Hello! Welcome back to Yours Truly, Katrina. This is supposed to be my blog, where I talk about lifestyle things. However, due to quarantine and COVID-19, there’s not much ~lifestyle~ to talk about! At least, not in the normal sense.
General Quarantine Updates
So, the last time we spoke about life, I mentioned that the timeline on this was uncertain at best. And here we are, five months later, still in partial quarantine!
On a personal level, my workout/health routine devolved very quickly following the start of quarantine. It was one of those things that I didn’t notice until I was already a few months in, and I will admit that I was very very hard on myself when I looked back. Especially with seeing all of those weight loss journey videos on TikTok! However, I am really making a conscious effort to give myself grace while also working towards my health and fitness goals. It is a pandemic after all, and my focus was primarily on adjusting to COVID life. (Adaptability is not one of my strengths…)
My job is not yet committing to a date for returning back to the office, so I’m assuming that the work-from-home sitch will be the norm for the foreseeable future. I have since come back to my apartment and I am very thankful to have my own space again. It gets a bit lonely every once in a while, but being home really had me feeling like I was back in 2013 (my junior year of high school).
Finding comfort in consistency
While old habits might sound bad, not all old habits necessarily are. In a time where things were becoming increasingly unpredictable, the things I could count on provided a sense of unparalleled comfort. These included everything from music (One Direction! Young the Giant! The 1975’s self-titled album!) to books (A Lite Too Bright, for all my Paradise Fears fans) to forms of movement (yoga!). It felt a little bit like regression at the time, but now I understand myself a little bit better. I needed these things to give myself a little bit of consistency. Everyone copes with change differently, and I think the past few months have been a great lesson in how I cope with radical change. Plus, it’s made me a little more confident in the things I like, which has been a game changer.
I feel like most of the past four years has been an exercise in chasing the things that I thought would bring me ultimate happiness – graduating, getting a job, moving into my own apartment, avoiding any negativity, being regarded as “cool” by my peers. However, quarantine and COVID have taught me that there’s no such thing as ultimate happiness. All of those things that I previously thought would bring me that are fleeting and nuanced. There is much more value in savoring the little joys in life, including the things that brought joy before responsibilities and the “right path” came into the picture. Even if that means embracing my One Direction phase again.
On Work (minus the WFH part)
Now back to work! Working from home honestly hasn’t changed too much for me. All of my meetings have just moved from conference rooms to Teams rooms, and I’m thankful for the ability to be flexible in my workplace. Kind of like a “zillenial”s dream, if you ask me. I do miss my friends, and there are some things that simply can’t be replaced with a virtual version, but other than that it hasn’t been too awful.
If you didn’t know, I started working full time as a Product Development engineer in a rotational program last year. In July, I started my final rotation, and in December I’ll move into my “final” placement. My second rotation was both wonderful and stressful – I was busy all the time, but I really felt like I was making an impact. Obviously, impostor syndrome and the idea of constantly learning are things I will always have to deal with, but I do feel like I started to come into my own over the past six months. My confidence has grown immensely, and it’s been really cool to observe that growth in myself.
As for this new rotation, it is a bit of an adjustment both in procedure and team dynamic. It’s funny that I said that adaptability wasn’t one of my strengths, because I constantly throw myself into situations that require a high level of adaptability! Regardless, I do really enjoy the work I’m doing now, and it’ll be interesting to see what this experience lends itself to in my final placement come December. For now, I’ll just continue to work hard and learn as much as I can!
Final Thoughts
There are a lot of things I dislike about quarantine. I dislike the anxiety that comes with being around more than ten people, the inability to travel as much as I’d like, not having content to write about, and the fact that people keep saying phrases like “the new normal”. (Honestly – if anyone says the new normal again in a meeting, I might just lose it!) However, I’m coming to terms with the fact that life will simply be this way until it isn’t anymore, and that realization is oddly comforting. Am I finally learning adaptability? Only time will tell.
How have quarantine & COVID life been treating you?
