How Our Homes Have Changed in the Past Year
I can’t wait to get out of this house.
We’ve all said it plenty of times throughout this past year. While we’re all ready to break free and get back to life, our homes morphed into whatever we needed it to be throughout this past year. It no longer became the in-between place and where we crashed at night. It was our first place, second place, and third place, all in one.
“Your first place is your home, a private and domestic space. Your second place is your work, a structured social experience, and where you likely spend most of your time. Your third place is somewhere you can connect with others, share your thoughts and dreams, and have fun.”
Being busy wasn’t just something we said. It was a way of life for many.
Our weeks packed with work, passion projects, or second jobs, and let’s face it, commuting to those places. Weekend plans of family, friends, birthday parties, or, you guessed it, more work.
To be honest, I spent a lot of time in my car. For anyone living in a popular city/suburb, you know, your car ends up being your “fourth” home.
I used to spend very little time at home.
I was busy, exhausted. When I finally made it back home, I was hungry and ready for bed. Who has time to cook? Who has the energy to clean or time for nurturing relationships? I felt guilty.
I felt like an inadequate partner to my husband, bad dog-mom (can you imagine the guilt if we had kids), bad sister, daughter, aunt, niece. You name it. The shame was real. I only felt like I was showing up for my jobs, and even then, I had bad days. March 6, 2020, we had plans to spend time with family when we decided to stay home. “We’ll see you in a week or so. Let’s just let this thing pass.” We all know what happened next. [Cue, the dramatic video recap of the world, shutting down]
Our first, second, and third homes all became one, and it happened overnight.
Appreciating every square foot of our homes
The pandemic brought up feelings surrounding our relationships with our homes. Did you find yourself making plans to go to “the gym” aka your living room, or “out to dinner” at your favorite pub Friday nights aka your backyard and homemade pub food? Whether we Marie Kondo’s our smaller spaces and upgraded or worked with what we had. Can we all agree that we appreciate our homes much more than we did a year ago?
We found creative ways to make an office and or gym.
It didn’t take long to realize all that was needed was wifi and a computer to adapt to work from home life. Our dining tables, beds, or countertops all subbed as workstations. When it came to working out, finding the equipment at the height of the pandemic seemed near impossible. Canned beans, bottles of wine, and books became our new gym equipment. Are you surprised at how easily you adapted? I’m not either. We found ourselves feeling lucky we were healthy enough to move and appreciative of having employment, and if that employment where we could WFH.
Lost jobs, businesses closing for good, and loss of lives were happening daily and by the thousands. It’s hard not to put that all into perspective and be thankful.
Finding our way around the kitchen
You never had more time than you did in the past year to find your way around the kitchen. You may not have become the next top chef, but you were able to make cautious decisions about your meals. You were in charge, and having time to sit down with a loved one for dinner you may have missed due to sitting in traffic was the icing on the cake.
Slowing down and prioritizing relationships.
As Brittany said in, What Habits Will Stick in a Post-Pandemic World—prioritizing relationships was a necessity. We were already isolated physically, reconnecting with friends and family through facetime, zoom happy hours, or even virtual workouts. The home became the “third place” where you were able to work on those relationships that mean the most.
Not every moment at home was fun, or glorious and I’d be remiss to say that everyone shared these same experiences. So while it is easy to think of all the things we could change about from our experiences last year, remember those front-line workers, the essential employees, the people who didn’t have the luxury to stay at home.