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Abstract

ook membership that I enjoy so much. In addition, I found a couple of youtube channels that give book suggestions that fits to my style. Oh I liked that! I read more books in 2020 than the last 3 years combined! In addition, I decided to check out books that is notmally not my style. I love reading psychology, history, art and books based on true stories. I decided to give a chance to fiction and non-fiction stories. I liked some so much and learned to be more open-minded when I’m choosing a book.</p><figure id="f5f7"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/0*Mb_oHhGxZA0DUJ5o"><figcaption>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@freestocks?utm_source=medium&utm_medium=referral">freestocks</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com?utm_source=medium&utm_medium=referral">Unsplash</a></figcaption></figure><h1 id="7d8c">3) Budgeting, Investing and Job Security</h1><p id="4af1">I always considered myself as a financially responsible person and very good in handing money. As I stayed at home, I realized I could do much better if I change or at least modify some of my spending habits. When you are outside, you have more tendency to go to activities and each of them adds to your spending. At that point, you think that it won’t make a differnce since it is just a small spending but then when those little things are added up, they make a difference. I did a written budget first time in 2020 because I was worried about job security with the shut down. I am a scientist working in a chemcial industry and you just don’t know how the buisness you are working in is going to be affected by the shut down. It made me question my budget, spending and job security that I didn’t feel this way before. How long will it last and how will the supply chain will be affected,- at that point I didn’t know any of those and that was scary. So I decided to go over my expenses and see what is absolutely necessary. Then as I save more and more, I decided invest more in stock market. Looking at my income from this perspective definitely changed my money handling habits and I realized how I was wasting. In addition, I read books about investing and spending habits. If you think you are great in handling money, you should read “Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter” by Dan Airely. When you finish the book, maybe you will also re-evaluate your spending habits.</p><h1 id="21df">4) Started a Garden</h1><p id="80d4">I am a black thumb. If I ever get a plant , probably I will kill it in a month. I either over water it or completely forget it, whatever the reason is, only very few plants can survive in my house. Besides, I was always out or taking the weekends off before Covid, so no hope to take care of my plants. In 2020, I decided to break this cycle. I started to follow youtube channels to learn about orchids and learned that I had been doing things I shouldn’t do.For example, I was putting a cube of ice on my orchids to water them because that was the instruction on the plant. Then I figured that was an awful thing to do to a tropical plant. They responded really well and I didn’t kill any plant in 2020 — ok , maybe one. This year, all my orchids are about to bloom and all my plants are growing new leaves. I realized that all these years

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I was so ignorant and was doing all the things my plants didn’t like and keep wondering what is going so wrong. Now, I’m doing much better job with my plants at home.</p><p id="6dec">After the “orchid experience”, I decided to something revolutionary in my standards, and start a garden from seeds! I planted different tomatoes, hot peppers, cucumber and herbs. Oh I had so much fun! It is a wonderful feeling to pick a veggie and bring it to kitchen for a meal. As you can imagine, I learned so much from youtube and from my mistakes. I want to share a couple of mistakes I made; I planted too many tomatoes in a small area, because I have never seen a tomato plant before and I didn’t know how much it can grow. It was insane! I planted a pepper between those tomatoes; poor pepper was all covered and could not even reach to sun. Despite the mistakes, I had great time and produced lots of veggies.</p><h1 id="6956">5) Learned Cooking and Baking one more time</h1><p id="fa2f">Well, I always liked cooking and eating homemade in my own way. In 2020, I realized I can do more. I learned so many new recipes and new tricks to make things easier and faster from internet. I canned tomatoes, that was also a great experiment! And some of those were from my garden. That was a great experience. Then I learned new salad dressings, new cuisines — live Chinese food- so bought a new Wok and new dressings and it was really fun to experiment these new recipes that I normally never make at home. I will not claim all of them turned out amazing; I had my own learning opportunities but overall I am definitely better cook today than before covid days.</p><p id="6b80">In addition, I bake more than before. I started with baking bread and then did homemade pie and cakes and then different cookies. I come up with strategies to reduce sugar and oil content. So you feel less guilty :)</p><h1 id="1779">6) Significantly Less Shopping</h1><p id="508e">I used to do a lot of online shopping; even when I don’t buy, I was spending time on the online stores and always keep an eye on what is available. When you have this habit, you will definitely come up with a plan on what to buy next. Let’s say if you check out summer dresses, there will be hundreds and hundreds of options so you will definitely find “a new dress” that is not similar to the other 50 dresses you have and that is so pretty and you should have it. Does this story sound familiar to you? In 2020, I understand I have so many clothes and I really don't need to buy more. I was wasting my time- time is the most precious thing in life because you can never replace it- and my money, which is also wasting the time I spend at work. So my perspective to shopping changed completely.</p><h1 id="09f0">Final Thoughts</h1><p id="ad99">I want to remember 2020 as “the year I changed my perspective to life” and the year I learned so much on a lot of different things. It is hard sometimes to focus on good when you are surrounded with lots of challenges and negativity. I had moments in 2020, I don’t want to hear the news and just work in my garden to stop worrying. If you stuggled in 2020, you know you are not alone and I really hope after reading my list of things I learned, it make you think what you have learned during Covid days.</p></article></body>

6 Things that I learned during the Covid Quarantine

2020 had been very challenging for me. I had a full year for sure and I bet a lot of people are feeling the same way. Although I can list a lot of obstacles about 2020, in this story I want to focus on the good and tell you the things I learned since I had so much time at home to start new projects.

As an extravert, I had an active social life before Covid with multiple activities going on every day. My yoga, lyra, silk, argantine tango and painting classes in addition to my friend gatherings and travels, were keeping me busy. I was having a great time. Then all at a sudden, in March 2020, I found myself spending day and night at home and I realized this is something I have never done in my life. So I decided to change my habits and start new projects to enjoy my own time but I wasn't really sure what to do. So this is my story on things I learned during the Covid Quarantine.

1) My Time Perspective and Priorities Changed

Starting March 2020, I started to work from home and was at home all the time. I have to say I really liked working from home and having conference calls in my pajamas with a hot cappuccino; it definitely was a more relaxing schedule. In addition, I did not have to wake up at 6.30 am and get ready anymore, instead I can literally leave the bed at 7.45am for an 8.00am meeting. Normally, I used to wake up with an alarm, and starting that moment, I was always in the “running mode”. The time I spend for getting ready, to go and to come back from a place takes a significant part of the day, which is a waste. During quarantine, since I was always at home, I understand that I can do so much more in a day and I was really enjoying my “calm” time in my pajamas instead of wearing make up. I had more time to call my family, because they are living on the other side of the world and when I’m available in a weekend, that is afternoon for them and they are usually not available since they are out of home having fun. But during covid days, we all are at home and available for a call. This year I definitely had more time to catch up with old friends that I didn’t talk to for so long and with my family. These were the days I questioned my priorities in life and how much my family and friends mean to me.

2) Have More Time for Books

Before Covid, I was always telling that I do not have enough time to read and was not spending more than on average 1 hour per week on audiobooks. That was not enough time to cover a subject therefore I was not feeling like I’m having relaxing time with my books. Finishing a book was taking so long and I was leaving majority of the books I started in the half way. When you don’t feel you are attached to a book, it wasn't really going forward.

During covid times, I had time and I found one more audiobook membership that I enjoy so much. In addition, I found a couple of youtube channels that give book suggestions that fits to my style. Oh I liked that! I read more books in 2020 than the last 3 years combined! In addition, I decided to check out books that is notmally not my style. I love reading psychology, history, art and books based on true stories. I decided to give a chance to fiction and non-fiction stories. I liked some so much and learned to be more open-minded when I’m choosing a book.

3) Budgeting, Investing and Job Security

I always considered myself as a financially responsible person and very good in handing money. As I stayed at home, I realized I could do much better if I change or at least modify some of my spending habits. When you are outside, you have more tendency to go to activities and each of them adds to your spending. At that point, you think that it won’t make a differnce since it is just a small spending but then when those little things are added up, they make a difference. I did a written budget first time in 2020 because I was worried about job security with the shut down. I am a scientist working in a chemcial industry and you just don’t know how the buisness you are working in is going to be affected by the shut down. It made me question my budget, spending and job security that I didn’t feel this way before. How long will it last and how will the supply chain will be affected,- at that point I didn’t know any of those and that was scary. So I decided to go over my expenses and see what is absolutely necessary. Then as I save more and more, I decided invest more in stock market. Looking at my income from this perspective definitely changed my money handling habits and I realized how I was wasting. In addition, I read books about investing and spending habits. If you think you are great in handling money, you should read “Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter” by Dan Airely. When you finish the book, maybe you will also re-evaluate your spending habits.

4) Started a Garden

I am a black thumb. If I ever get a plant , probably I will kill it in a month. I either over water it or completely forget it, whatever the reason is, only very few plants can survive in my house. Besides, I was always out or taking the weekends off before Covid, so no hope to take care of my plants. In 2020, I decided to break this cycle. I started to follow youtube channels to learn about orchids and learned that I had been doing things I shouldn’t do.For example, I was putting a cube of ice on my orchids to water them because that was the instruction on the plant. Then I figured that was an awful thing to do to a tropical plant. They responded really well and I didn’t kill any plant in 2020 — ok , maybe one. This year, all my orchids are about to bloom and all my plants are growing new leaves. I realized that all these years I was so ignorant and was doing all the things my plants didn’t like and keep wondering what is going so wrong. Now, I’m doing much better job with my plants at home.

After the “orchid experience”, I decided to something revolutionary in my standards, and start a garden from seeds! I planted different tomatoes, hot peppers, cucumber and herbs. Oh I had so much fun! It is a wonderful feeling to pick a veggie and bring it to kitchen for a meal. As you can imagine, I learned so much from youtube and from my mistakes. I want to share a couple of mistakes I made; I planted too many tomatoes in a small area, because I have never seen a tomato plant before and I didn’t know how much it can grow. It was insane! I planted a pepper between those tomatoes; poor pepper was all covered and could not even reach to sun. Despite the mistakes, I had great time and produced lots of veggies.

5) Learned Cooking and Baking one more time

Well, I always liked cooking and eating homemade in my own way. In 2020, I realized I can do more. I learned so many new recipes and new tricks to make things easier and faster from internet. I canned tomatoes, that was also a great experiment! And some of those were from my garden. That was a great experience. Then I learned new salad dressings, new cuisines — live Chinese food- so bought a new Wok and new dressings and it was really fun to experiment these new recipes that I normally never make at home. I will not claim all of them turned out amazing; I had my own learning opportunities but overall I am definitely better cook today than before covid days.

In addition, I bake more than before. I started with baking bread and then did homemade pie and cakes and then different cookies. I come up with strategies to reduce sugar and oil content. So you feel less guilty :)

6) Significantly Less Shopping

I used to do a lot of online shopping; even when I don’t buy, I was spending time on the online stores and always keep an eye on what is available. When you have this habit, you will definitely come up with a plan on what to buy next. Let’s say if you check out summer dresses, there will be hundreds and hundreds of options so you will definitely find “a new dress” that is not similar to the other 50 dresses you have and that is so pretty and you should have it. Does this story sound familiar to you? In 2020, I understand I have so many clothes and I really don't need to buy more. I was wasting my time- time is the most precious thing in life because you can never replace it- and my money, which is also wasting the time I spend at work. So my perspective to shopping changed completely.

Final Thoughts

I want to remember 2020 as “the year I changed my perspective to life” and the year I learned so much on a lot of different things. It is hard sometimes to focus on good when you are surrounded with lots of challenges and negativity. I had moments in 2020, I don’t want to hear the news and just work in my garden to stop worrying. If you stuggled in 2020, you know you are not alone and I really hope after reading my list of things I learned, it make you think what you have learned during Covid days.