The me during covid
With all the social distancing and staying at home for 6 months, I have been feeling a little off. Maybe “off” isn’t the right word… I have been feeling a little “not-me”.
As an extrovert, I struggled at first and felt suffocated in my home. But now I feel like I have learned how to really enjoy staying home. In fact, I find myself wanting to go out less (but maybe also because I am old now lol). Sometimes I even prefer staying home, which has never happened before.
The first thing that changed in my situation was that I got my own place and moved away from my parents. This has, in turn, allowed me to still enjoy socializing in the comfort of my own home. I now much prefer having friends over for dinner or just to chat than going out somewhere together.
The second thing that changed is my standard of time and convenience. When I was in university, I didn’t mind transiting 1-2 hours downtown. Now, I avoid this commute if possible because it seems too long. I feel like I have everything I need already much closer to me.
The third thing that has changed is what I would like to call “quarantine hobbies”. Now that we all have a lot of time on our hands, people have turned to old and new hobbies. My dad is really into taking on little home renovation projects and my mom is now very passionate about learning how to do things from youtube (ex. how to make a mask, how to do Chinese tai-chi exercises, etc.). Some of my friends are really into home-cooking or taking care of plants.
I have also found some new hobbies – the 2 newest ones are building things in the Sims 4 (you can watch my Youtube videos here) and tennis (because it’s free lol). Both are activities I can do at home or really close to my home.
The last thing that has changed is probably something inside of me. Perhaps social isolation/distancing/quarantining has helped me see the more important things in life. It has helped me prioritize family and health over other desires. It has also helped me understand who are the most important to me and who I really need to have in my social circles if I were to limit who I come into contact with.
I think all of this together has made me into a new version of myself – one who is very comfortable with who she is and where she is.
Sincerely, Loewe