I Don’t Think I’ll Ever Be Ready to Reenter Society

Is it wrong to view the end of the lockdowns and restrictions with trepidation?

I’d like to say that I’m looking forward to the end of lockdown and other COVID restrictions, but to be honest there will be some things that I will miss.

I don’t wish to sound flippant, I know that this pandemic has caused untold suffering, but I do actually like some of the ways that my everyday life has changed. This crazy period has taught me to appreciate things I took for granted, or that I didn’t even know existed. It’s given me a certain control over my life that I never had before.

Below are five of the positives.

1. The Quiet Life

I’ve enjoyed the general calm and lower numbers of cars and people around. The difference has probably been more profound in the place where I live, as it’s a college town. The population shrunk dramatically when the pandemic began and has largely stayed that way until quite recently.

Maybe it’s my age, but I’ve enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere, as well as the fewer traffic jams and reduced competition for parking spaces. While the students certainly bring life to the city and help the local economy, they also make it a louder and busier place.

2. Walk in the Woods

I’d lived in my neighborhood for two years when the pandemic struck, but strangely I hardly knew the area. Yes, I drove around on the main roads, I went to work, to the store, visited friends and ran errands, but I’d never really walked anywhere. I didn’t know that there were places right under my nose that I’d enjoy.

It took a global pandemic and lockdown to actually make me investigate my own area and find places to explore. There are some beautiful woods nearby with a creek and a number of nature trails. There’s a also a pond that is home to turtles and a multitude of birds: ducks, hawks, and anhingas.

3. Working From Home

The virus has shifted many people’s lives away from the workplace and back to the homestead. I was no exception. It seemed strange at first, but I’ve grown to love working from home and don’t really want to return to commuting and sitting at a desk.

The transition was made easier by the fact that my old office was a windowless room in the bowels of a 1980s concrete block and now I look outside at my leafy green neighborhood bathed in sunshine. While I have great affection and respect for my coworkers, there are benefits to being able to adopt a more flexible schedule when it comes to eating healthily, exercising and completing chores.

4. Rest From Physical Rigor

Another problem was fixed by the lockdown were my various tennis injuries. For many months I’d nursed nagging aches and pains in the joints of my right knee and shoulder. It had gone on for so long that I thought it was just a symptom of old age, something that I’d have to learn to live with.

In retrospect, I was overdoing it by playing tennis several times a week. That was brought to an immediate halt when the lockdown hit. The city and the university locked up the courts and the league cancelled all matches. I didn’t play tennis for three months, and now my knee and shoulder feel great.

5. Healthier and Happier

While many others seem to have been consuming excess alcohol and comfort foods during the pandemic, I went the other way. I’ve been eating better and making my own healthy meals. I’ve cut out alcohol completely. Twice a day I take long walks in my neighborhood.

Much of it is to do with being able to organize my own schedule. I can balance my time between my work, meals and exercise more easily. I can control the amount of calories I can consume, and while I do miss some of the socializing, it’s helped me with not drinking.

The Big Negatives

Of course, while I’ve enjoyed the comfort of my sanctuary, the strange and dark world of the pandemic, which isn’t even over yet, has been raging outside my door.

So many people’s loved ones have been hospitalized or killed by COVID-19. So many hospital workers have been traumatized and exhausted. So many businesses have been put on hold or closed down.

Jobs have been lost. Career opportunities stifled. Schoolchildren and college students have had their educations and experiences interrupted, delayed, undermined, or taken away.

Countless human dreams have been destroyed.

The Personal Negatives

I feel so fortunate that I’ve not had any friends or relatives seriously harmed by the virus. My girlfriend works at a hospital reviewing medical records, including seriously ill and dying COVID patients. It’s a grim world out there right now.

The worst physical thing for me was a dental crisis. Early on in the pandemic, during the worst of the lockdowns, my dental surgery suddenly closed down. I was halfway through having a bridge fitted and only had a temporary in place.

The thing began to splinter apart after a few weeks and a section broke off. While I wasn’t in pain, it gave me a smashed up smile with missing pieces of teeth. Needless to say, I was self-conscious. Fortunately, as I wore a mask when I went out, only my girlfriend and coworkers saw that my mouth was a mess.

Perhaps much worse though has been the travel situation. It’s been strange not being able to visit other countries for the past year and a half. For me, it’s not just about vacations. Many of my friends and all of my family live in the UK. My elderly mother, in particular, has had a hard time with illnesses and visiting her has not been possible, which is upsetting for all of us.

What’s the Future?

My hope is that I can hold onto some of the positives if and when we eventually emerge from this terrible period.

If the pandemic has taught me anything, it’s that you can’t take anything for granted. Even the simplest of pleasures can and should be appreciated.

Now that I’ve learned the joys of a quiet life, I don’t want to let them go.