I’m the kind of person that manages anxiety by constantly keeping busy. As such, quarantine was a huge challenge for my extroverted self. To cope, I got into many hobbies (including this blog!). As I am about to travel for the first time since the pandemic as my partner and I are fully vaccinated, I wanted to honor all the love and dedication I put into my many pandemic hobbies (and hope that post-pandemic life offers some opportunity for balance to maintain some of these hobbies).
I was inspired by Rapunzel’s “When Will My Life Begin” from Disney’s Tangled. This song details waking up early and doing a million and one things because you can’t leave the house (remind you of anything? This totally hit home with my quarantine experience, especially during lockdown periods). The hobbies I picked up included (but were not limited to): luxurious baths, reading (especially philosophical or self-help books), painting, knitting, cooking, sewing, baking, puzzles, board games (virtual with friends and in person with my partner), candle making, sketching, hiking, decorating my apartment, dying and styling my hair, and of course entertaining my cat Esmee during days I worked from home. Although I had the honor and responsibility of being a required onsite worker for most of the pandemic as a biochemist working on oncology drugs, my leisure time was filled with these many new endeavors.
Even though I would have not wished the pandemic on anyone, I am grateful for having had the opportunity to slow down in a fast paced world during quarantine. To learn new things at my own pace. To reflect on life and my own priorities and needs. Instead of just returning to the way things were let’s take this opportunity to do better for ourselves and for each other. To find balance, to embrace flexibility, and to make our health and the health of others’ a paramount priority as we move forward.
Millennial's Delight 