WFH: Extended
Today our company made the decision to extend the WFH period through the first Monday in May. Usually, the first Monday in May represents a different kind of event for me (in case you don’t know, that’s when Vogue and Ana Wintour hold the annual Met Ball) but this year, that won’t be happening and as of now – that may be my first day back at my actual, physical, office…Again, this is if it’s not extended further which to be honest it probably will. That will mean that for two months, I will have been working from home. I can 100% tell you with certainty that I am not excited about this. As someone who, albeit is a homebody but, needs to be able to go places and run errands the thought of being stuck at home another month (or more) is excruciating. I know I have said this before, but I really truly under appreciated all the little freedoms I had before this pandemic. Simplicity was completely undervalued and taken for granted. The smallest of things, like a manicure or getting my hair done, a massage, even going to Target or the Post Office WITHOUT a mask was totally under appreciated.
Today I was thinking that it is extremely scary that things have gotten to the extent it has. Going out without a mask or gloves could lead to be deadly. It is our current reality that we are experiencing a life altering event, the way our grandparents did with WW2, the Korean and Gulf Wars, etc. Although, what we are being asked is tremendously easier than what our grandparents were asked to do (go off to war v. stay home and save lives) it is still very hard and very scary. Even worse is that there is no cure, at least not at this time and the more time that passes the higher the death toll becomes.
People I know are in the hospital on ventilators, and by people I do mean family friends. However I can tell you that the one family friend I am referring to is a doctor, in his early fifty’s who is on a ventilator in the hospital doing worse than he was yesterday but better than he was last week. Overall, it’s sad and scary. Just knowing someone affected is scary. But we can help slow the transmission BY STAYING HOME as excruciating as it might be. Whatever it takes to flatten the curve and get us back to normal, daily routines is what we need to do.
Additional to the health impact though is the financial impact that people are facing. So many people have been laid off, furloughed, and put in positions that they never imagined. None of us ever imagined having to figure out what we are going to do to provide for our families. It’s not something that is solely effecting one type of industry, but rather all of them. Friends who I know from my job at Disney have been laid off, others are still fortunate to be able to work remote albeit those opportunities are slowly dwindling. Coworkers in my current job have been forced into an early hiatus because production has been suspended indefinitely at the moment.
Businesses have had to close, and restaurants have had to adjust. In order to make any money and avoid laying off their employees, they have become take out or delivery only locations. Supermarkets are hiring large amounts of people to help give people jobs but also provide opportunities for others to restock on groceries and necessities. It is truly such a phenomenal time to be alive, and it’s not necessarily a good phenomenon.
