Who would have thought that 2020 and 2021 would be like this?

I know that I’d never thought I’d see a pandemic completely turn the world upside down during my lifetime.

Well, at least we can say that many of us have looked inside ourselves to really figure out what we want out of life and what’s important to us.

And that’s one positive thing to come out of a very terrible situation.

Here’s what folks on AskReddit had to say about what they’ve learned during this pandemic.

1. It’s true.

“That people who are poorly paid are the ones who kept the country going.

While the ones who are highly paid self isolated at home, enjoying the extra time with their families and not putting their lives at risk.”

2. In decline?

“Despite how movies socialized me as a kid, America will not save the world should a global crisis arrive.

It’s honestly been quite a letdown to realize this. But since 9/11, I think we’ve been on a decline.”

3. You’re not gonna do it.

“I have learned that even with endless time to do everything on my to-do list, I still am able to avoid knocking that list out.

So in fact “if I only had more time” wasn’t true at all.”

4. A hard time.

“Although anecdotal, I think a lot of people are realizing how devoid their life is of actual satisfaction/fulfillment.

This is mainly for the ones that claim to be extroverted, love to go out, party, going to bars, etc. Basically activities that the pandemic effectively halted.

Several of my friends, co-workers, and acquaintances did those activities to just escape from actual problems in their lives and it’s pretty sad to see that they’re crumbling under the stay at home orders and not being able to escape their problems.

Even when the stay at home orders became lax in the US, a lot of the people I know haven’t recovered and haven’t been the same.”

5. Science is REAL.

“Witnessing real science play out in real time and most people cannot grasp that concept and take all information as false or a hoax or that they are being lied to.”

6. Not much different.

“That I’m a hermit.

Quarantine and social distancing was my regular life before Covid.

This has been an okay time.”

7. What do we care about?

“We truly care about money more than people.

We have shown where our priorities truly lie, and I want no part of perpetuating this death cult. Moreover, this was already happening, it just happened to people we could conveniently ignore.

After seeing the horror that our own culture has wrought, if you’re seeking to return to a comfortable existence where the problems go back to being something that only affects certain people that we can easily ignore, then you’re kind of a f*cking monster.

This. Sh*t. Is. Broken. I’m f*cking done pretending it’s not.”

8. The view from Russia.

“That state of country is worse than I thought. I knew it was bad, but I thought that it will get better. That I don’t want to live here and I don’t want to start family here. I’m afraid and I’m angry all the time. I don’t know what to do. Government doesn’t care, people are ignorant and dumb.

I’m from Russia, by the way and today my country also registered vaccine for the virus, that was barely tested on 76 people, its effectiveness is not proven and it has 144 side effects at the moment. They going to start vaccination of teachers and doctors in October.”

9. A nice story.

“That I absolutely married the right woman.

Without question. I mean, I already knew. I’ve known since the day we met, actually.

But if I needed any more proof, we’ve been sheltering-in-place since March 2020. Any other person I would have probably m**dered by now.

We’re a bit older (54 & 64), and I have some other comorbidities. I’m COVID-bait. She’s been awesome though all this and we cohabitate REALLY well.”

10. That’s a good thing!

“I am exceptionally good at entertaining myself. In the first few months of quarantine we had near-constant video chats with friends and family.

My sisters especially seemed to enjoy starting random calls at almost any time. And more often than not my I would be in the middle of doing something.

They were always super bored all the time but I was usually in Discord with friends or working on something around the house or running or whatever.

The only time I’ve been bored was yesterday when there was a big gap between hockey games.”

11. Revealed.

“Michelle Obama once said that “being president doesn’t change who you are; it reveals who you are.”

I realized that the same is true of this pandemic. It hasn’t changed anyone; it has revealed people: politicians, celebrities, ordinary folk. We all had the same opportunity to pivot away from ourselves and do something to help each other.

Many people did so, making masks, making “treat bags”, donating time and money, checking on neighbors, etc.

But a lot of people did not. They revealed who they were: selfish, close minded, and polarized.

You can’t hide who you are during times of crisis. Unfortunately, once the crisis ends, you can’t go back to who you were pretending to be; People have seen how you responded, and aren’t likely to forget.”

12. A scam.

“The 9-5, M-F work schedule is a scam.

I took a nap from 3-5 today. I made iced tea. I got lunch with my brother. I worked all morning and I’m gonna finish up between now and 1am when I feel most productive.

There’s no way I’m going back to sit in a double wide at an equipment yard with airplanes going over.”

13. I don’t care.

“That I don’t care about my job. Been on furlough for months and not missed anything about it one bit.

Once I thought I’d have a career, but it’s just something to pay the bills now and I’m seriously thinking about a switch in the near future to something completely different.”

14. Not good for you.

“People are so much Happier when they don’t have to waste 2-4 hours stuck in traffic.

It’s amazing how much more productive happy people are!!”

15. The true nature of people.

“It brought out the true nature of people. For way too long people were allowed to put on whatever show they wanted, and were able to convince everyone of who they wanted others to believe they were.

This situation has brought a lot of sunlight out, and the true nature of people has been shown. There have been a lot of people that we never thought in a million years would be so unkind, selfish, and uncouth, but they couldn’t hold that lie anymore.”

16. Sad.

“That all those movies where Americans band together in order to stop a worldwide threat are bullsh*t.

In reality, we are too busy fighting each other, being stupid, too worried about our own selfish “rights” to even put up a chance.”

17. Yikes.

“People are really dumb.

This x 1000… I work in healthcare and I’m used to some, shall we say poor decision making… but the sheer amount of ignorance, arrogance-and lack of empathy is truly astounding and exhausting.”

18. A big fan.

“I LOVE working virtually. I did not realize how exhausting it is to interact with humans, face to face, all day. I just said all my exhaustion was fatigue from my two chronic illnesses. It is and it isn’t.

Without face to face, I see, on average two more clients a day because I have the energy. I stay awake beyond 7pm at night. And my body doesn’t ache head to toe.

For the record, I’m a therapist so I assumed tired was just how my career is going to be. We hot damn, I am mentally so much sharper and clients are hitting goals all over the place. I don’t even like thinking about how much harder work was before pandemic. I feel like such a better therapist!”

19. Fakin’ it.

“That I was spending a lot of my time faking it around people that I really did not enjoy being around.”

20. Very true.

“How much time is wasted by commuting.

Working from home, the “8 hours work, 8 hours sleep, 8 hours play” thing actually works.”

21. Not the case.

“I have a horrible work ethic.

I thought this will be great, no commute! Leisurely making lunch at home! Change over a load of laundry in between meetings!

Meetings that I take in my pajamas! What’s not to love!? Oh. God. It was a dumpster fire of zero work ethic, weeping and gnashing of teeth.

And all around an absolutely terrible decision. And that was pre-pandemic. I was ultimately fired from that job. They made the correct decision.

Despite what I thought about myself I’m absolutely one of those people that needs the human interaction and the enforced communal work ethic of an office environment. Which I loathe everything about that. But clearly without it I just turn into a log of uselessness.”

22. Who knew?!?!

“My wife and I get along very well.

We are now living AND working together which means we hardly ever have an hour apart. Been doing this since March and not even an argument.

We have witnessed many other relationships fall but ours is stronger than ever 15 years later.”

23. BFF.

“This one’s more personal, but that I never want to lose my best friend. They were the ONLY person I really missed during stay at home orders (like where I actually felt really sad not being able to see them).

During this pandemic we’ve probably sent each other hundreds of texts (or more), wrote letters and sent them via snail mail, and had many phone calls lasting for hours.

We’ve only seen each other a few times in person since March, and seeing him has only made me miss him more.”

24. It’s important.

“Parents are right , you need to save funds for a rainy day.

A lot of ordinary people who went into this with savings and a general understanding of investing are coming out of it a whole lot richer.”

25. Interesting.

“Celebrities with all their money and fame are useless during times of distress.

Also we’re not paying our health workers anywhere near what we should really be paying them.”

26. That’s not good.

“That most of my friends, who I thought were educated, smart, and loving people, aren’t.

They’re gullible, selfish, and heartless.

When this all settles down, my inner circle is going to look much different.”

27. All bad news.

“How much critical infrastructure in the United States has declined. After decades of cutting budgets and prioritizing profits we have a system that can not handle a pandemic on any level.

Hospitals are going bankrupt, the CDC is underfunded and ignored, schools are forced to reopen without proper precautions, Universities are on the brink of bankruptcy, the federal government can’t agree with the state government that can’t agree with the local government.

It’s like we’ve been running on this delusion of greatness while everything crumbled around us.”

28. Rural life.

“I grew up in a very rural area and got fed the “when stuff hits the fan, we county folk stand up for each other” line my whole life.

After seeing my 100th “you can’t make me wear a mask even if it does protect people” post on Facebook I’m more than a little skeptical.”

29. Take care of yourself!

“Aside from the political nonsense of people, for myself I have realized that self care is such a huge thing and I am actively putting effort in now to look after my well being mentally and physically.”

30. Don’t take it for granted.

“I really missed out on a lot before the pandemic.

Took too much for granted. I didn’t visit grandma frequently enough. I complained about family outings. Hated going out in general. Now we can’t. I mean, yeah sure we can go eat in a restaurant again but not with out risking our health.

I opted out of living and now life is on pause for an unknown length of time. Shoulda, woulda, coulda.”

31. Not much of a social life.

“How little of a social life I have.

No romantic relationship, only couple friends that asked how I was. Only my family to keep me company. Then again I kinda already knew that, they never showed up when I invited them to anything in the past either.

But now I have some online friends I will probably never meet irl. Better that nothing though.”

Have you learned anything interesting or insightful during this health crisis?

If so, please talk to us in the comments.

We can’t wait to hear from you!