The Gifts of COVID

We’re all getting tired of being stuck at home.  It’s easy to start feeling a little depressed, but I prefer to look for the gifts of COVID. I always look on the bright side.  As I mentioned in Motivational Quotes and Life Mottos, miracles happen around us every day, we just have to be willing to see them.

A Long List of Blessings

I have a long list of little blessings that have happened in the past several months that would not have happened if not for our sheltering at home.  During a zoom meeting with my quartet this morning, I asked them what were some things that they feel are gifts of COVID.  It does require a bit of a mind shift, doesn’t it?  To think of this stressful time as tragic, and disastrous.  But as with every dark cloud, there is a silver lining.  Since there isn’t much that I can do about the situation, I prefer to look for the beautiful silver linings. 

My friend summed it up beautifully.  She said we’re learning to be together again, like families in the 50’s.  We aren’t distracted by all of the activities that keep us busy and on the go.  We are “stuck” at home with only ourselves and/or our families.  As a result, families are spending unprecedented time together and are making the best of it by playing games, and building puzzles, learning new skills.

More Family Time

Another friend of mine recently posted a video of her youngest son playing a ukulele he recently bought, while the oldest brother and mom sang beautiful harmony to the ukulele accompaniment. This was a sweet scene, reminiscent of my childhood evenings.  When I was growing up, my dad would play the guitar and sing, while my mom, brother, and I sang along.  All four of us are good harmony singers, and we’d just naturally jump to whichever part most suited our voices and the chord structure of the music.  We all sang together on road trips, too.  One of the adults would start a song, and the rest of us would just chime in on harmony. Today more of this is happening in homes around the world. Families are singing with guitars, ukuleles, or around the piano.  A special gift of COVID.

New Tech Skills

Speaking of posting, people are learning new technical skills, and sharing their talents with the world.  This blog was certainly a concept prior to COVID, but it was not a reality.  When the world closed down and I was forced to stay home for longer than a few days at a time, I finally slowed down enough to put the brain power into learning this new technology.  It has definitely stretched me in ways I hadn’t considered, and I’m thankful for that.  My entire education has been online via live trainings, recorded videos, and good old trial and error.  I’m also quite fortunate to have a hubby who can code when I want to do something fancy.

A musical conductor friend started a YouTube series of voice mastery skills, and she now has 34 videos and growing.  If you are at all interested in singing, or in strengthening your voice, I recommend you subscribe to her channel.  You’ll find her here – KhansenMusic.  Time at home has given her the chance to stretch her technological skills, and a venue to share her education and many talents.

The New Get-Together

A lot of us are spending time with others on video calls, driveway parties, drive-through graduations, and birthday parades. We’re not just sitting at home watching the TV.  We’re reading books we’ve wanted to read, and now we have Facebook Live book clubs.  People are finding ways to continue doing the things that brings them joy.

New Old Skills

I love to cook, and my fancy Japanese knives needed sharpening.  I would have never trusted someone other than a specialist to sharpen my knives, but they were becoming so dull, I was worried about cutting myself and causing damage to the knife edges.  So, my hubby learned to sharpen knives.  He sharpened every knife in the house, and then every pair of scissors as well. In fact, not realizing he did the scissors, I cut myself when opening a package!  Be careful with those things, they’ll go right through ya!

Early in our sheltering, when the grocery shelves were empty, I made my own sourdough starter and baked my own bread.  I had a blast making waffles, crackers, and all the yummy sourdough things with my “discard”.  But for the sake of our waistlines, I had to stop.  We don’t even really eat that much bread under normal circumstances.  I was just filling my time and checking another thing off my long bucket list.

Feeling Crafty

People are getting creative. They are doing paint-by-numbers together, learning to draw, and sewing clothes. I ordered water-color supplies to make a painting for my guest bath.

My grand-daughter has spent four months making a doll-house from scratch. She has made the entire structure, and all of the furniture, with scraps she collects around the house, and a few art supplies from the dollar store. It has kept her occupied for hours and hours. Take a look at the adorable couch that she made? I think we have a budding designer. Left to their own ingenuity, without all of the tech devices, kids will create.

Getting in Shape

I have friends who rarely exercised in normal life, but they are now meeting online for Zumba, Tabata, Yoga, and even YouTube dance videos.  It’s part social, but also a way to improve their health.  We’re not just eating our way through COVID, though I do seem to be doing a lot of that.  I know people who have lost 20+ pounds with online support, tracking apps, and simple after-dinner walks.  It’s inspiring.  Almost inspiring enough to get me off the couch!

Live Virtual Conferences

I’m volunteering time for my hobby by moderating Q & A during an online conference.  We might never have considered an online conference, but now through the magic of technology, we are able to hold our normal in-person conferences in a virtual fashion.  Members can even attend conferences in other Regions around the world!  If only we could sing together.  So far technology doesn’t help with that.  But the other gift part of this scenario is that I might never have volunteered to moderate an online class.  Now that I have strengthened my tech skills, I feel very comfortable in this new arena.

Natural Woman

With the closing of pretty much everything, those of us who have relied on specialists to keep up our appearance are now doing our own manicures and pedicures.  I don’t usually do manicures, but I’ve had a standing pedicure appointment every three weeks for many years.  Even in winter!  Back in April, I removed the polish on my old scruffy pedicure, and now I simply keep my toenails trimmed and tidy.  I bought a pumice to keep my feet smooth, and I lotion them up before bed periodically.

Many of my friends have let their natural hair color grow out, myself included.  Since nobody is going anywhere, very few people will see the in-between stages of a grow-out.  It’s the perfect time!  I got tired of the highlights that are now well below my ears, so I put an at-home semi-permanent color on to help distract from the light streaks.  In fact, I’ve always wanted to do something fun, so I died it purple.  Why not?  The color will eventually be cut off if I ever find someone in my new neighborhood to restore my signature pixie cut. In the meantime, my natural color is tipped in a lovely shade of purple. It makes my green eyes pop!

At-Home Haircuts

Which leads me to another gift of COVID.  I cut my own hair this morning.  My pixie has grown out so much that the sides, formerly above my ears, are now at my chin.  The back of my shaggy pixie used to be about chin length.  I’ve cut my bangs several times over the past few months, but this morning I just couldn’t take it.  The pixie was now a full-on mullet, with the longest sections brushing my shoulders. 

So, I grabbed a hand mirror and my newly sharpened scissors and went to town.  I trimmed the back straight across, to the bottom of my earlobes, pretty much even with the side length.  Then I asked my hubby to even out any missed hairs, and make sure the two sides are of an even length.  Then he point-cut all the way across so that it doesn’t look too blunt.  I have very straight, fine hair that would look very blunt if not point cut.  Between the two of us, I have a great new bob.  This will last me another couple of months until I can find a good stylist.  In the 144 days that we have been at home, I’ve saved a ton of money on pedicures, as well as haircuts and color.  I also cut my husband’s hair, and we groomed our dog.  Two more things we normally spent time and money doing.

Keeping Busy at Home

Last August, I retired from my career of 35 years.  If you had told me that a year from then that I would be cutting my own hair, letting the natural color grow out, giving myself pedicures, cutting my hubby’s hair, and grooming my dog, I would have laughed at you.  On top of that, we’re cleaning our house and my husband’s taking care of the yard and pool. We’ve always had a kitchen garden, but Arizona summers are a learning curve. We have herbs growing in pots in the courtyard. I understand the best growing season for veggies is in the Fall, so we have that to look forward to.

Low Maintenance Life

People used to tell me that I would wonder how I ever found the time to work, and they were partly right.  I really don’t have any trouble keeping myself busy.  With all of this personal and home maintenance, as well as the website, I’m pretty much working every day.  But I like the life we’re building. 

I love becoming low maintenance in all aspects of our lives. It’s not about saving money.  It’s about gaining self-reliance and being happier with less. Life feels more relaxed, and simple.  As my friend said, it feels like family life in the 50’s. (Not that I was around back then.)

What have been your gifts of COVID? Take some time to reflect on them, and share with us in the comments.