Lockdown, One Year Later: Celebrating the Positives

My “Positivity from Lockdown” example was being able to spend some unplanned quality time with my youngest son Andrew.  After graduating Indiana University in May, he did not have to move to Boston to work for his new employer Oracle since they shut down their office there. Andrew was able to move back home and work virtually. He has been here ever since, and we are enjoying our family time together waiting to see where his next move will be once the pandemic is over.

Being secluded from the world for the most part of the year, I have learned a lot about myself, including my toleration level and my lack of patience.

My positivity from this past year is that I’ve been able to spend more time with my family. With working from home and not having extracurriculars, we were able to spend more time than ever with each other.

 I was still employed by netlogx, who managed the change and risk associated with the “lockdown” in an ethical and responsible manner. Over the past year, I have had about 1-2 hours of extra time each workday because I don’t have to commute!! I am extremely grateful for that! My mom and her husband could not go back to Arizona for the winter, so we had an enjoyable holiday season (and now winter season) with them. I have a better idea of the “casual” business attire which I use daily so I can give away clothes not used within the past year. (I have kept my work/dress clothes though!) I have read several books and enjoyed a list of Netflix shows that I have wanted to watch for a long time. I also organized my office space (thanks to netlogx furniture give-away! hooray!) and spent more time preparing and cooking new and different meals for the family. I walked the dog 1-2 miles every day (if over 30 degrees…). I learned to utilize different tools (Jira, MS Teams etc..) and applications (e.g. new Excel functionality) to accomplish my activities. I still was able to attend church services regularly, whether online or in-person.

One thing that I am thankful for from this last year is the time that I found to slow down.  In not having anywhere to go, I focused less on “getting here” and “getting there”, running around from place to place; instead, I found time to just be present. It was nice. In being present, I found time to catch up with people that I hadn’t in too long – which ended up strengthening some relationships that I realized I should have been spending more time on in the first place.

Being stuck in my basement has given me time to listen to music I haven’t heard in a long time or digging into things I only knew in passing.  Some of this has to do with things finally become available for streaming (Pylon, Dave Clark Five) but wading back into the delightful goofiness of Slim & Slam, Louis Jordan and Ukulele Ike and discovering the gospel underpinnings of early R&B through the Golden Gate Quartet and Sister Rosetta Tharpe has been life affirming.

My list of positive outcomes from 2020 are that I spent more time with my husband and son while working from home due to COVID-19 health emergency, I was able to make home improvements and I evaluated my priorities and shifted focus on more important goals given the circumstances.

I want to say that I am grateful for a job, work family and friends, kids who are able to attend school and a husband who has not been furloughed or laid off. Simple things in life have become more important. Small milestones are now larger ones. Also going to enjoy a vacation a little more than I had ever before.

Lockdown, even though challenging at times, made me realize to focus on myself. Everyday life makes you forget yourself. With lockdown, I was able to get the missing “me time” and started doing my art again and was really thank full for that.

In February, in Minnesota, when the actual temperatures are -15 to -20 degrees and it feels like temperatures are -35 to -45 degrees below zero and it is day 12 or 13 of this weather pattern, I am grateful for a short commute that only involves walking upstairs to the back bedroom office. Lockdown is more palatable when the alternative is being “out in the world” in such challenging conditions.

Working from home has allowed me to spend more time with my pet, who has been an excellent support system for me and has increased my work-life balance tremendously. My pet comforts me every day through stressful situations and has been great company since she is my only roommate.

Something positive I have taken away from this past year:  I have loved walking with my family and friends; the conversations we have enjoyed together have been great and much needed.

I have many positive takeaways from this past year of lockdown, primarily increased personal well-being. The ability to work full time from home has allowed me to remain balanced in all areas of my life for the first time. I feel less stressed overall as I have more time in the day to be productive at work, home and with my family. Lockdown has given me more time each day for self-reflection to make me a better person so that I can do my best in all aspects of life. I enjoy work and family life but commuting to and from an office combined with ensuring my kids are involved in diverse activities and completing homework did not allow for much quality time with my family let alone myself. Working remotely has enabled me to practice daily gratitude, additional time for exercise, time with my young kids, ability to continue to learn more and grow with my husband as we raise our family. Helping my kids with virtual school has allowed me the opportunity to get increased insight into my kids’ education and clear visibility into which areas they are thriving or needing assistance. This past year’s lockdown has allowed me to completely reset my mentality so that I can be a better person – wife, mother, friend, colleague and leader, reset, take control of my life and not let my life control me.

My biggest takeaway was making wellness an integral part of each day, whether regularly exercising, eating healthy, delicious, home-cooked food or just taking time to breathe deeply and appreciating the natural beauty of Andalucia!

One of the good things that came out of the lockdown was a greater appreciation for friends and family. Instead of taking their presence for granted, I now appreciate how much having them with me means. I look forward to the day when we can be together again.

The horrors of the pandemic have been plentiful and well documented, both the direct and indirect impact.  Fortunately, there were tangible benefits that I experienced in all the chaos. While my work schedule remained quite busy, I appreciated the more relaxed dress code of working from home and the elimination of drive time from meeting to meeting. Similarly, I was grateful to witness my teammates, colleagues, and networking acquaintances in a more authentic setting.  The past veneer of polish and perfection gave way to more genuine exposure to folks in their real lives with their children and pets frequently becoming visitors during business meetings.  While some might have found it to be distracting, I appreciated the chance to see folks as they REALLY are.

Perhaps, the biggest pleasure, even joy, that came from working from home was that I was able to have meaningful, although brief interactions with my family.  In the past, keeping a busy work schedule meant that it was not unusual for me to barely see my wife and kids during the work week, as they too had their own busy schedules.  Particularly, for my kids, the evenings were for visiting with their friends or playing video games, so it would be just before bed that I might encounter a short conservation and a glimpse of how they were doing.  With the lockdown, I was able to have moments throughout the day that I could engage in conversation with my wife and kids that was real, fun and informative.  For that, I am grateful.

I got to spend the time with my best friend. Nothing can take that away from me.

I am not going to lie, lockdown changed the shape of my world. In 1991 I chose to leave England and move to the US but in the last year the distance back to my family became a barrier. However, there has been a different level of connection established as we moved to find creative ways to engage with each other virtually. 

My birthday fell on May 1st and the UK and Spain were in their first strict lockdowns and here in Indiana Governor Holcomb was about to announce how easing would start in Indiana. The day was sunny across all 3 locations and we had an extended ongoing family zoom birthday party starting at 5PM BST. In truth this was a day of laughter, distantly shared cheese and wine, silly hats and sunglasses and my first birthday celebration ever with my niece and nephew and the first with my Dad and my Aunt in over 30 years! To the friends who popped in on the celebrations I send my gratitude for your bravery in hanging out with the gang. 

Finally, an ongoing source of positivity has been watching the birthday video of my Dad, brother, my sister-in-law and my niece “singing” Happy Birthday complete with inflatable musical instruments, hats and glasses – and social distancing – priceless and I owe SIL a very big thanks for this and so much more.