More Lessons Learned in the Covid-19 Pandemic

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In late March 2020, I made a post of “Lessons Learned in Self-Isolation” during the Covid-19 pandemic. Read that blog post here.

When that first blog of lessons I have learned in self-isolation went out, the general nation was in self-isolation mode for about 2 weeks. The majority of the social distancing and staying at home unless absolutely necessary began around March 16, 2020. At the time I am writing this, it is what is normally Tax Day (April 15, 2020). So it has been a month since the world essentially fell apart and what were once social norms will now get you berated on various social media channels.

Strange thing is that it doesn’t feel like a month. It feels longer – much longer sometimes. That is something I know I didn’t anticipate because I have been in my own self-imposed self-isolation over the past 6 years for various reasons not relevant to this post. I think the difference though is that with the current situation, the option of going places or seeing people just because you can is no longer an option.

I see posts on social media sources of how people are having difficulty because their kids haven’t seen their grandparents in a month – I have no relationship to that. I haven’t seen my grandparents in 20 years – they don’t seem to care. Others post that they can’t hug someone or they haven’t had a hug in a month – I typically get 5-10 hugs total a year. Many are getting on the last nerve of the people they are stuck at home with, or the people they are stuck with are getting on their last nerve. I have a bird and one person that texts or calls me almost daily. Apart from that, I don’t have anyone reaching out to me. Since the world ended a month ago, my mother hasn’t even reached out to say hello or even check on me. Sadly though, that isn’t really a surprise and mostly expected – if anything it is disappointing that my expectations were right.

I made a new friend – the first one in 7 years – and working on being more social and everything before the world fell apart. Now I am trying to not let old habits take hold and bring me back into my comfortable world of self-isolation. Due to the situation, I am unable to talk to or text my new friend much since they are one of the many trying to keep their businesses afloat among other things of higher priority, but I reach out randomly with a text to say hello. I am looking forward to all this ending so I can see two people again – my new friend being one of them.

At the beginning of April 2020, the state of Florida out in a “stay in place” order, which allows one to leave ones home if going to/from a place of essential business. At present, that “stay in place” order will be done in early May 2020.

Everything about dealing with self-isolation revolves around old people and families/couples with or without children, or single parents. Like in what were normal times, the single people are left out….again. If we were like the untouchables class in India before all this happened, we are less than that when the world falls apart. The articles and posts tell you to reach out and check on the old people, but no reminders to reach out to the people that you know that are not elderly but live alone.

As of this post, the past three weeks of jobless claims total somewhere around 16 million people. Rents and mortgages are unpaid for the month of April – about 30% according to the articles I have seen. The jobless numbers are expected to continue to increase the longer this goes on. Some “top economists” expect the unemployment to be at 30% – 45% and others are saying that we haven’t hit the worst of it yet and that we are likely heading toward a recession that will be the worst since the Great Depression.

I think that is hilarious. I have been saying that since the 2008/09 crash because I didn’t agree with how things were handled and the smoke and mirrors illusion of a healthy economy. I said then that all it takes is the right domino to fall and the right bubbles in the market to pop in a certain sequential order, and it could put us into an economic situation that makes the Great Depression look like a carnival….but what do I know?

A number of people that I spoke with and got their viewpoint on this topic thought I was, well, insane for thinking that we could have another recession/depression that would make the Great Depression look like a carnival. Apparently my logic and reason didn’t match the strength of their kool-aid and sheeple mentality.

Despite the ridicule that I received at various levels over the past decade, I made the decision to do everything I could to best prepare for what I determined wasn’t a matter of if – but when. In the past decade of time, I haven’t gotten to where I would have hoped, but I have certainly made progress.

Part of my reason for preparing for some kind of recession/depression that made the Great Depression look like good times, was the thought that if you prepared for the absolute worst you could imagine, you would be good to go for anything less than that.

I graduated college in December 2009 – the bottom of the 2008/09 recession, then I got to deal with the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010. So my “career” path started out really well (yes, sarcasm). Now, what is said to be my prime earning years, the world has come to a standstill. Good times all around I suppose. Fortunately (so to speak) I have pretty much considered actually being able to retire a luxury and not a certainty.

When I graduated, I had student debt like many others. I didn’t look at the actual total because it was a big, scary number – somewhere in the $75k-$80k neighborhood. Since student debt can’t be released in bankruptcy proceedings and from what I understand, the debt falls to ones heirs if one dies, I focused on getting rid of that debt as fast as I possibly could. Any available funds I could scrape together – no matter how small – went toward paying off that debt. When I paid off one loan, the monthly amount I paid on that loan was transferred to a different one. In March of 2018, on St. Patrick’s Day, I made my final student loan payment – three months ahead of what I had anticipated to be my last month of payments. I found that by turning it into a game of “how fast can I get rid of this debt”, it made the pain of making those payments a bit easier and a bit fun. I am now doing the same thing as best as finances allow for my mortgage.

In the time since the world fell apart, the US government has put a “hold” on the federal student loans for April 2020 through September 2020 payments. With this, the federal student loans will be considered as paid and will not accumulate interest.

MY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SELF-ISOLATION & LIFE ON HOLD

Eliminate/Reduce Debt

• If your finances allow, try to pay off/down those loans as much as you possibly can during this time. It will increase the amount of money going toward the principal and will save you from paying interest later. Plus, it may help you as the payments you didn’t make during those months will likely be added to the back end of the loan.
• Review your budget and finances to see where any reductions or cuts can be made. Any savings you gain from those reductions or cuts, shift toward paying down debt or other bills.
• If you have the time/patience/skill – work on your cooking skills. Put together a “menu of rotation” that has at least two weeks of meal variations that use similar ingredients (so you don’t get bored with the same meals over and over again – it happens, trust me). Buy those ingredients in bulk if possible and be sure to shop around to know where you can get the best deal for those ingredients. If you can’t cook every day, make use of your crockpot or take a specific day every week and cook everything on that day and re-heat it the rest of the week. Cooking at home can be a hassle (especially when cooking for one), but compared to eating out all the time, it can save you money. If you are able to, add pantry staples that are good to have – flour, sugar, rice, beans, yeast, canned goods, etc. – so you are less affected by panic buyers and empty shelves.
• If you are cleaning up the house, anything that you are able to get rid of, try to sell it on EBay or something if you can. Any money from those sales, use it to pay down your debt or put toward other bills. Get rid of whatever you can that you don’t need anymore. If you have a storage unit, try to make a few trips and bring some of that stuff home to review the contents and/or sell. If you are able to, try and get it so you can eliminate the need for a storage unit and take the monthly payments you had for the storage unit and put toward paying down debt.

Honey-Do Lists

Whether you have help or not, we all have that list of projects we keep adding to and never actually seem to work on. Since we are all stuck at home, now is the time to work on those things when you can.

Personally, I am not much for the home improvement side of things, but with my self-imposed self-isolation over the past 6 years my environment became, well, not fit for visitors.

I rented the house I bought. It came furnished, so during my self-imposed self-isolation, I became the “keeper of the stuff” and the unofficial family storage unit. I had to keep my stuff separate from my dad’s stuff, separate from my brother’s stuff, separate from the house stuff. Since I purchased the house and the furnishings, I have been slowly working on better eliminating all the things I want/need to eliminate. Slow progress is still better than no progress.

Just before the world fell apart, I have made more efforts in my kitchen than anywhere else.

I have cleaned off a table that I can actually eat at like a normal human being, instead of seeing how high I can get the piles of random crap before it falls like a Jenga game.

I have cleaned the baseboards, doors, and archways of the kitchen, main entryway and my bathroom and bedroom.

I am working on cleaning the grout in the kitchen since it is frankly disgusting and for some reason, sealing the grout when the house was built apparently wasn’t considered a necessary thing. I am sure I will need to get a professional in to get it back to white and also seal the grout so this isn’t a project in the future.

I vacuum a lot, but the carpet essentially needs to be replaced. I don’t think a professional carpet cleaning will do the trick.

I am going through my closet and eliminating old clothes that no longer fit – after losing 40 pounds, that is pretty much everything I own. Therefore, if I am able to sell my old clothes on EBay, those funds will go toward a new wardrobe for me most likely – otherwise, I will literally have nothing to wear.

Not everything on your projects list will require a trip to Home Depot or Lowes. The projects that do require such a trip, do whatever you can within budget.

Health & Wellbeing

This is honestly where I know I can do better. Self-care is where I know I tend to struggle, as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video are certainly very enticing.

Food Choices

I have been cooking at home rather than eating out for a while now. Where I tend to have problems is that I cook for myself, so I have a very limited menu as I don’t like to go through the big preparation and cleanup of making a big, involved meal. Further, I don’t eat a great deal to start out with. I learned of the dangers of easy access snacks and foods many years ago when I first started working from home. Those Nacho Cheese Doritos (the Party size bag) has been my dinner more times I would like to admit – yes, the entire bag.

As you can surmise, it is easy for me to go days, weeks, maybe longer and have the thought: “when was the last time I had a fruit or vegetable?” Don’t get me wrong, I do like fruits and vegetables. I just don’t consume them as fast as is necessary. There have been occasions where a pint of strawberries and a can of Reddi-Whip was my dinner.

I do have a Vitamix (this is the one I have), which I absolutely love. I especially like the Broccoli Cheddar Soup recipe and to make smoothies in the mornings if I can. I have also done the Hummus and peanut butter recipes, which are also fun to do if you have the time.

All in all, I am attempting to get more fruits and veggies into my regular eating routine, as it is healthier. I have, however, been able to reduce, if not eliminate, High Fructose Corn Syrup and GMOs from my food options. Just by eliminating those two things from my diet, it has essentially eliminated at least half of the store from my shopping cart and increased the time I spend looking at labels.

Of course, do what you can within your budget and specific dietary needs.

Exercise

Again, this is something I know I can do better at. I am very proud that I have lost 40 pounds, which was basically all fat from not really moving much during my day.

With the current environment, I am back at pacing in my living room or doing whatever exercise things I can inside. Sometimes I will use the exercise videos of varying lengths on my Amazon Prime video account. Otherwise, I am working on muscle toning. For me, I prefer the lean muscle of a dancer than the bulky kind of muscle – plus I like the flexibility too.

Once we are able to go outside more frequently again, I will likely start doing my bike riding again as another way of keeping active.

Find what works for you and what you want to accomplish. I start small and do what I can and slowly build from there.

Mindset

This one is a challenge – whether during normal circumstances or in special ones like these.

I try to maintain a positive attitude and mindset while in the mandated self-isolation. It is difficult sometimes when all you have is a pet to talk to. However, I have learned over the years that the environment that you keep yourself in and the people and media that you pay attention to has a very high correlation to how you deal with situations like this.

If you don’t like your current emotional state during this crisis, reach out to a professional if necessary or reach out to a friend, mentor, family member or someone that you know that seems to be dealing with this situation better than you. They can likely help you talk out where you are having difficulties, encourage you to seek professional help if needed, and help you develop a game plan and hold you to it to improve your mindset over this time frame.

It will not be an overnight thing – that I can guarantee. However, I am a very big believer in taking small steps in the right direction and celebrating those small achievements as you go.

What are the lessons you have learned during the COVID19 pandemic?

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