The last two months have been extremely monumental with the coronavirus outbreak and being quarantined for two months. None of us really saw this happening three months ago. And for some of us, a lot of things have changed, whether we lost our job, were forced to complete online college courses, or have had to make fewer trips to the grocery store. One thing that we might be asking ourselves is what we would tell our children or grandchildren in the future if we had to describe what we learned during this pandemic. Here are 12 things that the coronavirus pandemic has taught me.
1. How To Attempt To Put Together A 750 Piece Puzzle
If you're like me, you've probably thought you might as well attempt to complete a puzzle now that you're stuck at home with nothing to do. When I tried to put a 750 piece puzzle together, I actually said, "Oh, this will be easy! I should have gotten a 1,000 piece puzzle instead." And then I later regretted it. Needless to say, 10 minutes later I was silently screaming in frustration when I could only find two pieces that fit together.
2. How To Binge Five Different Shows At The Same Time
One big thing that this pandemic has taught me is how to watch several shows at the same time. Shows such as "Tiger King," "You," and "Handmaid's Tale" have helped me to stave off any lingering boredom that I had while stuck at home. It's helped me with keeping my mental health from declining when I'm trapped inside the house with nothing to do.
3. How To Navigate Online Shopping And Avoid Shipping Costs
With shops closing down their in-store shopping, I've been forced to shop online more often. And I never really understood how bad shipping costs were until I had to buy multiple things online! Finding ways to avoid shipping costs is really a challenge that I've had to navigate during this pandemic.
4. How To Beat My Family Members At Monopoly in 30 Minutes
Before the pandemic, I barely played Monopoly more than twice a year. But since the quarantine, I've been playing Monopoly whatever chance I can get. And after playing it multiple times, I've finally learned how to exploit my family member's weaknesses to beat them at Monopoly.
5. How To Cook
Through this pandemic, I finally have started learning how to cook more than two recipes! Before the pandemic, the only thing I knew how to cook was ramen noodles and Stove Top Stuffing. But now I've been forced to learn how to cook scrambled eggs, sausage, and grilled cheese! And I can actually cook these without catching my stove on fire!
6. How To Really Take Procrastination To A New Level
Actually, that's something I already knew how to do! If anything, this outbreak has just shown me how much of a problem I had already! I mean really, if I thought procrastination was bad before this outbreak, I had no idea what the true meaning of procrastination was!
7. How To Wash My Hands
Everyone during this pandemic has likely learned this. Sure, most of us already knew how to wash our hands before, but now we know how to properly wash our hands every five minutes.
8. How To Wipe Down Everything With Lysol Wipes, Bleach, And Hand Sanitizer
Before, I probably would have thought you were nuts if you told me I would be constantly cleaning, especially when I barely clean my room. But now cleaning everything is a life or death scenario! Now I find myself wiping everything that I touch with Lysol wipes, pouring bleach on everything, and constantly using hand sanitizer.
9. How To Stock Up On Toilet Paper When There's A Shortage
The biggest thing that I've learned is how to find toilet paper when every store in the region has none. I have to look on Google to search for toilet paper within the nearest 100 mile region or wake up at 7 in the morning to attempt to be the first one at the grocery store. If anything, you will no longer hear me complain when I have to go to the grocery store after this since I'll remember that I had to go every day to find toilet paper during this pandemic.
10. How To Keep Someone Six Feet Away From Me
CC0 Public Domain / Public Domain Pictures
If you're an introvert, you probably were already doing this before the pandemic. But with the pandemic, you suddenly have to learn to avoid people from getting too close to you everywhere. Which honestly is fine with me since it gives me an excuse to keep people from being too close within my comfort zone.
11. How To Create A Makeshift Mask
If you had told me that three months ago that I would be creating makeshift masks at home in the next few months, I would have thought you were crazy! But now after the pandemic, creating a makeshift mask is required in order to venture outside your home. And with masks being sold out online and in stores, you have to improvise and learn how to create a mask from anything you can find at home. I mean, if you were to tell your grandchildren in the future about this, you'd probably have a hard time explaining to them how people personalized their own masks, including gluing gemstones on them.
12. How To Find Ways To Hide From Family Members
Photo by Niklas Kickl on UnsplashAnd lastly, just like everyone else right now, I've learned how to find ways to avoid my family members! Being stuck in the house with them for 24 hours a day slowly drives you to the point of insanity. I mean, I thought that social distancing meant that it would spare you from having contact with family or household members as well! Finding excuses to hide somewhere in my house has become key to survival. But at least in my case, I don't have any children in my house that I would be stuck with.
If you're feeling stressed from the outbreak, then just think about all of the vital things you have learned during this pandemic. And remember, we will get through this. Just hopefully it's before we end up going insane from constantly being around our family members!
