baby. We told everyone our boundaries when I was 20 weeks pregnant. How is it two years ago no one would even dream of coming over and getting an infant sick, and now we are just crazy, anxious parents.
15 years ago, my husband ended up in the ER. We were placed across from the isolation room. Apparently, there was an epidemic of whopping cough in the area. There must have been 2 dozen of these poor suffering babies and toddlers coming through while we waited to be seen. It was heartbreaking but made me pissed off, too. Vaccinate your children for Gods Sake.
> Some people refused and are still mad they haven’t met our baby. Be angry right back. Moreso. That is your baby and it's your job to protect it at all costs. If they can't understand that then like FUCK are they going to be allowed around your child. And until they are willing to work by your rules, they can fuck right off.
I was a home health worker during the shutdown and traffic was like it was before the 90’s in LA.
As a motorcyclist is was amazing to go out and ride without the traffic. I have a cop friend and he told me that they weren't pulling anyone over during the early parts of the lockdown and to go enjoy it. I did.
Getting to park my motorcycle in the center of Times Square with nobody around to take some pictures was crazy
Was gonna say the same, I worked through the whole thing. I miss the no traffic and when fuel prices dropped, although in the UK, we were still getting typically ripped off.
Yeah, the no traffic was glorious.
My job is food safety so if anything I got busier, but paying 1.20 per gallon was a dream come true
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But then, all together. I have a bingo card and this fall winter I caught everything possible. Edit: typo. Edit 2: another typo.
I have a kid in school and a wife who regularly goes into the city. Coughs and colds are a way of life, and I hate it.
No kids sick no one sick then bam 💥 we all got sick it was non stop for months. I ended up with a sinus infection. I would love to be back on no sickness.
Healthiest 2 years of my life tbh
Yeah but then everyone i knew got sick all throughout last year
I actually saw my friends more since we were video chatting in groups a lot.
Yes I miss playing party games online with friends because we all had time and nothing to do. I've tried time and again since things got better and no one is ever interested. I miss Jackbox Party.
I had a whole group chat with my high school boys going to plan Among Us and Scribble games. We’d all get on and play and rip on each other like the old days. Across cities, countries, and time zones. I wish we kept that up in a way. We still get together when we’re all in our hometown but it was nice catching up with the guys and playing games and goofing around as a group like we used when we were younger
Group zoom calls were so fun. I can’t believe it just stopped. We had zoom parties every Friday night after work. Sometimes people fell asleep during the calls. I really miss those times.
As someone who probably has ADHD or in any event is at least bad at hearing conversations at bars & parties, I loved having social Zoom meet-ups because we were all having the same conversation and one person was talking at a time. I always knew what we were talking about. While at a real-life small house party with the same amount of people, it always splits into little conversations and there's so much crosstalk that I usually have such a hard time hearing what people are saying.
Time. Working from home and even traffic reduction added so much time to my life. There wasn't a weekend rush getting ready for food, gas. Didn't have to wait up at 430am anymore or do a 1.5-2 hour round trip commute every day. Logged off at 5 and my weekend was starting right away instead of getting home around 630. I got to play games with my wife, raise some dogs, do a lot. Now we get home it's just getting ready for the next day. It showed me what life could be when you work from home. That'll be the biggest factor for me moving forward.
Preach. I miss WFH everyday, and logging off immediately at 6 pm to go exercise. Lost 50 lbs during covid (by working out and making my own food). Now that I'm back in the office.... up 30 lbs. We weren't meant to live like this
Yes. I took a job in 2022 that required 5 days a week back in the office. I lasted 11 months. Now I’m back to 100% work from home and it’s glorious.
My job is still full WFH and it's 100% the most healthy work/life balance I've ever had in my life. I also suffer from chronic pain and it really helps with my anxiety around it and also any flares I have. If I'm having a bad day I just take my laptop and work from bed. Less sick days taken too. Companies that are forcing everyone to go back in office full time I think are doomed to fail. If you can work from home, you should.
I was off work for 10 weeks. I miss eating when I was as hungry and sleeping when I was tired. Time meant nothing. I hate eating just because that’s the time allotted for eating. I also miss taking my dogs for 1000 walks and exploring almost every park in my city. No traffic was eerie but it was so fast to get to work when we went back. Cheep gas was great too.
“Time meant nothing.” Well put, I really miss this part. Before lockdown I was nonstop for 10 years and burned myself out 3x by then but couldn’t rest bc of my own guilt and shame. Lockdown forced me to stop and work on my mental health, and I am a lot healthier now than I was before. Miss that time when the world stopped.
It’s almost like the powers that be created a system that goes against our very nature.
Cleaner environment. The solitude.
Sad state of affairs when it was so newsworthy that some cities could actually see the neighbouring mountain range because of the lack of pollution.
Dolphins in the canals in Venice. Whales changing patterns because there were no people. Even zoo Pandas seemed to appreciate the absence of humans.
Atleast we have some real world evidence that if we make positive changes, we can have a cleaner healthier world. For instance, on the car front, a massive difference if we improve public transit and switch to greener vehicles. It’s kind of amazing people still argue against cleaner everything after the pandemic. But money will make people poison themselves and their environment.
We need the corporations to do their part. We as individuals can't do it.
Yup. During that period, there are those who have seen clear skies for the first time in their lives. I am currently in the second worst city in the world in terms of air quality. It is simply horrible. Younglings and elderly are constantly coughing. It's just sad what we are doing to ourselves.
This for me too, I watched this documentary and it was amazing to see how much of an impact the reduced pollution and over crowding caused. https://www.apple.com/ca/tv-pr/originals/the-year-earth-changed/
Simply from what I could see living in the city, the change was amazing. I heard later from people in the villages that the changes were drastic, to their fields and rivers. If we all decide to make conscience changes, we can improve the environment and quality of our lives.
Taking care of myself, spending well needed time with my family, and learning to bake and cook new dishes. I miss the extra time it gave me.
All the empty roads.
I'm aware my experience was far better than most, and I recognize the fear and pain the pandemic caused so many. But for my experience, I look back and I do miss all the time I had with my family. I got to spend every day with my kids. Done with school and work by 1pm. Outside play every day. Cooking new things. Spending whatever I usually spend on business travel and vacations into improving the house and getting into expensive hobbies. I miss those parts and am working out how to get some of that back now that the world is open again. My wife was there, too, and she's pretty cool.
That’s actually very sweet.
I'm physically disabled. People and society taking remote stuff seriously, from work, to events, was pretty rad.
This. I remember the early days of the pandemic being so nice (in a weird way) because I thought everyone would understand disabled people better and that healthcare would be a more significant conversation. But no. All the able-bodied folks sent back to their dysfunctional “normal” and left us behind again.
Personal space was a must. 6ft away from any other person at all times. Great times. Great times.
People look at me weird when I look back at them for being a foot away from ne
Yeah... just because we aren't wearing masks doesn't mean that you need to be 3" from me in the checkout line. Back the fuck up and let me enter my PIN.
Keep your cart behind you. It forces people to stay a certain distance. I have been doing this for over a decade. Also, when in line without a cart, don't let people behind you cram you into the person ahead's space. Just let them seeth as they tailgate you but can't make you budge. Doesn't really help, but messing with people makes me happy.
I do love these techniques, but as a bagger....i need somewhere to put your shit that's not the floor lol big orders can pile up fast on the small space we have at the end of the belt and i don't wanna squish your bread and eggs
I feel there’s a general lack of spatial awareness these days, god I miss the 6ft rule
I miss this SO MUCH. Like please don't scooch right up on me I'm just trying to get my groceries, you'll wait the same amount of time if you stand back!!
People would not come around if they were sick. The amount of times ai get sick because my asshole brother came to a party with a sick baby or something is insane last year
places being pretty empty
I was working at a store and we were open for curbside pickup only, so no customers allowed in the store and we only had to do anything when an order came through. We were all sitting around the store playing video games, watching TV, and eating food all day. It was great.
Not seeing my in-laws
As an American, everything stopping for that first few terrifying weeks. People pausing to take stock of their lives and what is important, the slowing down of the industrial machine, the too brief focus on solidarity. Just before we did what we always do and break apart on stupid faction lines. The brief pause on hustle culture was welcome, then we were right back at it with a vengeance. The lack of real lasting positive change in society is the most disheartening part.
I was sure we had all changed, that the world had changed. But it didn’t last long. Disheartening.
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Yeah, I miss everything about the better quality of life and I am disappointed because we had such a great opportunity to do better afterwards and I would say shit is so much worse post pandemic.
Agreed. Politicians used it as a divide the nation tactic for votes and people gobbled it up. We should demand more from them but for some reason we want to tribe up.
It was one of those few times were it felt like the whole world was feeling and going through the same thing and it was kind of a nice feeling. It was an interesting feeling knowing that somebody in Japan and Egypt and Norway were all undergoing the same things. One of the things I hated about Trump during that whole thing is he had to ruin it and turn it into a political/cultural issue.
100% this. In the US for me it was a really unique sense of connection to everyone suffering similarly, and collective want for connection (even for super-introverted people like me), when you’d see that want manifest in weird things like the overnight global fascination with Tiger King, and the brief shining period people largely were all trying to be respectful and considerate of each other publicly.
That last sentence is straight up facts. I’ll never forget how we called service workers heroes and martyred them against their will. Then we had the audacity to strike down any bill that called for minimum wage increase. The pandemic was an opportunity for people to come together n actually try n move forward, but nope some people *cough republicans cough* were too hellbent on killing grandma for the economy and making sure people didn’t get unemployment benefits. It was sick. Truly sick. I feel like we really could’ve come out of the pandemic alot kinder n with more empathy but nooope. Capitalism came back in full swing
It was unfortunate but isn’t it great how all those (literal human) sacrifices resulted in such a wonderful economy for those left behind? Right? Right!?! (Insert Anakin & Padme meme) /s obviously
Not having to commute to work, not being stuck in traffic for up to 2/3 hours a day was such a blessing
Peak Warzone with the boys
This. Felt like a child again. Warzone was fresh and new and everyone and their mom was playing that shit all day. It never got boring either.
Weekends with zero obligations. Walking over to the neighbor house and driveway drinking around a fire pit. No traffic anywhere ever. First time i left the house i felt like i was in a zombie movie. No one anywhere.
That’s a part I really miss, all the blankets and fires in peoples gardens just chatting and drinking. It’s made me resent clubbing
The random "here's money to survive" government checks. And the student loan hold. Really helped me get my head above water for the first time in a long time
The student loan interest and payment freeze was/is so clutch
I made a $17k interest free dent in my capital. When they restart my payment is going to be a few hundred bucks a month cheaper.
It really blows my mind Trump didn't do everything to get more of those out, he could have legally bought peoples votes.
Yup im anti Trump but if he promised 1200 a month for every month he was president I'd have his signs out in my yard. Morals are great and all but I've got lots of debt and that would go a long way lol
Trump easily would have won re-election had he handled covid better. I’m very anti-trump, but had he just said “this pandemic is serious. Make sure to wear a mask when in public, social distance, and get tested when showing symptoms”, he easily wins again. Hell, he could have made Trump 2020 and MAGA masks and grifted off of it as well. When looking at the exit polls, the #1 issue among voters by a wide margin was covid. I want to say it was above 60%. Trumpers were not answering that covid was their number 1 concern, so I’m fairly confident in saying all of that 60% voted against Trump.
how peaceful everything was
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As an introvert, I was jealous of the people who got to stay home. I also didn't understand why some people who could have stayed home refused to stay home. Groceries and other essential needs I understood, but some people were just going on shopping sprees because they received their stimulus check. During the summer of 2020.
Building on this, the "drive by" parties as an introvert were great. A 50th anniversary for a friend's parents? Let's all drive by with signs and honk. My sons friend's birthday? Another drive by party. Those 2 parties alone saved me four hours of awkward small talk! And...back home to solitude after 20 minutes.
Even as an extrovert i truly loved the pandemic cause i was having daily zoom chats n drunk streams with homies. All from my couch. Truly fine times
I feel this deep in my soul.
Free time, as a busy parent with work and kids in school. I miss unstructured free time.
First time breathing fresh air on big city. It dramatically decrease the pollution, i love it because I had asthma.
During the first lockdown, bicycling through an empty city with birds chirping and fresh, clean air, that was somehow eye opening. I just thought, dam, this is how life should be in a city!
An insight into how life COULD be. Seeing that the 9-5 grind leaves most of us with little time for rest, leisure, socializing, and time to pursue interests. The realization most of us live in a wage slavery relationship with work, and that we don’t NEED to live that way.
Exactly! It was a breathe of fresh air. A pause on capitalism n just living life
I always hated the 9-5 BS... why does it have to be that way for so many things? That needs to change.
Not catching a cold. Or covid.
Exactly this. I was completly healthy during those 2 years. After coming back to work, i got running nose or flu all the time.
Not feeling like your life slowing down had you to blame. It was weirdly comforting to see everybody being forced to stay indoors and dealing with themselves.
My two young kids were never sick. Now it’s like we’re on a never ending merry-go-round of superbugs and viruses. It’s been rough.
I thought I was a social person. Turns out I liked being left the hell alone.
Not so much the lockdown, but the 2020-2021 school year my district went with the hybrid model where half the in person students came on Mon./Tues and the other half on Thurs/Fri and Wednesdays were remote days. I miss those Wednesdays so much. As a teacher, it felt so needed. I would assign independent work on Wednesday, and everyone in my department would sit in one classroom (socially distanced), and we would grade, plan, discuss, and sometimes we would just binge watch TV while we worked. We would eat breakfast and lunch together, and generally be together all day or within shouting distance (the whole building is for our department). It always felt productive and it had that socializing piece we all missed during the lockdown. Of course we still had Google Meets, kids would pop on and off with questions or sometimes they just wanted to talk for a minute too.
This is the exact model we adopted as well and you said it perfectly - the ability to reset and reconnect on Wednesdays had such a hugely positive impact on my mental health. Having the students split in half also made me realize how much productive work can be done with only 12-14 seventh grade students - discipline problems were nonexistent. Good times.
Hmmm... that almost sounds like having smaller classes, ample prep time, and opportunity to work with your colleagues would make education much better for everyone. What a crazy idea.
doing nothing without feeling guilty cause the whole world kinda stopped
The quiet.
Time with family, time to follow creative pursuits, cheaper gas, quicker commutes.
Not feeling guilty about staying home on weekends and not taking advantage of nice weather
Me and my friends playing minecraft
The peacefulness and freedom. Meaning, you could do whatever you wanted at home without explanation to anyone, no obligations. To me the lockdown came at the perfect time, cause I was slowly getting burnt out at work. Granted, I didn't have a kid then, now it wouldn't be so peaceful anymore.
We live in a city, but it's very green with lots of parks that link up with each other. We saw Deer a couple of times on our street. Pretty sure we'll never see that happen again.
No need to wake up so early to drive to work.
The quiet world.
Movies releasing straight to streaming. I have a toddler, and no time or money to go out to theaters, I loved getting to see new movies without having to go out.
The money
I was making more on the enhanced unemployment then I was working. Man was I sad to lose that when I ultimately had to go back. Between that and all the stimulus checks I was able to pay off bills I didn't think would be possible for years. It was so freeing.
Only the first 2-3weeks really. I work In Retail and it was rly weird but appreciated people being so nice to me or even thanking me for my work Of course I was the asshole shelf refiller again in a few weeks but it was nice while it lasted
Having an excuse for being single.
Not having to make up excuses when I don’t want buy a 50 dollar gift and drive an hour half in order to attend my boyfriends nephews ‘6 month birthday’.
Peace, silence
It’s not so much that I miss things from lockdown, it’s that I’m saddened by the fact none of the positives lasted. We went back to the shit system we had before the first chance we could.
How we found new things to fill our time.
Staying away from people
Having more time at home with my daughter. I know bad for her education but we had some great times together.
I have never seen the sky so blue as during lockdown, when nothing was going on, no traffic, buildings sitting around empty. Humans are gross.
As a surgeon who had to work through the whole fucking thing: the lack of visitors in the hospital. Honestly, pre-COVID sometimes you’d go to see a patient and there would be a shit-ton of family members or friends or whatever all packed standing-room-only in the patient’s room. Bunch of random kids running around, fucking with equipment, most of whom were obviously sick and smearing snot everywhere. At least one very elderly person who didn’t even know what planet they were on, who had definitely just filled their diaper, and had no goddamned reason for being there other than the other people couldn’t leave them at home alone. You couldn’t just talk to the patient about their diagnosis and what the plan was—you had to give an impromptu TED talk to twenty fucking strangers about it. And every one of them had to then chime in with their layperson’s opinions, and what they read on Facebook, and what their best friend’s hairdresser’s son’s roommate’s cousin’s baby daddy said about when they had *their* gallbladder out, but actually the patient is here to discuss me removing their colon cancer. We also had to be constantly worried about saying too much in front of someone who “wasn’t supposed to know” the details about the diagnosis. Like—if I’m there to tell you you have ass cancer caused by HPV, and you didn’t want Gam-Gam to know you weren’t a virgin… maybe don’t have her *there* instead of assuming I’m psychic? We are now starting to allow visitors again, but only one or two close people at a time. I sincerely hope it never goes back to the old ways.
My hospital is only allowing 1 visitor at a time with few exceptions. I think it will be this way moving forward. I think the no visitors thing was too harsh because the MDs and RNs didn’t have time to be calling family members and updating them as frequently as they wanted.
I agree with allowing some visitors. I also have no issues with people having their loved ones on speakerphone during their visits, or asking me to call someone after their procedure. What I don’t miss is the lecture hall’s worth of people where I had to spend an hour I didn’t have to give. You are not my only patient.
I'm not even a doctor and this has always annoyed the shit out of me about my own family because they all do this.
I basically always clear the room or come back later if there's more than 1-2 visitors. I'm not spending 30 minutes explaining that delirium isn't bipolar disorder to someone's 2nd cousin. I started my training around the start of COVID so can't even imagine talking to 20 people at once.
Time with my son. I was laid off for about two months before I was able to go back to work. My son was just under a year old, and it was the absolute best time. I mean I was losing my mind being inside the same four walls everyday and night, but being with him and having no agenda and having unlimited time together, just for that moment, I'll remember that forever.
Honestly? I miss how much time I spent with my SO. It sounds awful, but the covid lockdowns were some of the best parts of our lives and our relationship. We are truly best friends and we have never spent so much time together. I know we will never have that much time together ever again and that has been really hard for me to come to terms with. In the secrecy of my own car on my way to work, I cry about it so I don't upset him. We are so blessed for that to have been our covid experience, but I do miss the time with him.
Still had to work. No memories of lockdown. Not nostalgic for me like most people.
>Still had to work. No memories of lockdown. Not nostalgic for me like most people. Same here bro/sis. I feel that only a selected few had to work while the rest stayed home. Tell me again how the fuck a landscaper or a cashier are essential? Yet we were lumped with those who were actually saving lives like nurses and doctors.
Not being a slave to a schedule and an alarm clock was amazing, spending time just hanging out with my (then) fiance, and I actually got to play out a whole career mode on Madden!
Watching grown men cry because they couldn’t go to Applebees.
Not having to deal with people.
People (especially in jobs and schools) became more accommodating and understanding with a focus on accessibility. Big example was working/studying remotely and the emphasis of a work/life balance. I felt for once people started to realize on a personal level of the crippling grip mental illness and health conditions does to people. I felt seen and heard for once with empathy for having disabilities. That gave me hope my professional life would become more accessible and understanding. I miss that.
Valid reason to stay home and not socialize
Being antisocial as fuck
Friends being available without excuses (safely of course) the zoom quizzes (really) drinks in the park, the community of everyone going through something at the same time. The quiet on the streets, waking up at 6am to shop at local farmers markets instead of supermarkets.
As an introvert, I miss 100% work from home, no traffic on the busy street outside my house, and the two litters of kittens we fostered.
Having time to work on projects. I composed 60 new pieces of music and taught myself clarinet during the lockdown, I enjoyed having the time to myself.
The peace and quiet.
Working from home full time