10 Things To Never Take for Granted Again
Coronavirus hit the world out of nowhere. It’s strange to realize that it’s been about 3 months since the virus really started getting mainstream attention. In that small amount of time, we’ve seen over one million worldwide infections, ten million job losses just in America, and entire countries in some form of lockdown.
It hit us hard and fast.
We still don’t know the full ramifications of this event, nor is it clear exactly when we can lift quarantine restrictions.
So, once this is over, let’s remember these 10 things to never take for granted again.
Safe Shopping
How can we know the real danger of simply going to the grocery store and being around others during this time? We can’t. This is an invisible threat, and we have to use every precaution at our disposal just to go to the store and pick up the essential supplies.
It can feel strange and even silly dawning a mask and gloves, double-bagging everything, disinfecting our items when you get them home, and throwing away the bags. And what about everything we touch on our way home? The car door. The steering wheel. Your wallet and the money inside that’s been passed from one person to the next for who knows how long?
Generally speaking, if it feels like you’re doing too much to keep yourself and others safe, you’re probably doing just enough.
So once this is all over, never take for granted how easy it is to drive to the grocery store and pick up your supplies - even if it feels like a chore.
Travel
Whether it’s driving to your friend’s house on the weekend or flying to a different state to visit your parents, let’s never forget how we felt when this basic element of our lives was hindered by the lockdown.
Social Gatherings
Humans are social creatures. That’s why solitary confinement over a certain amount of time constitutes torture. Even the most reclusive of us need some form of interaction from time to time to stay sane.
Video conferencing technology has ramped up significantly in popularity over the last few months, and not just for business and education purposes. People need to talk to each other, face to face, even if it’s through a virtual medium.
Once this crisis is under control, let’s never take basic social gatherings for granted again. Many introverts who can’t stomach a single second of small talk would love nothing more than a large gathering with friends and family right now.
This also extends to our work lives. Many of us have been laid off or are working from home. While most of us are happy when 5 o'clock rolls around and we can finally get off work and be on our own time, we fail to realize how much work fulfills a lot of our basic social needs.
It might be nice working from home, for a while. But eventually, we start to miss the interactions with our co-workers, no matter how mundane they might be sometimes.
Concerts
A lot of us have had to go through the long, grueling process of trying to get refunds for concert tickets - tickets to a concert that has been cancelled due to the novel coronavirus.
This is especially true if you’ve bought tickets through third party vendors. If you’re in that situation, you’ve probably already realized that you’re never getting that money back.
Whether it’s a rave, a metal concert, or an Opera, we should never take for granted how fun and uplifting it can be to see a spectacular performance by the musicians and artists we love.
Movies
This situation applies to both going to the movie theater and anticipating a new release. Not only have movie theaters closed down, but many movies have stopped being made altogether. It’s one of the small things in life that we usually take for granted. Let’s not do that anymore.
Funerals
You might be surprised by this one, but it’s something that has been taken away from many people during this time, and the results are quite tragic.
Funerals give us closer at the end of someone’s life. It’s a way of honoring the dead, and a celebration of their life as much as a time of grief.
Social gatherings being restricted, many funeral homes have limited chapel gatherings to ten people or less, making it difficult for families to comfort each other during these times.
The Gym
Regular gym rats have had to endure a lot of stress after having their gyms close. There are a few reasons for this.
One is that the gym is how we reduce stress and pent-up energy. Without that release, where does all that stress go? Inside. This, combined with social isolation, can make for a lot of psychological turmoil.
Another reason is that serious trainers have had to lose a lot of the progress that has come with years of training. Whether it’s cardio or weight lifting, strength and endurance have suffered due to inactivity.
For many of us, the gym is our “drug of choice” - let’s never take it for granted again.
The Daily Routine
We all get used to the monotony of life. Wake up, drink your coffee, go to work, go to the gym, hang out with friends... It’s like water to a fish - it’s so prevalent we don’t even know it’s there.
Once our daily routine is taken away, it can be difficult to cope with a completely new way of living. It adds a lot of stress, it’s annoying, it creates confusion.
The daily routine can be monotonous, but it also brings comfort and predictability - something more of us need than would be willing to admit.
Freedom
We can all see first hand how our freedoms have been limited over the last few months. Everything from routine day-to-day activities to big recreational events like concerts and vacations have disappeared into the void of seemingly perpetual quarantine. Not only that, but the freedom for businesses to work and operate as they need to, to take risks, and innovate have been severely limited as well.
Both the big things and the little things have been taken away from us due to this crisis.
But let’s also remember, freedom isn’t just something we act on. Freedom means potential - the potential to do something should the opportunity arise.
Right now, there aren’t many opportunities in life, nor do most of us find much potential in the near future.
So once this thing is finally over, let’s never take our freedom for granted, and make the most of it once we get it back.