Benefits of "The New Normal"

It's all been Doom and Gloom with Covid-19, and I'm certainly not one to detract from that or, indeed, downplay the severity.

However, through the bleak and grey situation the world has endured over the last 4-5 months, there have been some green shoots. Notice how most countries have managed to organise a response (even if a little late) and are getting on top of the situation they find themselves in. Better yet, notice how the reduction in commuting and other travel has resulted in much cleaner air, particularly in densely populated cities! The time stuck at home doesn't have to be an externally-imposed prison sentence and the time spent not commuting can be used for a greater good.

Hell, for those of us lucky enough to keep our jobs, this represents a good opportunity to save money for the future. So, come on, what's the silver lining for you? What's the thought that's keeping you going through the current situation? Or, if it's all terrible and your life is ruins, my condolences.

32 minutes ago, Phobus said:

What's the thought that's keeping you going through the current situation?

Abstaining myself from reading/hearing about it all day.

I just do what i can within the limits, and that's that.

And reading books.

Fortunately, the impact on my life hasn't been too drastic - but the one clear benefit is that I've been able to work from my home office for the last 4 weeks now.

" What's the thought that's keeping you going through the current situation?"

the fact there's a virus. life is too short to cry about problems, people will have to endure hardships or an hero themselves.

2 hours ago, Phobus said:

What's the thought that's keeping you going through the current situation?

Probably the fact that I've been through too much hardship and difficulty over the years to just sit down and give up now, even though that's a thought that's trying me almost on a daily basis, and I'm not even kidding. I suppose it just isn't in my blood, and honestly I'm glad for that.

I try not to think too much about Corona and the current situation though, and focus on other things instead. Mostly reading, assessments - yay I am fucking done with them though, took a few weeks of almost non-stop work, but they're done & gone -, watching movies, videos, "blasting" (not really since I'm physically incapable of doing that anymore) music, doing "my job", and chatting with some friends.

    This situation has probably given me more good than bad thus far (as it seems my country, Croatia, has managed a very good response to the situation thus far). I am doing my master's thesis from home, which saves me 2 hours of commute whenever I'd go to college. Next, I bonded with my family a bit more, and overall it feels like the country as a whole has a more cohesive spirit of unity, brotherhood, which is a nice feeling.

    There were also a couple of things I wanted to do (one of which is DooM mapping) but which I delayed, 'for after I finish the thesis', but after this and after surviving the Zagreb earthquake I decide that, fuck it, I might die tomorrow so I might as well start doing them now. My life is, I'd say, richer for it.

Small blessings, but the amount of junk mail in my mailbox is at an all time low.  It seems like insurance companies are the only ones still sending out physical spam these days.

There is some good things about this pandemic, flu and other airborne diseases are probably an all time low at least for most of the people who stuck to the quarantine and are responsible when they have to get out. Maybe all this decrease in activity maybe helps decreasing the effects of global warming, most likely not.

8 hours ago, Phobus said:

So, come on, what's the silver lining for you? What's the thought that's keeping you going through the current situation

My life has become less stressful, i have more time to spend doing exercise, and my stress induced headaches are greatly reduced. Those are the only good things the rest is kinda bothersome like having to bathe my dogs every time we get back home after their walk, and having to scrub my clothes, hair, and shoes with a sponge filled with alcohol because i'm probably going to die if i get covid19 due to having experienced asthma and other respiratory issues wich were gone when i turned 17, but still better safe than sorry.

The fact that the quarantine ended up causing part of the tuition I paid for college to be refunded while STILL having online classes. 

The good news about it means that I can save a ton of money for the next tuition (and finally purchase that Darn Nintendo Switch I have been hunting on Ebay for a while now at a smaller price than the usual) and be able to continue my curriculum.

Sucks that this shit is happening, but it did give me the compensation I need to survive :).

The great advantage is that this ensures that governments have some proper respect for infectious diseases again, and they won't do anything fucking stupid like cutting funding to critical national health institutes... at least, I hope so.

well, working from home sure is great, it's 3 hours less of commute a day, the GF is always close by and I can alt-tab to a little doom whenever I don't have work to do :D

It's forced everyone to embrace my lifestyle, "quarantine".

Extra free time gives me the opportunity to catch up on some of my seemingly infinite backlog of games to play.

As of today, I'm going through some old Apogee platformers like Commander Keen and Bio Menace.

My unemployment check is due to be $900 a week. I could legit make twice as much as I did while working. Time to buy a bunch of dumb shit!

I'm considered essential personnel (security guard), so I still have to work. It's both good and bad, but I do have to say that I'm so glad the highways aren't an ungodly mess in the Bay Area. Once things get better, I really, really hope the big tech companies permanently to remote work lifestyle. No longer should there be any need for unnecessarily huge and lavish campuses if the majority of the workforce works from home. I hope this also means better infrastructure for more reliable internet speeds.

My to do list has not been this short in years. Just wish thousands did not have to die for it to happen.

Personally:

- Lots of time with the cats (and the wife)

- Lots of time for Doom mapping

- Lots of cooking and baking at home

Globally:

- With just a little bit of luck US citizens will finally rethink their healthcare system

- ... and their workers' rights

- ... and their implementation of capitalism

- With just a little bit of luck more countries will rethink their commitment to renewable energy

I am a bit sceptical about all of this, but sincerely hope that at least something good comes out of this for some people.

I am still working, but from home; we (the charity) sell on eBay, which is just as well as we had to close the thrift shops for who-knows-how-long due to the UK lockdown. We only go into the premises to move stock or post sold items. The plus side is not having to spend 10-15 minutes each way walking to work and back, working in my own comfortable environment. More time to walk for pleasure (once a day per Government regs) and the town's common is half a mile down the road.

As for the benefit to the world, it's clear that life will never be quite the same again, too many untruths about how working life 'has to be' have been demolished by this. Sucks to be IBM, that's for sure :) I wish I had confidence that our stupid, greedy and supine governments will make some good come out of all the social change, but at age 55 am too old to really believe that.

I'll leave the optimism to you younger folks :)

I don't have to deal with the rude public anymore and can sink almost all of my time in DOOOOOOOOM. Well that's not true, real talk here, fortunately for me my job is considered essential so I am working full time Mon-Fri.

I don't have to waste money and time on commute. fuck commute so much.

The positives: +More time for self-actualization/productivity (?) increase. I've realized for a long time that my usual days are far away from productive, college notwithstanding. Now that I have no other option but to stay inside, I can finally do things that I haven't been able to during the old "normal".

+Saving some money. Ever since the first weeks of quarantine, my college friend and I (there's 4 of us, but only 1 stayed with me before we both decided to go home on Thursday/Friday) got many food materials to work on by ourselves, both bought and received.

+Easier online college. I have trouble keeping myself up for usual college, having to bout against my boredom and laziness at class. This is not the case in online college, as I can occasionally cheat some of my time.

+More lazy time (especially during my self-isolation in Malang since last Friday). Need I say more?

+Not so many obstacles in my Ramadan fasting. Despite the seemingly treacherous time, Ramadan fasting, believe it or not, helps a lot in a time like this, as you needn't consume food and beverage until during certain times, which can serve as a physical therapy.

The negatives: -Boredom inside house. I'm the type of guy who likes having some walk to kill boredom during the old "normal", and the quarantine has contributed to this.

-Nervousness. This was especially prevalent when I was at Jogjakarta before last Friday. Although with me having more potential to work at, I am more and more able to overcome this nervous feeling.

-Deceased relatives. 'Nuff said.

-Economical difficulties. My family is of lower-middle class and has been striving to survive and have a proper living. My dad hasn't been working for a few weeks, as the place he works in depends on foreigners a lot, who haven't been coming there following the outbreak.

-This crisis is still no good for those who still need to get out to do some things.