5 Life Lessons (and Little Victories) From My Time with Coronavirus
Y’all. What a time to be alive!
Yesterday, I was released from my coronavirus quarantine, and, after hanging up the phone with the Gesundheitsamt (the health department), I enthusiastically bounded down the steps of my apartment building to breathe in the fresh air of the outside world and do the most thrilling thing of all: pick up some necessities at the local drugstore (Budni) and grab a luxurious coffee (i.e. not made by me) to take back home to my little Hamburg apartment in the sky. As I walked down the street, fully masked just in case, I passed people, dogs, traffic, lines for the local bakery, and so many signs of LIFE, in general. And wow, this sounds dorky, but I was literally overwhelmed. After being shut away from the world for two weeks, my heart was pounding and my brain was as stimulated as a child at Chuck E. Cheese for the first time. So much life! So many people all milling about. So much sunshine (this is a rare treat in Hamburg, regardless of quarantine).
As I nervously completed my errands and returned home, I felt utter relief when I shut my apartment door, took off my mask, and paced the kitchen floor with my not-made-by-me coffee. “What the heck was that, Hughes?” I thought to myself. Why was I so overwhelmed? And in that moment, I realized how much of a mental mindgame having Coronavirus is. Knowing that your body carries something that can silently jump into vulnerable bodies and cause utter destruction to a stranger’s life is terrifying, even if you follow the rules and, according to a calendar, should be “COVID-free.”
But I promise this post isn’t all doom and gloom. In fact, as I paced my cute, attic kitchen with my coffee from Just Green (a new, local cafe in Barmbek Süd), I realized just how many little victories I’d brought into my 48 square meter life over the past few weeks, without the luxuries of the outside world. Whether it be discovering Hamburg’s best grocery delivery service or live streaming puppies playing on a Sunday afternoon, my life for the month of January has been über weird and über enlightening. And in case you find yourself with some extra time at home these days (I’m guessing that’s… all of y’all?), I thought I’d share my nuggets of quarantine wisdom, and leave you with the 5 best things I discovered in my coronavirus lockdown!
1. Walk It Off!
Ok, this might be the best golden nugget of ALL quarantine time: Walking Workouts.
And you have to understand, this is coming from a person who used to run 15K every weekend before contracting the “Rona.” But walking workouts are an AWESOME way to start the day! I try to keep track of my steps every day with my Garmin running watch, and I decided to adapt this to my quarantine time as well. It’s too easy to start the day on the couch, work from the kitchen table, and then move to the bed in the evening, sliding around the apartment like a comfy & cozy blob. So, as soon as my health was better and my severe sickness subsided, I started Monday-Friday with Joanna Soh’s walking workouts, and was able to start my days with energy, endorphins, and a few thousand steps.
2. Grocery Delivery Pros and Cons
I’m late to the party on the grocery delivery game. Probably because, spoiler alert, I love grocery shopping. Lingering in the aisles, discovering new German treats, or comparing the sugar content of bad, Europan peanut butter brings me a strange amount of joy. But grocery shopping is a no-go during quarantine and, as much as I love my friends, if I have the resources to order online and leave my friends alone (for now…) I’d much rather do that. So! Kris and I tested several grocery delivery options in Germany and here’s what we discovered:
Rewe - How convenient that my favorite grocery store also has the most convenient and user-friendly grocery delivery experience? Full disclosure, the first time we ordered, the produce we were sent was really bad (a bag of rotten carrots, slightly-off broccoli, and a few other not-great items that Rewe later apologized for and credited back to us). But otherwise, it was super quick and convenient to order from Rewe, and the prices were very fair.
Amazon Fresh - We only used Amazon Fresh to have our groceries delivered in Hamburg once, and it was alright. The variety didn’t seem to be as extensive and the prices were slightly higher, but it was still a solid option if we found we were running out of something and needed a quick delivery for the following day (if we could find a delivery slot).
Edeka - Ok, normally Edeka is known as the more expensive grocery option in Germany, so I expected their grocery delivery would be on point. Nope! The website is old and clunky, delivery options are confusing, and their online experience, in general, felt poorly thought out. Don’t recommend.
*Note- there are also some smaller companies offering great, local grocery options like Frischepost. I’ve been wanting to try them for a while, and will probably do so when I don’t need to order everything from paper towels to toothpaste from one site.
3. There is Life Without Wine
This one was a shocker for me. Seeing as I couldn’t taste or smell for the better part of a week and was feeling under the weather, my evening ritual of having a glass of wine with dinner was nixed. Living in Portugal, having a glass of red wine in the evening became a staple of everyday life, as I thoroughly enjoyed trying all of the incredibly affordable local (quality!) varieties. But uh, I’m happy to say enjoying a nice cup of tea in the evening can also be lovely. Vowing to take this with me, post-quarantine, and incorporate more tea into my evenings!
4. The internet is amazing
Ok, here me out on this one. Throughout my quarantine time, I was able to:
Continue with my German lessons twice a week
Routinely workout (as soon as I was feeling better)
List and sell clothes online, with Vinted
Try new recipes, thanks to Rewe’s handy online recipe book
Stay connected with people, both via Facetime and Instagram
While my screentime was definitely increased over the past few weeks (and some of that time was definitely not productive), in general, I was able to keep a solid routine and stay inspired and motivated, thanks to some friends and teachers online.
5. Remote work is a blessing and a curse
Overwhelmed Walker Here!
This thought struck me as I video chatted with my HR manager, during full lockdown and a full working day. Don’t get me wrong, I took time off of work when I felt really ill, and made sure not to stress myself about sick days (luckily in Germany sick days are a real thing), but in general, I worked throughout the majority of my coronavirus lockdown. If I were to have a normal office job, there’s no way I would have been working for the majority of the past two weeks. I’d be a danger to the office, and the precendent would probably be that I’d take the time to recover and come back at full strength. Well, with remote work, there seems to be an unwritten expectation that as long as you don’t feel awful, you might as well boot up the laptop and get to work.
So while I was very grateful for the feeling of productivity and the solid routine, it’s safe to say I probably should have scheduled a few less calls last week. Lesson learned.
That’s All she wrote, folks!
The sunshine is currently calling my name, so I’ll wrap this up before I bore you with the mushy feelings of gratitude and the lessons in self-care (hello bathtime!) that I also took to heart during my oodles of time at home. More than anything, I found the moments of joy sprinkled throughout every day always came from humans: Seeing my nephew show me his fancy transformer-like Paw Patrol truck on Facetime for the 15th time, with the same enthusiasm as its debut on Christmas. Power walking like maniacs in the living room with Kris (and our pal, Joanna Soh). And commiserating with my Welsh classmate on our Zoom lesson about how seemingly impossible German grammar has become, as we threw out incorrect guesses of tenses for the 4th time (how many tenses can there be?!).
Even stuck at home, with the dreaded disease that’s taken over every news program, I was able to feel connected, motivated, and even inspired during what could have easily been a depressing and dismal 15 days. There was definitely too much screen time, a few too many heated arguments over absolutely nothing (like when to eat dinner. lol.), and an accidental order of chocolate ice cream (oops…), so please don’t think for a moment that I’m perfect. But I’m walking away from quarantine with a lot of discoveries that I hope can be helpful to some of y’all also facing an uninspiring time at home. (Oh, that and a LOT of hand sanitizer…)
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go out into the world for an hour, before becoming completely overwhelmed and returning home to be with my online friend, Joanna Soh…