Realizations during the Pandemic
Thank God the pandemic happened in 2020 instead of a decade or 2 earlier.
I can't imagine how PH would cope if the pandemic happened 1-2 decades earlier.
We're well aware of how technology has played a major role during the lockdown by keeping people sane while self-isolating with various online entertainments (e.g. Netflix, FB, IG, YouTube, TikTok, etc.) and allowing people to still be in touch with others (e.g. Skype, Zoom, Hangout, etc.). And helping the governments, businesses, and corporations disseminate news, information, and instructions quickly and giving them the ability to run their operations remotely.
If this pandemic happened 1-2 decades earlier when our internet would have been still very slow and very expensive, we would have a much deeper hole to dig out of post-pandemic.
Plus the medical and health technologies that mankind has discovered and invented in the past 1-2 decades will play a huge part on the race to find the vaccine and cure for this pandemic.
I'm ready to die whenever.
During the first few weeks of uncertainties and high anxiety, because nobody really knows enough about Covid-19 to know the real mortality rate, I tried to prepare myself for when I get infected as well.
Getting sick and needing to be hospitalized during a pandemic is really such bad luck, hassle, and very risky. I'll have to be isolated and treated as if I have the disease. Nobody can stay with me and even the nurses will minimize their interactions with me. All I'll have will be my mobile phone to contact my loved ones if I'm in a condition well enough to still allow me to do so.
I packed an overnight bag with clothes and toiletries enough for 2 nights stay in hospital (for when I check-in and when I check-out). I'd be in hospital gowns in-between anyway. Important items are my health cards, sanitary napkins, and phone chargers. If I find out I have Covid-19, I'd already be in a panic state where I can't logically pack everything I need before I get picked up and sent to the hospital or government's make-shift isolation facilities.
I rechecked my handwritten will and life insurance documents and made sure I placed it where it's easy to be found.
I prepped my parents by asking to do the same things I did and explaining how it's going to be if any of us gets infected and needs to be hospitalized. That if we die, it'll be without any loved ones by our sides.
Knowing that I've prepped and done what I can have given me the "peace of mind" and readiness for the probability that I will get infected whether during ECQ or GCQ or new normal. Even if I don't come out of it alive, no regrets. I've lived enough to be contented whenever I have to go. It's a weird but essential kind of freedom to be okay to die.
I'm ready to die whenever.
During the first few weeks of uncertainties and high anxiety, because nobody really knows enough about Covid-19 to know the real mortality rate, I tried to prepare myself for when I get infected as well.
Getting sick and needing to be hospitalized during a pandemic is really such bad luck, hassle, and very risky. I'll have to be isolated and treated as if I have the disease. Nobody can stay with me and even the nurses will minimize their interactions with me. All I'll have will be my mobile phone to contact my loved ones if I'm in a condition well enough to still allow me to do so.
I packed an overnight bag with clothes and toiletries enough for 2 nights stay in hospital (for when I check-in and when I check-out). I'd be in hospital gowns in-between anyway. Important items are my health cards, sanitary napkins, and phone chargers. If I find out I have Covid-19, I'd already be in a panic state where I can't logically pack everything I need before I get picked up and sent to the hospital or government's make-shift isolation facilities.
I rechecked my handwritten will and life insurance documents and made sure I placed it where it's easy to be found.
I prepped my parents by asking to do the same things I did and explaining how it's going to be if any of us gets infected and needs to be hospitalized. That if we die, it'll be without any loved ones by our sides.
Knowing that I've prepped and done what I can have given me the "peace of mind" and readiness for the probability that I will get infected whether during ECQ or GCQ or new normal. Even if I don't come out of it alive, no regrets. I've lived enough to be contented whenever I have to go. It's a weird but essential kind of freedom to be okay to die.
I want to invest in a better home office and maybe interior design w/ a good view and a balcony.
If WFH is going to be a new normal in the workplace, I need a better work area than our half-full dining table in my gloomy condo unit.
My fingers itched to order some Ikea foldable desks and have them delivered while on lockdown. I think I'll hold off my "want" to have this unit interior designed until 2021 when Ikea PH is open.
I think my life during lockdown would have been much better if my condo unit had a balcony and a good view that I can enjoy while WFH.
As they say, if it happened once, it'll happen again. Same goes for pandemics. This feels like just a practice round for mankind. I hope the global government and health organizations have learned the lessons to prevent the next and really catastrophic high mortality rate one from happening too soon within my lifetime.
But just in case it happens in my lifetime again, I wouldn't want to be cooped up in a gloomy unit in the city again.
It's either I'd be somewhere near the beach or somewhere with open green spaces outside the city or in a much better-designed unit with a good view above the city and a balcony.
I've sacrificed long enough for my financial goals for retirement. I want to start putting money on my everyday enjoyment instead of saving it for when I get much older which I'm not sure if I'd live long enough to see that day. Live it now instead of later.
Local travel over international travel.
Depending on how soon a vaccine and cure can be created, international travel won't be feasible for my senior parents. Too risky to get Covid-19 outside the country. But I don't want to stop taking them somewhere they haven't been to yet. So, domestic travel it is.
This way, we spend our money domestically to help local economy to recover.
I spend too much on eating out.
Pre-pandemic, I eat out at least 2 meals and a coffee every day. I justify it by saying that eating is my only vice and it makes me happy. So why not?
And I work all day and can't be bothered to knock together a meal at the end of the day and have to clean up after. It's way more time-efficient and convenient to just grab something to eat in the mall where I have to go through anyway to get home.
During the pandemic, although I'm fortunate to live in an area where restaurants are just a few steps away from where I can still get takeout meals, I found myself preferring to cook my own meals since I have all the time since I'm cooped up in the house anyway. I only ordered food delivery once during the entire 3 months lockdown. I did go get some slices of cakes 3-4 times via takeaway but that's it.
I ended up saving a lot from my food/eat-out allowance and it has become my motivation to cook during the lockdown. I diverted my savings to buy stocks during the bearish stock market caused by this black swan event. I ended up building a little more than 2/3 of my stock positions during the pandemic.
Having to cook at home forced me to improve my cooking skills and dishes repertoire. Had many “achievements unlocked” 🔐 for successful 1st attempts of making some fave dishes myself. Now I can make darn good kimchi jiggae 🥬🌶, dampa-style clam soup 🐚, spicy tteokbokki 🍥🌶, minestrone soup, eggplant curry 🍆 and vegetarian 🌱 version of mince duck wrap. 👍🏼
Not sure what I'd be like when I have to go back to the office post-lockdown. Commute would be a challenge post-lockdown due to the restrictions on the passenger capacity per bus, jeep and car. I will have to take longer to get home at the end of the workday. So I think I'll have to eat-out again by then.
Not sure what I'd be like when I have to go back to the office post-lockdown. Commute would be a challenge post-lockdown due to the restrictions on the passenger capacity per bus, jeep and car. I will have to take longer to get home at the end of the workday. So I think I'll have to eat-out again by then.
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