I have often thought of the positive outcome of lower air traffic. Carbon emissions were way down. Wildlife started returning. That showed how much humans CAN make a difference. Hard to implement that kind a change though.
I personally think I am more aware of how I spend my time. Am I making good use of the life that could be taken away at any moment?
Great essay, Charlie! I agree, I think we’ve probably lost the “let’s make our lives simpler” gusto, but I do believe the people who wanted it were given the opportunity they needed to change their lives (in one way or another) for the better.
Love reading your thoughts in this. Our lives were not affected really. We are introverts, kept seeing the same people, we do not travel a lot anyway, husband can't work from home since he is a mechanic... But my children did have a long summer holiday!
I remember thinking it was interesting seeing many people being 'forced' to live the way we do, many people enjoying the absence of the many obligations... But Norway was relatively mild anyways.
It has been a year since the last regulations were removed and I was a little shocked to see how people acted like they wanted to compensate and make up for the time they could not shop, party or travel.... Especially if you know that half of the Norwegian population has less than 3 months of living expenses on the bankaccount. But that is another story....
This reminds me how lucky we are that we discovered nomading before Covid. Because many of the changes Covid introduced into the lives of so many others were changes that we'd already made. In fact, we were fortunate enough that except for locking us down for seven months in Puerto Vallarta (by our own choice, not because the government there did lockdowns) our life pretty much went on as normal.
We frequently say more people could live the way we are if only they knew about the option. Is that actually true? I honestly don't know...
One positive outcome (for me) from the pandemic has been it made even an introvert like me want to go out and meet people more often.*
I used to be very reticent to talk to people but the pandemic showed me that even I can't be locked up in my room all the time.
Here's to hoping that we're truly post-pandemic and not in-between-pandemics!
* At this point, I'd like to mention these Thai designers - Ease Around - who came up with a line of stickers and t-shirts expressing this very sentiment: https://www.instagram.com/p/CX3sekkPWMw/?hl=en
I have often thought of the positive outcome of lower air traffic. Carbon emissions were way down. Wildlife started returning. That showed how much humans CAN make a difference. Hard to implement that kind a change though.
I personally think I am more aware of how I spend my time. Am I making good use of the life that could be taken away at any moment?
Great essay, Charlie! I agree, I think we’ve probably lost the “let’s make our lives simpler” gusto, but I do believe the people who wanted it were given the opportunity they needed to change their lives (in one way or another) for the better.
Love reading your thoughts in this. Our lives were not affected really. We are introverts, kept seeing the same people, we do not travel a lot anyway, husband can't work from home since he is a mechanic... But my children did have a long summer holiday!
I remember thinking it was interesting seeing many people being 'forced' to live the way we do, many people enjoying the absence of the many obligations... But Norway was relatively mild anyways.
It has been a year since the last regulations were removed and I was a little shocked to see how people acted like they wanted to compensate and make up for the time they could not shop, party or travel.... Especially if you know that half of the Norwegian population has less than 3 months of living expenses on the bankaccount. But that is another story....
This reminds me how lucky we are that we discovered nomading before Covid. Because many of the changes Covid introduced into the lives of so many others were changes that we'd already made. In fact, we were fortunate enough that except for locking us down for seven months in Puerto Vallarta (by our own choice, not because the government there did lockdowns) our life pretty much went on as normal.
We frequently say more people could live the way we are if only they knew about the option. Is that actually true? I honestly don't know...
One positive outcome (for me) from the pandemic has been it made even an introvert like me want to go out and meet people more often.*
I used to be very reticent to talk to people but the pandemic showed me that even I can't be locked up in my room all the time.
Here's to hoping that we're truly post-pandemic and not in-between-pandemics!
* At this point, I'd like to mention these Thai designers - Ease Around - who came up with a line of stickers and t-shirts expressing this very sentiment: https://www.instagram.com/p/CX3sekkPWMw/?hl=en
(Not an affiliate, just a fan!)