I find it ironic that the easing of Covid-19 restrictions in Western Australia is timed for the first week of Winter.
A time for hibernation in the plant and animal world, and craving warmth and the comforts of home for people like me.
Over the past two months I witnessed my husband stuggle to manage a team, navigate his way through new technology, and maintain contact with and coordinate the workload of the staff reporting to him from home.
I can only imagine how hard it would have been for both of us to be working at home as well as maintaining a routine for, home schooling and entertaining school-aged children. Hats off to those who have been, and are now most likely breathing a sigh of relief that our State is starting to return to the old routine.
For me the routine we created at home during Covid-19 was comfortable and comforting. No need to stress about presentation, my husband let his beard and hair grow for a few weeks, and I spent most days in active wear, starting my day with online group fitness and ending with a walk around the neighbourhood.
Along with the jigsaw we worked on together, outside of Covid-19 news, planning for and preparation of lunch and dinner was our key discussion topic, and every day I found something that needed to be worked on in the house and garden while he carried on with working life in our ‘new’ normal.
As well as exercise, most days there was time to work on my personal interests like listening to and playing music, reading, writing, knitting and baking. Mastering the guitar is still a long way off, as is finishing the first and starting on the second in a pair of socks, and don’t get me started on the fifty shades of black pieces left on the jigsaw. My time at home was more about making the most of and finding silver linings in every day than meeting deadlines and ticking boxes.
Our Covid-19 socially distant routine was perhaps similar to the life our grandparents lived, ‘the simple life’ we talk about, with less deadlines and cars on the road, more conversations with neighbours, and overall a lot less stress.
Don’t get me wrong, I am only too aware and very grateful for the privelege of being paid to be at home and maintain social distance during Covid-19. But the silver lining I found on my return to work last week was more about rediscovering my work wardrobe and embracing new conversations than reading and responding to two months worth of emails.
A walk beneath the Autumn leaves from the Port and West End of Freo during my lunch break revealed a handful of shops adapting and surviving the social distance and trade restrictions. The clusters of people outside coffee shops and in the mall was heart warming to see, but not the many closed or closing down retailers.
Winter is coming and we are on the verge of flu season too, which combined with Covid-19 is likely to add salt to the wound of the ‘new normal’ we are all only just starting to adapt to.
Yes I am looking forward to the opportunity to see and be with close friends and family in venues outside our homes from next weekend, and to supporting the struggling retail and entertainment venues.
But I am also determined to maintain some of our ‘new normal’ routine through Winter and beyond. Because it’s not until you live through something that impacts every aspect of lifes routine that, for me at least, the opportunity to reflect on, adapt to, survive and thrive life with renewed appreciation for the silver linings in every day is revealed.