If you are anything like me, you likely left work on Friday, March 13, 2020, expecting to return on Monday. When you ultimately did return to your office, perhaps you found a time-capsule of life “pre-pandemic” – calendar still on March, piles of papers on your desk, mystery food in your work fridge, etc.
As we’ve all learned many serious lessons about life and COVID, I thought I’d share a few of my light-hearted lessons learned over the past 10 months:
1) I touch my face WAY TOO MANY TIMES PER DAY!
2) If you see Clorox Wipes or toilet paper in the store, you should probably just buy it.
3) Masks are the new fashion accessory and can be fun to coordinate with your outfit/seasons/etc.
4) Speaking of masks, not all are created equal! From uncomfortable to impossible to present in, I think we all have a “favorite” mask.
5) Hand sanitizer is LIFE!
6) What is the optimal set-up for a good angle during a video call. Mine is a bar-height chair stacked with books!
7) I could live in leggings! How many of us went months without wearing pants that had buttons/zippers?
8) Relationships are even more important now, and take a different kind of effort! No more easy-going happy hours or weekends to visit friends and family. I hope you have found a way to stay connected. Raise your hand if you had a socially-distanced driveway meet-up with friends last summer!
9) Maintaining connection with your work team likely has taken a few avenues through trial-and-error.
10) Maybe when we return to “normal” we don’t need to continue every program/event that we did previously. Time away perhaps has allowed us to reevaluate where we put our efforts.
11) How to slow down a bit. I have read my first “fun book” in years. I’m serious, YEARS! (Shameless plug, my friend wrote a book! “How to Fail at Flirting” written by ISU staffer and former tour guide Denise Williams).
You are only as productive as your internet provider will allow.