Weight gain, feelings of isolation, news-induced nightmares, job losses, toilet paper shortages, illness: The list of downsides of the coronavirus lockdown is long and painful. Yet as places start to reopen and lockdowns are lifted, we are recognising that staying at home wasn’t all bad. In fact, there were a lot of really awesome things about lockdown—things we’re actually going to miss when we go back to “normal” life. Here’s an idea of when that’ll be, and what it could look like.
If you’ve suffered from FOMO (the fear of missing out), lockdown helped us discover JOMO, or the joy of missing out. While it was sad to miss parties and work trips, it was also kind of a relief to have no obligations. And you didn’t have to worry about coming up with a believable reason not to do things! “Sorry, government/health orders” is an airtight excuse.
Lockdown gave us permission to let it all go – from curling irons to makeup to bras, we found freedom in letting our bodies revert back to their natural states. One perk: Many of us discovered our hair was much healthier and shinier when not subjected to daily washings, heat tools and hair dye. Sure, the grey roots showed, but it was fine because the pit hair had finally grown long enough to be soft. Going back to blow dryers and razors again is tough.
There’s no doubt that the pandemic has caused a considerable amount of financial stress for many people. But it also offered a unique opportunity to save money by creating a kind of forced frugality. With restaurants, movie theatres, shopping centres and other entertainment venues closed, we weren’t tempted to splurge on a night out. With only going to the supermarket once every week or two, we did less impulse buying. With no one to see us, we didn’t feel the need to buy makeup or clothing. And petrol money? Who needs petrol when you’re not driving anywhere? Lockdown really helped us separate our needs from our wants.
Walking from your bed to your desk in the next room is a far cry from battling traffic to drop the kids at school and then get into the office. While working from home does have its downsides, the ten-second commute was definitely a bonus.
While the empty roads can feel a little weirdly apocalyptic at first, it’s easy to appreciate the reduced pollution and noise. For many, lockdown was the first time they’d experienced the sounds of nature around their home without interruption. Who knew there were so many types of birds in your area? Or how deeply you sleep when it’s truly quiet?
Working from home, plus a reduced (okay, cancelled) social life, left us with a lot of extra time on our hands, which many of us used to catch up on our years-long sleep debt. When was the last time you got to completely turn off your alarm and wake up naturally, go to bed as early as you like, or take a little midday nap in the sunshine? It felt good!
Hip-hop dancing. Baking. Painting. Speaking French. Embroidering sarcastic sayings. People embraced a wide variety of new (or long-forgotten) hobbies and skills in lockdown and, while we may want to keep them going once life returns to “normal,” we all know it’s going to be tricky. Busy schedules have a way of taking over, and when you’re not home all the time, it’s a lot harder to monitor your sourdough every few hours or water your tomatoes three times a day.
During lockdown, dinnertime was no longer just a nice moment of the day; it became the defining event of the day, the thing everyone looked forward to. Not only did we have time to cook healthier, tastier meals, but most of the time we could count on everyone being home to eat together. Okay, this didn’t stop your kids from fighting or your spouse from zoning out on their phone, but at least you were all doing it at the same table, together.
Nothing brings people together like a shared crisis, and due to the nature of the pandemic, the people we ended up closest to were the ones we live closest to. There are so many beautiful lockdown stories of people delivering groceries for elderly neighbours, checking in on nearby single parents, filling driveways with positive chalk messages and performing lots of other little kindnesses to people we would usually just wave to before closing the garage. The sense of community was real and it was beautiful.
Being bored is usually seen as a negative, something to be avoided at all costs. But boredom researchers (yep, that’s a thing!) say that being bored can lead to increased creativity, better ability to focus, increased problem solving, less stress and anxiety, and an enhanced feeling of well-being. We never thought we’d say it, but we’ll miss being bored sometimes. Our brains need down time too!
Working parents know all too well the pain of missing important milestones like baby’s first steps or a first lost tooth. Pictures and video just aren’t the same. But being in lockdown allowed us to watch our kids grow in real time, without the interruption of school, work, or daycare. It’s amazing how much little ones change, even day to day.
Video and regular calls went way up during lockdown as people felt the urge to reach out to loved ones more frequently. Even if relatives weren’t directly in harm’s way, we still wanted to check in and make sure everyone was doing well. Not only that but we had the time for extended chats, allowing for a deeper level of connection.
Companies that had always said that there was no way their employees could work from home suddenly found a lot of effective and interesting ways to make it work when they had to. Lockdown showed us how to really take advantage of technology to simplify jobs and cut out a lot of unnecessary meetings and busy work.
It’s almost certain that you increased your cooking skills during lockdown, with many people finding real joy in learning to create in the kitchen. Busy nights call for quick food you can throw together (or take out!), but lockdown nights allowed for slower, more complex meals. We got to re-learn what it’s like to enjoy the process of making and eating good food.
Activities normally reserved for camping trips or power outages suddenly became the norm in lockdown as folks rediscovered their love for all kinds of games, from Monopoly to lawn darts to jigsaw puzzles to epic ping-pong battles.
It’s much easier not to fall behind on the basic household chores like laundry and dishes when you never leave your home! We had the time to do chores, but also more desire to do them, as we were confronted with the laundry mountain multiple times a day.
It may sound strange that one of the best things about being forced to stay at home was the outdoors, but the truth is that while many of us were out of the house pre-lockdown, we weren’t spending much time outside. Lockdown made daily, or even thrice-daily, walks around the block something to look forward to. Then there was getting to soak in the sunshine as you worked from your deck or gardened or played with your kids in the yard. We got to watch sunrises, sunsets and cloud formations we never would have seen normally. Oh, and we logged so many more steps – when all you can do is walk, you do a lot of walking.
If there’s one group that was absolutely thrilled about lockdown, it was our pets. Dogs and cats (well, some of the cats) relished all the extra time, attention, walks and treats they got from owners. No longer did they have to watch mournfully at the window as we left; their humans were there with them all the time – exactly as they’d always wanted. We’ll definitely miss all those extra furry snuggles.
People couldn’t congregate as normal, so we were forced to find other ways to celebrate, including birthday drive-bys, Zoom game nights, Netflix parties and driveway gatherings. Not only were these get-togethers generally more chill, but they required a level of creativity and participation that made them feel fun in ways normal parties didn’t. Plus, when else are you not just allowed, but encouraged, to drive by your friend’s house multiple times as part of a parade while scream-singing “Happy Birthday” and honking?
This article originally appeared in Reader’s Digest.