Hello!
I have now been fully vaccinated for a full month and it flew by! Leading up to it, I definitely wondered how easy it would be to go back to normal. I fully assumed it would be a difficult transition, but surprisingly, some of those pre-pandemic behaviors like eating in public and standing at a reasonable distance from others came back rather quickly.
But, of course, that’s not what we’re talking about today. No, no. We’re talking about the things that haven’t come back so easily. Because despite the ease at which I have relearned how to dine in public and hang out with friends, other things have NOT followed the old adage of “it’s like riding a bike”. So let’s just cut right to it, then.
Things I forgot how to do:
Waking up early
Full disclosure, it’s not like I ever REALLY knew how to do this, but me, myself and I had a system down. We knew just how long we had before we’d be running late and we made it work.
During the pandemic, the system itself never really changed. But the time did. No longer did we need to leave the house by 8, and make breakfast first, and prep lunch and shower and let the dogs out...we just needed to get up, put some pants on, make some coffee and get settled.
In pandemic times, 37 minutes was an ABUNDANCE of time in the morning, while in pre-pandemic times, it was more like not really enough time to be a functional person, but we’re gonna have to make do.
So as you can imagine, it suddenly became very difficult to wake up at the exact same time, but fit in 17 more things.
I did try out the tried & true method my mom forced us on when we were kids in school - slowly setting our alarms 10 mins earlier for the last week of summer so that we would be prepared.
But, surprisingly (just kidding, it’s not) without a mom to enforce the early wake up times, they didn’t hold as much weight.
The good news is that I’ve gotten better at prepping some of these things in the morning. The bad news is that I haven’t gotten less sleepy, but let’s be honest, no one was expecting that anyway.
Meal prepping for the week
Cooking used to be a hobby for me. It was like a relaxing time to think, get things done, feel prepared, etc. all while making something that was usually pretty delicious. But that sort of disappeared when eating out wasn’t a thing anymore.
It went from being a pleasant, sometimes but not all the time thing, to an unpleasant all the time thing. You know that feeling when you have a hobby or something you do for fun, and then all of a sudden you start doing it for work or someone else becomes involved or it gets too serious and it’s not fun anymore? It was like that, but then also being really hungry because you have no food.
So I went from being generally on top of it to kind of being like, will we eat today or will we scavenge or will we wither away?
As you can imagine, my newfound lax attitude about sustenance hasn’t been great now that I’m back in the office. For starters, not having food prepared and not being a morning person are a terrible combination. Plus, now that I have a (very reasonable 10 minute) commute, it somehow feels like cooking dinner takes WAY longer after work than it used to.
Alas, I found a good solution. Ben chose (completely on his own and with no coercion) to start cooking more. How convenient, right?
Shaving my legs.
Just kidding, I forgot how to do that in, like, 2016!
Holding my alcohol
This one is the weirdest because despite not having a daily impact, it has the most noticeable impact in those select moments. I didn’t drink that much during the pandemic. In fact, I don’t think I really drank that much before the pandemic. So I really didn’t drink that much during the pandemic. And now, I can have like 3.5 sips of wine and be tipsy.
If you think I am exaggerating, invite me over for a wine night and see for yourself.
If food is involved, 3.5 becomes 7.5. If it’s a breakfast cocktail, 3.5 becomes 2. Essentially, my base alcohol tolerance is 3.5 sips with adjustments for any scenario under the sun.
The moral of the story is that I now go by 3 sips Lisa and I am a cheap date.
Being a generally sociable person
As with #1 (waking up early), this is not really wired into my body at all. I generally hate small talk, I get extremely sweaty meeting new people and I don’t have the tact (aka sugar coating nature) that are apparently required for fragile relationships.
But as with all things, I forged a way back in those pre-pandemic days when I had to. I had a memorized list of easy questions to ask a stranger, I wore extra deodorant and I only cultivated relationships with those that could handle my blunt honesty.
And then, I went into hiding for a year and forgot how to be a person. Note: I did not say I forgot how to be a social person, or a pleasant person, I literally forgot how to be A PERSON.
In these days of relearning how to socialize, here are some things I think a lot:
What do I do with my face?
What do I do with my limbs?
What do I do with my face when I’m thinking?
What do I do with my face when you say something dumb?
What do I do with my arms when I accidentally say something dumb?
Should I wave every time someone leaves like I did on video calls?
Oh shit, why did I just wave?
What do I do with my hands now to make this less weird?
Oh geez, why am I sitting on my hands?
I am so sweaty, I wish I had less clothes on.
Am I wearing an appropriate number of layers to begin stripping clothes off?
Oh shit, what did that person just say? I was too busy thinking about being sweaty…
How do I end this conversation? I don’t remember how to end things!
Are they trying to end things too?
Have we been talking for 3.5 minutes than both of us want to have been talking?
Oh no, I just walked away mid sentence because I didn’t know how to end it.
And this is just an intro to the list. The real list of all the uncomfortable thoughts actually exists on a scroll because it’s way too long to properly live in a book.
Let’s hope it gets easier with time.
I think it will get easier with time. Or at least we’ll get used to the things we forgot how to do. In the meantime, I’ll be working on speeding up my reintegration by going out to frequent happy hours while Ben does the cooking and then passing out early for a good night’s sleep. And I still won’t shave my legs. I know, it sounds rough, but I’m willing to do what it takes.
Cheers,
Lisa
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