IT’S THE SMALL THINGS
Twenty weeks into quarantine, and we are back on Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine. As someone who used to thrive and live a super-fast-paced everyday life, five months of being at and working from home would have been unimaginable in the past. Yet, here we are – 140 days later – grateful more than ever for our sheer existence, safety, good health, and the courage we have mustered up to power through. If there is anything the adjustment of the past five months have required from us at the very least, it is the willingness to go back to the basics. We once lived in a technologically dominated and driven pre-pandemic world where rest was for the weary. We took for granted the ease of traveling – whether internationally, locally, or even just simply from point a to b – so much so that hopping on a plane one day, resting the next, and then getting on the plane the following day became a trend for the busiest of us. It was so much in fashion to fill our days to the brim, spread ourselves thinly, and over-exhaust because (or so I thought) busy is a blessing. We neglected the real essentials that no amount of success or wealth can parallel – the likes of quality time with family, safety, and good health. We forgot the importance of taking a break for our health – physically, mentally, and emotionally – to avoid burning out. So much so that burning a candle at both ends seemed to be considered a more aspired and awe-inspiring norm. Inasmuch as we tried to get everything done, we lost grasp of the basics, and seeing the beauty that lies in slow living. Today, at least personally, I have found that it has turned out to be much more beneficial for my overall well-being.
For one, it took a virus for me to obsess about cleanliness and hygiene, and for me to realize that my habits and routine affect those I live, surround myself, and interact with. With social distancing as the norm, selflessness now is no longer only measured by how much we are able to give monetarily and materially, nor how much time we can spare to volunteer for a cause. Rather, it is as much about looking after yourself with extra caution and vigilance as the effect of your own health creates a ripple effect on to the rest of your household and human interactions. Gone are spur-of-the-moment errands because these days, everything is planned and time outside is maximized to minimize exposure. In a way, we have been forced into organizing and prioritizing according to importance and neccessity.
In effect, the pandemic has seemingly filtered our lives, so to speak. The social distance has allowed us to pick and choose who to reach out to, who we allow into our homes, and in turn, has also shown us who cares enough and makes an effort to check in on us as well. Not only is prioritizing key these days, but so is choosing what and who to involve yourself with, and how to go about completing what may have seemed like a menial task in the past. Unconsciously, it has shown us who matters most. The likes of who we are comfortable with and inevitably trust enough to physically make an effort to see. Who we will turn a blind eye and shun whatever safety protocols we have imposed on others for. Who, and what, without second guessing, we will leave our homes for. The strategic way in which we now choose to live our everyday lives in, and the norms we have created to govern those ways have unknowingly turned us into more conscious dwellers and citizens of this earth.
I will admit that as things continued to slowly open up in the past weeks, my days have also increasingly become busier. That being said, I have made a more conscious effort to continuously choose what to devote my time to, and how to optimize my days with the most minimum movement outside possible. With the continued rise in cases, I have forced myself to be home-bound again in the next two weeks. I never thought the way around beating the traffic I always used to complain about simply lay on how I chose to adjust my lifestyle. I am relishing in this whole work from home culture and how it is now the norm to attend meetings without having to leave the confines of ones home. Now more than ever, I am realizing how much resources – time, gas, not to mention risking ones health – were spent on commuting and going from place to place. The earth needed a breather, that was apparent. But little did we know, so did we.