Growing Where We Are...
As the pandemic is coming to an end, I feel oddly nostalgic. It feels weird to even say that it’s coming to an end, as I know there are still several cities and countries who are in lockdown and not quite moving to “normalcy” yet. My nostalgia stems from the, what felt like, extra time I was given, the time we were all given during 2020. It was one of the hardest years for so many people. Yet, it was also a year of appreciation. Appreciation for family time, for nature, for reading, video calls, and for home. My husband and I were house hunting before the pandemic hit. We were going weekly, if not multiple times a week to look at different houses. We live in a spacious apartment, so it’s been difficult to find something bigger but still in our price range. During quarantine we, of course, were unable to look at houses. That’s when we started looking more inwardly at our apartment. We spruced up a few things, rearranged some furniture, threw out things that were crowding us, etc. Our apartment has felt like home ever since we moved in, but we grew to appreciate its true value during that season of life. We have so many memories here. While we will need more space, it will be hard to leave. It will be hard to say goodbye to the first place we lived in together. Once showings started opening up again, each time we’d come back home after looking at a house, I felt grateful for our apartment, content. Grateful for its location, for the view, for the comfort it provides.
Not only were listings opening up, but also restaurants, coffee shops, and businesses. My furlough had ended, opening up the door to a work-from-home customer service job. Since customer service wasn’t my passion, I didn’t have the best outlook on it, until I realized I could work from coffee shops and with other friends who were also “working from home.” Weekly hangouts while working became the new norm, and I had never felt more at ease with work. What I thought would never be possible, working with friends who work for other companies, became reality. I don’t know where I would be mentally, had it not been for the flexibility of connection while working. I was going through a lot, the entire world was, and I needed that emotional support. It has become a much more fulfilling work culture than an office ever was. While I’m now back to a busy life with a new job that I love, several things remain - I still get to work from home, I still get to see my friends, and I continue to have a growing appreciation for where we live. I’m so thankful I was able to experience a pandemic in my lifetime. I don’t mean that disrespectfully, as I know many lives were lost. But I’m thankful in the sense that I have found deeper value in the way I get to choose to operate daily. It’s crazy to think that it took a pandemic for America to start to make work-life balance a priority.