Yes, you did read that title correctly. Why focus solely on the negatives, when there have also been positives? That’s not to say this entire experience for me has been all smiles and joy, but Covid did bring some good in my life despite all the bad.
Although no one wanted this pandemic, all of us were still forced to endure the difficulties and changes that it has brought upon everyone. Each person has had their own varying difficulties and stress to deal with, and all of us have had to change our daily routines in some way, shape, or form. Despite the reluctance to do so.
I’ve had the opportunity to experience this pandemic as a full-time student, with and without a part-time job, as a full-time employee working from home, and as someone who was neither a student nor an employee, someone without any pressing obligations. Here are some of the different areas that I’ve come across and adapted to from a pre-pandemic situation.
You may be thinking, “your schedule must have gotten worse with Covid”, but it was actually the opposite. As someone who commutes both by car and train to get to school, it usually took me 45-60 minutes to get from my house to class (outside of peak traffic hours). Of course, since there are always inconveniences when you least have time for them, I always ensured that I had 90 minutes in order to get to class on time. With online school, and everything now being done on my laptop, in the comfort of my room, all my commute time became extra time I had in my day for whatever activity I decided needed it.
I’ve never had any strict rule for what this time newfound time was for, however, it did give me extra flexibility in my schedule and has given me more time to allocate for homework, sleep, exercise, at-home leisure activities, etc. I found myself having more energy both as a student and when I was working. Although I was often awake for longer periods of time, since there was now barely any travel time involved during my week, I didn’t feel it as much and didn’t struggle to stay awake.
By this point I’m sure most of us have been in countless virtual meetings for various reasons. I’ve had interviews, meetings for work, class, group work for school, etc. One of the main differences I have appreciated is how easy it is to attend online meetings. All you have to do is click the invitation and join. A digital calendar such as the one provided through Microsoft Outlook also allows you to take note of who is available when conducting meetings and makes for simpler planning because you don’t need to individually ask each member.
Workflow and communication were also very easy and convenient through an application like Microsoft Teams where you can simply message your coworkers to ask if they are free and initiate a call when they are. All while continuing whatever work you may be doing because you don’t even need to get up to do it.
Doing group work for school online has been easier to coordinate since we can all easily communicate through group chats and set up video or audio calls to plan and execute our projects. One particular case where I found a situation much easier was for a group presentation we had to complete. In a normal setting we would meet and practice this presentation, and then do it in person. In our current Covid environment, we simply recorded all of our sections on a shared PowerPoint, and just like that we had a video, and our presentation was finished. With recordings, there is unlimited room for error because you can just do another take if it’s bad.
One of the main things that noticed during the pandemic is how I cut back on spending in many areas, food being one of the main categories. I’m sure all of us have had that moment where we don’t quite feel like packing ourselves a lunch, so we just buy one during our break instead. Otherwise, we would have to plan and prepare lunch the night before, create meal preps for the week, etc. Since I’m at home, I had easy access to a kitchen, so instead of needing to plan out my meals, I just go to the kitchen to cook something when I have a break.
Other spending areas that have been impacted are insurance and gas due to less driving, textbooks since they are almost all digital and can be rented, and impulse purchases because I’m not going to the store as often. This pandemic has shown me how I would often make purchases that I could have avoided, and how much money I could be saving from a home position in the future.
Life is filled with many unexpected and inconveniencing challenges that we simply have no control over. As people, our choice is to take a positive or a negative outlook on the situation and then choose to do what we can to enjoy some parts of it or sulk about it happening.
Have you had some positive Covid experiences? Would you like to work at home in your current/future job? Take some time to reflect on the good impacts this pandemic may have had on your life, and whether or not a virtual environment would be better for you. And as always remember to face any challenges you may encounter with as much positivity as possible!
Kevin Kurz, July 15 2021
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