The New Normal

As I start to see some provinces opening back up I’m beginning to imagine what that will look like for Nova Scotia.

We were certainly hit the hardest among the Atlantic provinces but I really felt like it was handled the best we could with the resources we had. This was a new experience for everyone including our top doctors and politicians. I feel blessed to live in Canada through this whole experience.

Shameless Selfie in my back yard. Stay the Blazes home t-shirt made by Nova Trophy.

I don’t know what the next steps are going to look like but I decided to start looking at what the new normal may look like someday.

I decided to start a list of things that I’ve been enjoying:

1. Having time to work out in the morning: Not commuting 45 minutes to work everyday has allowed me time to work on my physical health. This has been a positive impact on me. I need to make sure this habit keeps up.

2. Working from home: My job didn’t really change by moving it home so the time savings has been worth its weight in gold. I can throw a load of laundry in on my break and the cat enjoys hanging out with me while I’m in the office. On really good days the rabbit will come in to join as well. Do I miss interacting with clients and other people face to face? Sure. But the positive impact has outweighed those little things. In the new normal I would love to have the opportunity to keep working from home- maybe not 5 days a week, but even a few days gives me back a lot of time.

3. Shopping for essentials through Farmers Market Channels: Grocery shopping became very unpleasant very fast. Thankfully there are lots of ways to avoid it I’ve found out. I’ve been using wfm2go.ca for my veggies, fruits and meats and I’m so happy with the experience I will never do my grocery shopping the same way again. Overall, yes, it’s probably more expensive but since the produce hasn’t traveled thousands of kilometres to get to me is LASTS. I love being able to keep kale and spinach in the fridge for almost 2 weeks. I’ve always loved supporting local and now I feel like my routine has made the full transition.

4. Having a little free time: I’ve completed projects that I expected to take years. I completed the painting in my kitchen and dining room months before I’d predicted. It’s been actually quite nice being home to get things around the house done. Even though I live alone I’ve rarely felt lonely since I am a naturally busy person. It’s been nice to have no other commitments, and no FOMO (fear of missing out) on the weekends. When this is all done I must remind myself it’s okay to just be home sometimes.

5. Not eating out all the time: I’ve been home since March. I’ve had McDonalds drive-thru 2 times. Before this all started I could be found in a drive-thru 3 times a week easily. This was the detox I needed. That along with the exercise shrank my bumps and squishies incredibly fast. Don’t get me wrong I’m no supermodel now but this was definitely the detox I needed.

6. Not using the dryer: Being home allows me do choose to do laundry on the nice days. I have not touched the dryer since this all started which is great for my energy bill, great for my clothes and great for the environment.

7. Low Credit Card Bills: Man… not filling your gas tank weekly adds up faaast. Like faaaaast. I was expecting things to stay around the same since my food bills are way up from cooking everyday, 3 times a day (at least). But nope. They are at 1/3 of the usual balance. I’m sure not feeling the need to shop for clothes and other unnecessary things is helping as well.

Don’t get me wrong, for the 7 positives there’s also many things I miss and can’t wait to get back. I think we all miss visiting family and friends without a doubt. I’ve also missed sitting down at a restaurant and laughing among strangers, thrift shopping (the thrill of the good find!!) along with bulk shopping and using my own bags in stores.. Those little things can’t come back fast enough in my opinion.

Now for the things I’ve realized I HATED about the “old normal” and don’t plan to integrate these into my new normal:

1. The hectic lifestyle: Why do I feel the need to be busy 16 hours a day? Beats me, but now that there’s simply not enough to do in a day for that anymore I’ve really enjoyed not being burnt out all the time (lol wow.. I rock..ugh)

2. Eating take-out 2-3 times per week: Comes paired with the hectic lifestyle and reeked havoc on my body. Real food, local food, much better! Don’t get me wrong I still want to sit my bottom in a nice restaurant as SOON as I can, but I hope the days of swallowing a burger like a seagull as I drive to my next commitment are over.

3. Big Box or Grocery Store shopping: Already wasn’t a fan of places like Wal-Mart. During this mess it is the LAST place I want to be. I haven’t needed anything from those sorts of places in months. Everything I NEED can be found locally.

Quarantine Chronicles

It's now been a month since I was sent home to work due to COVID-19. I figured it was a good time to look at whats changed in the last 4 weeks.

To summarize: A lot. For everyone.

There's no question in everyone's mind that this month has been hard on the head for everyone, but I think a lot of good has blossomed as well. 

I have not hugged another human in over a month. That has been a very bizarre reality for me as I am one who enjoys a hug. 

My heart breaks for those who find themselves without employment at this time, especially self employed individuals who invested so much into their empire and may not make it out of this storm.

I've found the easiest way to get through this is to focus on the positives that are coming out of this. 

The helpers are coming out in all shapes and sizes. I see friends donating their time and skills to aid with people who need food or PPE while they have so much extra free time. 

I am blessed with employment that can be done from home so I've done my best to share financially wherever I can. 

Although my groceries are arriving in plastic bags for the first time in years, air pollution is down across the globe. That. Is an enormous win for our planet and everyone and everything who lives on it. And believe me, not a single one of those "single use" plastic bags in my house will only be used once. It'll be nice not having to hunt for something to put cat litter in for a little bit.

I've learned a lot this past month:

1. The ideal exercise time for me seems to be 8am surprisingly. Right after the coffee. I haven't missed many morning workouts since this all began. 

Activity has always been a struggle since starting the office work 4 years ago. I'm dedicated to keeping this routine. 

2. I hate going to grocery stores now. I'll be ordering in advance and just picking things up long after this whole thing is over! I've also made use of an an amazing online farmers market ordering system that allows me to simply pick up my order with minimal human interaction. 

This allows me all the fresh foods I'm used to without the hassle of crowds and I can still support locals! 

(wfm2go.com if you’re local in NS. Bonus, there's also no plastic bags involved, yay!) 

3. Cupboards go bare fast when you're home all the time! I'm planning meals out much better, cooking 3 meals a day, 7 days a week you have to. (I miss sitting in a restaurant.) There is very little being wasted and although I know my grocery bill has obviously increased, I still feel like I'm saving. 

Helps that life isn't as busy and I'm not eating as much takeout. Amazingly I have not eaten a single order of takeout all month! (my pants are thanking me) 

4. I need more time for projects. I have gotten SO much done in the past 30 days. Things that may have taken me months and years otherwise. A lot of these project were a go even before the pandemic hit so it really drove home how overwhelmed I probably would have gotten in the near future trying to get everything done. My "normal" life does not let me express myself as I would like. This was a big eye opener for me. I've always assumed the answer was to do less, but now it feels like I should focus on how I'm doing things, and try to do things smarter. 

At the beginning of it all, I found a great set of questions that you can ask yourself each day that makes the whole process a little easier. I'm so blessed to have a big house with lots of distractions, without it, I would not feel nearly as stable and strong as I am today. This entire experience would be different if we were still in my tiny townhouse in the city.

Daily Quarantine Questions

I know not everyone is as lucky as me to have a large space to embrace, but even in the smallest of spaces I believe these questions can be answered by anyone daily and it does a world of help.

Well that’s it for now. Still not bored. A little less pudgy. It could be worse?

xoxo Nicole