What we learned during quarantine

​There’s one thing that we all agree on – everyone is tired of COVID.
But unfortunately, it’s not going away anytime soon. We are attempting as a community – and as a country – to lower the number of cases daily. But our definition of normal has changed, for better or for worse.

This virus took the world by storm and forced us to hide away in our homes, avoiding social interaction, and only going out for essentials.
As businesses, offices, and schools slowly start to reopen as people eagerly wait for life to go back to normal and try to put all this behind them, there are lessons that we learned during this time of self-isolation that we need to carry with us.

We’ve learned some things during the pandemic that we should keep doing, even after the pandemic has subsided:

Kindness - because of the pandemic, people were finally showing how grateful they were to healthcare workers by making signs and showing their support. There was also an abundance of signs on lawns across the city asking people to “honk” for the special birthday kid.   
And let’s not forget about June 27th, Miracle Day, where Windsor-Essex donated 2 million pounds of food by placing items on a porch to be picked up later that day to help local food banks.
In a time where people are pushing back from wearing masks, it’s stories like these that show how much we can help when we work together.
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Doing things for ourselves – during the pandemic, there was a spike in DIY projects. Since people had more time on their hands, what better way to pass the time then to catch up on fixing things around the house or building a fence in your backyard? 
This time also saw a spike in people cooking and baking as they tried out new recipes to cook for themselves and their families. It’s this type of self-sufficiency that should continue long after the pandemic is over.


Family time – since parents and children were both stuck at home, Tik Tok saw more parents participating in Tik Tok videos with their kids. Not only were parents and kids dancing together, but parents also became substitute teachers as they tried to help their kids learn new things to keep themselves busy. Family time is always necessary and should not be forgotten, even when life becomes hectic again.


Learning to be alone – being quarantined – whether alone or with family – can put things into perspective. It was a time of forced reflection where people had to face the one person they haven’t spent time with in years – themselves. Taking the time to get back in touch with yourself, doing the things you enjoy, taking care of your mental health, and finally doing the things you’ve been putting off is something that should be brought with you, long after this is over.

And the final thing that people should take with them moving forward:
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Hand washing - we should always wash our hands to help prevent the spread of germs.

Overall, we’re all in a place where we want normalcy and want to write off 2020 as a whole, but I think we should think positively. We should bring these lessons from being quarantined over into our “new normal” to be kinder and more self-aware to ourselves and others.

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