Wow, what different times we are living in since I last posted in early March. We are now in the midst of a global pandemic. Here in San Francisco we’ve been sheltering in place for the second week. I already work from home, so that’s not a big change for me. Not that I’ve been able to do much work. I’ve found it difficult to concentrate. I keep scrolling through social media and news to read up on COVID-19, which puts me in a near constant state of rage and anxiety. Might have to get one of those Internet-blocking apps if I keep this up!
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I had originally planned to do one of my monthly shopping diary posts, but that feels frivolous now. It would have been about how ashamed I felt trying to use a $25 reward coupon at J. Crew. It took me over an hour to buy earrings that I didn’t need because I couldn’t find stuff I liked initially, but I felt like I had to spend the coupon! (For the record, I bought these acetate earrings and these pavé ones.) I felt pretty disgusted with myself for wasting so much time. Lesson learned: If I ever do this again, I’m setting a timer.
The pandemic has changed aspects of life seemingly overnight. Things I was worrying about a month ago (for example, Instagram growth) now seem silly. Things I was planning (trips to visit a friend and my parents) have now been dashed. The whole situation feels a little unreal, but it’s our new reality. I’m not sure if life will go back to the way it was before. This virus has revealed some major cracks in our society. I mean, never did I think that in one of the richest countries in the world I would have to dig up my small stash of N95 masks that I had bought for wildfires and donate them to a hospital. Because healthcare workers are begging for protective equipment. Because our federal government didn’t take this virus seriously at first and we are not prepared.
The United States lags way behind other countries in terms of policies that protect workers and families. We are seeing the ugliness of that right now. So many of the workers we depend on in this state of emergency — the people who grow our food, deliver it, work in grocery stores, make our meals — don’t have sick leave. Many of our major retailers don’t have paid leave for large percentages of their workers.
Maybe something will change after all of this? I have a tiny bit of hope that it might. I was heartened that some of the smaller (by comparison), more ethical brands I shop from did the right thing and closed their doors while continuing to pay retail employees. So many COVID-19 emails from retailers were about how they were sanitizing their stores. Everlane and Allbirds were the first in my inbox to say they were closing their retail stores (with pay for employees) — and this was before they would have been forced to do so by the city of San Francisco. (Allbirds and other brands have also donated shoes to healthcare workers.)
Anyhow, I can tell you that pandemic stress eating is a thing. (I’ve had carbs, lots and lots of carbs.) People are apparently stress baking so much it’s leading to an egg shortage. (Noooo!) My friend, a healthcare worker, has been pandemic stress shopping. Stress shopping used to be my thing, but I haven’t been as interested. (At least not right now.)
I did happen to order the Twisted Merino Cardigan from Everlane before the lockdown. I bought it after trying to shop secondhand first at some local thrift stores and consignment shops with no success. The Mister bought the Court Sneakers too. It feels so not worthy of discussion in these times of pandemic, but maybe it would be a distraction to review them here?
My sense of normalcy has definitely been eroding as time feels somehow longer these days. Perhaps it’s the grief. Our sleep schedules are off and tonight we ate dinner at 10:30 pm! (Spaghetti.) Gotta rein it back in. I continue to bullet journal to outline my weeks, though I haven’t been sticking to my plan that well lately. (You can see how I organize my pages in the header photo.) But I’m making an effort. We make sure to go for a walk daily (while staying 6 feet apart from other people, which means we sometimes end up walking in the street.)
I’ve experienced some loss in work because of the pandemic, but the Mister has a steady job with benefits and we’re lucky to have healthcare. We’ve been making donations to nonprofits, GoFundMes for the staff of favorite small businesses, and our local food bank. How are you doing during this time?
UPDATE – I wrote this last night. But today, customer service workers at Everlane who have been trying to unionize say they were laid off as were 180 part-time employees. This happened despite Everlane reassuring workers that business remained strong. WTF, Everlane! 🙁
On our most recent grocery trip today, there wasn’t any flour to be found! I wasn’t planning to bake anything too ambitious, though it would be nice to make some brownies and cookies… I still have some flour left, but it’s a bit well past it’s suggested use-by date. Little did I know that flour would become a hot commodity and be difficult to find.
My sleep schedule’s been a bit off as well, though we’ve settled into a fairly regular routine of doing workouts in the apartment, working, and cooking. I also continue to use my bullet journal, though the to-do list portions of it are a lot more sparse than usual with no errands to run outside the home and with work a bit slowed down due to courts being mostly shut and everyone working from home.
I hope that all continues to be well!
My bag of flour has a best by date in summer 2017 and it’s fine. Make those brownies and cookies!