What I Don’t Miss
There is so much conversation about all the things people miss during quarantine, and how if you really think about what you miss you will realise two things. First is that you probably don’t miss very much, unless you’re living in a very difficult situation. And second, that what you miss says quite a lot about you. If you find yourself missing certain people, experiences or products; think more about why you miss this so much and why this specific thing stands out in your mind. I feel like the things people miss are pretty similar, the most common being family, friends, the ability to go to a bar and grab a drink with someone, a sense of freedom and more control over what we do. However, what about all the things that we don’t miss?
- People being too busy. In the past however many months, I only think I’ve heard two people say that they are too busy to do something. Normally, you might find messages go unanswered for three days, always with the response that ‘I’ve just been so busy’.
- Expectations to be busy. In normal times, we are expected to spend our days being busy working, meeting people and just being productive. Right now, busy has lost that glorification and I appreciate that.
- Weekend plans. I don’t miss the fact that every Friday I used to feel this unsaid pressure to have a plan, to be doing something exciting and be celebrating the end of the week.
- Eating out. It’s amazing how many delicious thing we’re able to make at home with a few good recipes and some strategically sourced ingredients. I surprisingly haven’t thought about a single restaurant meal this entire quarantine, maybe because I’ve drowned myself in carbs and sugar daily.
- Hangovers. Minus the two killers ones I’ve had in quarantine thanks to overenthusiastic Zoom calls.
- Complaining. Now that we don’t have that much going on, there isn’t much to complain about anymore. We’ve all gotten the quarantine complaining out of our systems by now (I hope) and are forcing ourselves to think more positively, which is something I’ve definitely felt.
- Rush. I don’t think I could say it better than this fantastic article by Alan Lightman.
- Spreading ourselves too thin. This quarantine has really given me the chance to figure out what I enjoy, what I need to spend time on and who I want to talk to. With more limited options, we’re now able to find the things that matter most.
I’m definitely not downplaying what a difficult time this is, and am aware of the economic and personal destruction this time has caused. However I’m interested to try to find more ways to find how quarantine is helping us, and how we can sustain those lessons for when things finally go back to normal.
