25 Little Things This Pandemic Has Taught Me

I’ve learned so many things during this pandemic – about myself, about my family, about others, about life, about my community. Here are just a few of the little things I’ve learned. (Although, I bet I could list hundreds more.)

 

Life changed dramatically for us in March 2020. The novel coronavirus arrived in the United States, and shortly thereafter, it made an appearance in my home state.

Since that time, I have learned so many small things. I’m sure you have, too.

Here are 25 little things this pandemic has taught me.

 

Little Pandemic Life Lessons

 

1.  My breath is NOT as fresh as I thought it was.

I’ve learned to pay better attention to my dental hygiene since I’ve started wearing face masks to the grocery store. My breath is not as fresh as I thought it was.

 

2.  Always keep your home library stocked with a few good books.

When your library closes for several weeks, you return to your own book shelves for reading materials. I was grateful to have several favorite reads on hand and even a couple books that I hadn’t gotten around to reading yet. I was also grateful to have a pretty decent inventory for my bookworm children to select from.

 

3.  My hair is pretty cute when I have time to let it air dry.

In my pre-pandemic life, I felt like I never had time to allow my hair to air dry. With school runs and errands and volunteer work, I always felt the need to do a quick blow dry before I ran out the door each morning. As it turns out, my hair is cute and wavy when allowed to dry on its own.

 

4.  I’m a decent barber.

With hair salons shut down for a couple of months, I resorted to cutting my husband’s hair and my sons’ hair myself. (Thank goodness for YouTube tutorials!) My husband says I may have missed my calling as a barber.  Even though the hair salons have since re-opened, we are continuing with our home haircuts for now.

 

5.  I wish I was better with eyeliner.

Eyeliner is one makeup tool that I never quite got the hang of. But now that most of my face is covered with a mask when I leave home, I really wish I was better at applying eye makeup – particularly eyeliner.

 

6.  People can make anything political.

So many issues have arisen during this pandemic that I wouldn’t have considered political – things that I feel fall under basic human kindness – but, somehow, these issues have been politicized. Viciously politicized. It hurts my heart to see people be so mean to one another. I miss the early days of the pandemic when people were focused more on spreading messages of hope and encouragement.

 

7.  Self care can mean taking breaks from social media.

At times, it feels like social media is a cesspool of hatred and unkind memes. For my own self care, I have to take frequent breaks from most forms of social media. I think the same would go for TV… but I rarely watch real TV anymore anyways.

 

8.  My kids are awesome.

I mean, I already knew that my kids are awesome. But I have come to appreciate them even more during this pandemic. They are kind and loving and appreciative. They get along well with each other and are good sports about doing things together as a family.

 

9.  My husband is my rock.

Again, I already knew how great my husband is. He is my favorite person in the whole world, and this pandemic further solidified that. He has a quiet calm about him that helps me find peace when I need it most. Not to mention, he’s easy on the eyes, a true partner in life, and a great dad.

 

10.  I don’t enjoy Zoom meetings.

Ugh! I don’t enjoy Zoom meetings and neither does my husband and children. I have mentioned before that we are a family of introverts. I think, as introverts, it’s even more difficult for us to find opportunities to jump into a conversation when socializing via Zoom. Although, we have found that fun virtual backgrounds can be great conversation starters.

 

11.  Our Wi-Fi can handle at least three Zoom meetings at once.

I think it’s safe to say that we truly tested our Wi-Fi’s bandwidth this year. My three children finished their school year from home and my husband worked from home for several weeks. It was not uncommon to have two or more Zoom meetings happening at the same time, and our Wi-Fi handled it like a champ.

 

12.  Small heartfelt gifts are the best gifts.

Birthday season hit our family in the middle of the pandemic. As we couldn’t rush out to a store to purchase gifts and cards, we got resourceful with what we had at home already. We baked cookies as presents, we wrote handwritten notes instead of store bought cards, and we planned special days at home to celebrate special occasions like Mother’s Day. Guess what? These gifts were more meaningful anyways. They showed thought and effort, and they made the recipients feel extra special.

 

13.  Always keep extra toilet paper (and sanitizing wipes) on hand.

As our nation shut down for the pandemic, stores immediately ran out of a lot of things including toilet paper and sanitizing wipes. Fortunately, I had extra toilet paper at our home already. Unfortunately, I did not have extra sanitizing wipes. Our store still rarely has sanitizing wipes in stock so we are still rationing ours, and our supply is uncomfortably low at the moment.

 

14.  Not all hand sanitizers are created equal.

During the pandemic, I have been forced to purchase a few different types of off-brand hand sanitizer. And, let me tell you, not all hand sanitizers are created equal. Some are downright stinky!

 

15.  Sewing machines are not intuitive to use.

At the start of the pandemic, I pulled out my sewing machine. I was determined to figure out how to use it. (I’ve only used a sewing machine once before in my life.) As it turns out, sewing machines are not intuitive to use. Not for me anyways. I have resorted to sewing all of our cloth face masks by hand.

 

16.  It takes 2-3 hours to hand sew a cloth face mask.

Depending on the style, it takes me 2-4 hours to sew a cloth face mask by hand. My husband and I watch 1-2 hours of Netflix most evenings, and I have been sewing face masks while we watch reruns of The Office and other shows. Thus, I am able to finish one mask about every three days.

 

17.  I can be quite resourceful.

When things first started to shut down, I quickly learned how resourceful I could be. I didn’t have any fabric for face masks so I found cotton pillowcases to cut up. Fortunately, my mom found some elastic at her home for me to use because my newly resourceful self was about to start disassembling some of my old underwear for its elastic. (Shhh! Don’t tell my kids about that!) I rationed certain supplies when they ran low; I’m still rationing sanitizing wipes. I learned how to prioritize and multi-task in order to simultaneously help both of my young children through their schoolwork. I repurposed old Easter cards into funny birthday greetings. With every new challenge, I adjusted and found a way to make things work.

 

18.  I learned how to properly sanitize phones.

Early on in the pandemic, I had a friend share on Facebook how to properly sanitize your phone*. She is an I.T. professional that I trust. Her instructions? With clean hands, set out a clean paper towel. Wipe down your phone completely with a sanitizing wipe. Set phone down on clean paper towel to dry. Go wash your hands. Before then, I was always scared to use anything wet on my phone.

*These are the procedures I follow to sanitize my family’s phones. I am not an expert in any way, and this should not be construed as expert advice.

 

19.  Eye twitches are annoying.

So, apparently, when I reach extreme stress levels, I develop an eye twitch. This was a completely new experience for me. It is very annoying to feel a muscle spasm unintentionally. My eye twitch started the first day that my husband returned to work in the office. It lessened a little as the week went on and went away completely over the weekend…only to return on Monday morning when he had to go back to the office again. Fortunately, this annoying manifestation of my stress levels went away completely after two weeks.

 

20.  Insomnia is also annoying.

Unlike the eye twitch, insomnia has been a frequent problem throughout the entire pandemic thus far. I lie awake in bed for hours a few nights a week. When I’m most tired, I feel sluggish and can be a bit emotional by the end of the day. Fortunately, I seem to catch up on ZZZs on the weekends.

 

21.  This pandemic is aging me.

Lately, I notice more gray hairs when I look in the mirror each week. I am pretty certain that this pandemic has aged me. For now, I have no plans to color my hair. Instead, I’m going to sport my gray streak of hair with pride.

 

22.  Books are great for stress relief and bonding.

Just like in other times of stress throughout my life, I have turned to books. Reading has always been an important part of my self care routine. Not only does reading allow me to escape the worries in my head for a while, but it has proven itself to be great for bonding. During the pandemic, my brothers and I have bonded over a couple favorite childhood reads – The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Additionally, I have bonded with friends over some favorite classic novels – Persuasion, Jane Eyre and other reads. It’s been nice to share these reading experiences with others.

 

23.  Evening walks are my favorite.

Every evening (weather-permitting), my husband and I go for a walk together. It is my favorite moment of the day. We can talk openly without little ears overhearing us, we get some exercise, and we just connect. I can actually feel my stress levels diminish with each step we take and every laugh we share.

 

24.  Teachers are awesome people.

My children’s school teachers have really gone above and beyond during this time of turmoil and uncertainty. A couple teachers had dropped off goodie bags for the kids, many have scheduled Zoom meetings to check in with kids, they have sent postcards and letters to my children, and they have kept a positive attitude through everything. I can’t say enough good things about these wonderful and caring educational professionals.

 

25.  I feel safest when surrounded by my husband and children.

The times that I feel most at ease are when my husband and children are at home with me. It feels as though we are in a safe little bubble away from the dangers of the surrounding world. When my husband leaves for work in the morning, our bubble feels slightly unstable. As the new school year approaches, I know our bubble may become more fragile. But, for now, I am going to continue to bask in its comfort.

 

What little things has this pandemic taught you?

 

YOU MAY ALSO ENJOY READING:

• Messages of Hope Around the World
• Zoom Inspiration From America’s Best Hiking Trails