I have to say that I consider myself very lucky that no one in my immediate circle has become sick during the course of this terrible pandemic.
So, while it has been challenging at certain times, I’ve decided to take these six months to count my blessings and improve my life in as many ways as I could.
I’ve been working hard, reading a lot, and I take a 4-mile walk every day around my neighborhood for exercise, which has been really nice. And those 4-mile walks in the July and August heat in North Carolina have been a real doozy. But I love it now that I do it every day!
And I’ve been cooking a lot too, which is always a plus for anyone, I think.
What good has come out of the pandemic for you?
Let’s see what folks on AskReddit had to say.
1. A happy ending.
“Because of the pandemic my dad went to his doctor for something minor in hopes of avoiding the ER if it got worse.
That minor thing ended up being something major that only get diagnosed 25% of the time before it becomes fatal. He had surgery to fix it the end of May.
Because of the pandemic my work had switched to online. Because I was online I was able to go spend 2 weeks with my dad while he recovered from surgery and only had to take 1 day off work.”
2. All good stuff.
“Lots of time for myself and my family, reduced pollution levels.
Lucky enough to still have a job but not too much to spend on like food and clothes and entertainment so savings have gone up too.”
3. Time well spent.
“Spending more time with my girlfriend, listening to her stories about being a nurse during the pandemic.
I’ve been able to focus on myself and work towards my degree again.”
4. On the move.
“I’ve been working from home and now the company is planning to go almost fully remote in the future. I’m able to get a full night’s sleep and now I’m eating healthier.
I’m also able to move out of San Francisco now to a huge amazing house out of the city (with my roommates/coworkers).”
5. Nice work!
“A new job.
I was so disgusted by how my former company handled the pandemic that I decided to try and go for a manager position at my second job.
I got it and now make more money and have less stress.”
6. Real friends.
“My confidence has went up a lot and I realized who my true friends were.
I’m glad I’ve gone through this.”
7. Keep it up!
“I quit smoking.
I’ve tried and failed many times in the past, and usually failure was because I missed the social aspect of it. No social interactions eliminated that problem.
I’m at 144 days and counting.”
8. Wow!
“Got hooked on studying Philosophy, better mental health for the first time in a few years and lost 33 pounds.”
9. Generosity.
“I’m a delivery driver for a pizza company and people became a lot more generous in my area.
Also there was an increase in deliveries.
So, this pandemic was a blessing for me! Sorry if it isn’t for you, it will get better.”
10. Lucky.
“My boyfriend (long distance) was sent home from his university, so he came to live with me in March. He wasn’t supposed to move in before June, but we got a chance to have a nice “test-run” of living together full-time, and I can happily say that we moved him in officially in June 🙂
I got fired from my job in March, so with him being sent home, and me being fired, we got to spend a lot of time together.
Now, I have a new job which is MUCH better, and he is finishing his education in December.
None of us got Covid-19, but we’ve also been careful.
That was the good part of the pandemic.
The bad part was missing our families, and some stand-up comedy shows postponed.
We’ve been very lucky.”
11. Quality time.
“Got a bunch of projects done around the house.
Grew an awesome garden. Started clean eating and swimming more, lost over 10 pounds so far.
Spent lots of quality time with my kids.”
12. Enjoying nature.
“I have actually spent more time out in nature during the daylight hours then I have since I graduated from school and started working.
Usually my days are spent in an office, and I only get home at around 6 pm, by which I have make dinner, etc. and then next thing you know, the sun has set. Now I can shift my time around a little to accomodate a walk during the day.”
13. All kinds of good stuff.
“I’ve finally started therapy again.
I turned the spare room into my library.
Started smoking weed again after almost 30 years (it’s way different at 45 than it was at 17).
Started playing Path of Exile.
For a while there I had three day weekends, and reduced in-office hours, while taking no pay cut. That was nice.
It’s amazing how much money you save when one person doesn’t have to drive 45 minutes each way to work (temp shut down), the curling club is shut, and the restaurants are closed.
We were able to pull the trigger on several purchases we wouldn’t have considered otherwise.”
14. Do the stuff you like.
“I realized I’d been so busy doing things I didn’t really like that I’d never started doing things I really did like.
Just a few:
-I take drives with my teenage daughter every day and talk and listen to music. We’ve bonded over punk and grunge music, and she’s learned to play the guitar and sing since.
-I applied to go back to college to become a nurse. I’m 49, and this is kinda terrifying, but I’m glad I did it. I also aced my first class in the summer, so I’m off to a good start.
-I went vegetarian, something I tried years ago but abandoned due to the hassle of meal planning. I feel so much better.
-I started running again, because it’s always made me proud when I can do a 5k distance without stopping. It’s been almost 5 years since I did that, but I’m running at least a mile every other day now and walk/running the rest.
It took a pandemic for me to restart my life. But I did it. I hope everyone reading this can try to do that with theirs, at least a little bit.”
15. Finances.
“We have fared well financially.
We live in a low cost of living area and are both still employed. My wife worked form home and my employer cut me down to 20 hours a week for a few months but continued to pay my full salary.
We received the full stimulus checks for me spouse and two kids. $2,400
My work (kitchen and bath remodeling) is doing well so my commissions are up. $7,000
We own a rental and got a grant for the business. $1,000
My wife commutes an 75 miles each way for work and has not been doing that.
We are actually up over $3,400 from stimulus money and more than $10,000 if you count the higher commissions.
Before you start throwing rotten tomatoes at me let me say we know we are very fortunate and have been doing everything we can to spread this out. One of our tenants is having trouble paying rent because her work has slowed way down, we have been very understanding with her.
We have continued to pay people as if there were no shut down. For example everyone who cuts our hair we continued to pay them when salons were closed. We still paid the woman who cleaned our house even though we asked her to stop due to covid. Etc.
We have had our trials (back to school is kicking our *ss) but overall we are very lucky.”
How about you?
What good has come out of the pandemic for your life?
Talk to us in the comments and let us know!
