Whatever your job, your marital status or your lifestyle, the COVID-19 outbreak has likely resulted in huge changes to the way you live your life over the past few weeks. Even if you’ve been lucky enough to avoid exposure to the virus itself, the way in which you spend your working and leisure time has likely been transformed.
As well as changing what you do, the pandemic and subsequent lockdown have also probably made huge changes to what you think about… but that’s a good thing! Times of crisis can often cause is to re-evaluate what really matters. Who knows when things will return to normal? Or even if “normal” is worth returning to?
The pandemic has us all thinking a little differently about…
Our screentime
We’re a nation of screen junkies, spending as much as 12 hours a day in front of one screen or another. Between our work computers, our televisions and our smartphones and tablets, we’re soaking up an ungodly amount of blue light. And our sleep patterns are starting to suffer as a result. Once we’re able to spend more time out side, we’re likely to want to spend a lot less time with our eyes glued to screens.
Cars and ridesharing
In major cities around the world we’re seeing air pollution plummet, and crystal clear air where there was once endless smog. The lockdown has us considering how much we need to use our cars. But it’s also got us thinking about some of the scary implications of the ride sharing services we rely on. Few of us will likely be all that keen to share such a confined space with a stranger any time soon. Furthermore, while Statistics on rideshare accidents are hard to come by, many of us will question the fundamental safety of ride sharing. At the very least, we’ll be more careful about whom we climb into a car with.
Our diets
One good thing that’s come from the lockdown is that we’re cooking more from scratch and relying more on wholefoods rather than relying on processed convenience food and fast food. While we may still enjoy a weekly treat from Postmates or Grub Hub, we’re learning how easy it is to cook from scratch and challenging ourselves more in the kitchen… and our waistlines will thank us for it as time goes by.
Our relationships
After sharing our homes with our significant others and families with little or no reprieve for weeks, we’re all rethinking our relationships… but that’s not necessarily a bad thing! We’re learning the value of time apart as well as the importance of making an effort to ensure that your time spent together is of good quality. Rather than simply existing under the same roof, we’re learning the importance of good communication and making time for one another to ensure that our relationships survive (and even thrive) under lockdown.
Our priorities
Finally, the lockdown has fundamentally changed our priorities. We’re learning just how precious and fragile life is and the extent to which capitalism and wage slavery are constructs which are just as fragile. We’re thinking more about health, love and happiness rather than money and material possessions.
And that can only be a good thing!
