5 things I started doing over the past year that I hope won’t end with the pandemic
“Build back better” should apply to our personal lives as well
With the vaccine rollout underway in the US and the administration promising enough vaccines for all adult Americans by the end of May, we can all look forward to having our normal lives back soon. Of course, I look forward to being able to travel again, to go out and dine, to gather with friends, but part of me also don’t want everything to go back to normal. Like many, I have developed new behaviors, new habits during the pandemic to adapt to the COVID reality. Some of these changes, actually, have made me a better, happier person.
Here are 5 personal changes I underwent during the pandemic. I am writing these down as a reminder to myself that I should try to hold on to them as best as I can going forward, even as things return to “normal”.
Live a greener lifestyle.
I have never spent much time looking into what actions I could take to reduce my own environmental footprint, but I started out last year with a simple goal to not use any plastic bag while shopping. Unfortunately after a few months, the pandemic hit and most stores stop allowing customers to use their own shopping bags (luckily that is no longer the case, and I have gone back to shopping with my own bags).
During the pandemic I started researching more about recycling, product packaging and waste disposal. I realized what I was doing before was “wish-cycling” (tossing questionable items into the recycling bin, hoping they can be recycled), which will actually end up contaminating the recycling stream and be counterproductive to getting more waste recycled. So I started recycling the right way — to only recycle plastics that my town accepts (#1 and 2), and look for ways to reuse and reduce other plastic packaging.
I also started worm composting, after learning that anaerobic breakdown of food waste at landfill generates methane which is a much more potent greenhouse gas then CO2. While sometimes those methane gas at landfills are captured to generate energy, the idea that vegetable peels and overripe fruits that can be turned into organic fertilizers will simply go to landfill waste does not sit well with me. After some trials and errors, I now have a healthy worm bin, and have been using the worm casting for my plants.
Work a more flexible schedule.
I am fortunate to work an office job where I can log in from home during the pandemic. Gone are the days where I have to wait a long time to get on a crowded bus to get into/out of the city, and rush home every evening to pick up my kid. Nowadays I get to drop off and pick up my daughter from school, and I am enjoying this new routine of chatting with her in the car about her day at school. My employer (and many employers) has also become more accommodating of the schedule of working parents during the pandemic. As long as I do my part at work, it’s okay if I am not as responsive during certain time the day (because I am monitoring my daughter’s zoom class when the school is closed).
Many employers are looking into allowing more remote work after COVID (it also helps them shrink their office footprint and save $). That’s great, but I think we need to continue to push the agenda to make work schedule more flexible and accommodating for more people. Sure, there will still be many high achievers who are able and willing to work their hearts out for faster advancement and more money, and many entrepreneurial spirits who work on their own business gigs on their own schedule. But towards the middle of the spectrum, there are many (mostly parents with younger kids) who wants to keep themselves relevant in the workplace, but wouldn’t mind getting paid less for a less demanding schedule, so they can spend more time with their family.
This is obviously a very hard problem and would require a lot of experimenting and planning from employers, managers and their employees. But the pandemic has given us a window to rethink our work and our schedule, and we should seize the opportunity to explore new possibilities. I believe that if people can have more options to improve their work/life balance, both parents and children, and our society as a whole, will be better for it.
Make deeper connections with people.
It probably has something to do with compensating for the loneliness and isolation during the lockdown, but over the past year I started having deeper conversations with people. I have known these people for some time, but I never had the time or opportunity to engage in real, long conversations other than exchanging pleasantries whenever we met prior to COVID. I am glad that I have developed new relationships and made new friends in the process. I hope to maintain urge to connect, with friends and new acquaintances, even as life returns to normal.
Find new entertainment.
Necessity is the mother of invention. When the pool was not open during the beautiful summer, when I was stuck at home in the winter not able to travel to somewhere warm, I had to find something else to do. Sure, there is the easy fix of Netflix, Disney+ etc., but I think I have done enough sitting in front of the screen during the week.
No, I didn’t buy a bike, but like many I did a lot of hiking during the summer. I also discovered many parks, beaches and lakes in my area to which the family can go on weekends. During the winter months we completed many jigsaw puzzles, played board games together as a family. We were blessed to have created some fun memories in the midst of a pandemic.
Soul search.
This was probably the anchor that led to many of the changes that I mentioned above. It is something that I would not have done when I was in my “auto-pilot” mode in my busy pre-COVID life. I questioned the purpose of my job, what/how I am teaching my kid, how I want to live my life, etc. I still don’t have many of the answers, but I am glad I started asking those questions, questions that I was too busy and too lazy to ask before.
I know many have done their own soul searching as well. I hope we can all keep asking ourselves these tough soul-searching questions from time to time, and embrace/hold on to the positive changes that we have made over the past year, rather than settling back into the comfort and normalcy of going through the motions in our pre-COVID life.
