50 Things I Did Not Miss During the Pandemic

There is no doubt that the pandemic meant huge adjustments for everyone. Everything we do was impacted in one way or another, whether that meant work, school, hobbies, shopping, cooking or cleaning.

Seeing friends and loved ones face-to-face became a risky activity. As a result, our celebrations and traditions either changed or got deferred.

Throughout the pandemic, there was a tragic loss of life and businesses suffered tragic losses as well.

While I think everyone could come up with a long list of the things that they missed during the pandemic, there might be a bit of a bright side when thinking of the things we did not miss, during the stay-at-home advisories.

Here are my top 50:

1. Commuting;
2. Driving in snow;
3. Driving in rain;
4. Driving in freezing rain;
5. The fear of driving in freezing rain;
6. Driving around potholes;
7. Driving around random road construction;
8. Driving in peak construction season when it seems that every east-west artery is under some form of road repair;
9. Navigating through traffic jams;
10. The fear of having the car break down unexpectedly and becoming the cause a traffic jam;
11. Navigating through poor road conditions when the plow hasn’t cleared the snow yet;
12. Navigating through poor road conditions even though the plow “cleared the snow”;
13. Navigating around car accidents;
14. Navigating around bad drivers;
15. Spotting a driver with their eyes on their cell phone rather than the road;
16. Navigating around people who don’t use turn signals;
17. Navigating around gas prices that go up and down like a yo-yo;
18. In my last place, navigating around the obstacle course of my neighbours’ kids’ toys in the lane;
19. Packed parking lots at shopping centres;
20. People who park too closely;
21. Lack of on-street parking;
22. Running for the bus;
23. The bus running late;
24. A bus driving past my stop because it is already full;
25. Missing a bus connection;
26. Not getting a seat on the bus, and standing for the duration of the ride, when experiencing a back ache;
27. The fear of being late for appointments or reservations – I hardly had any appointments during the lockdown, so no problem;
28. Shopping on the days before a holiday weekend;
29. Boxing Day shopping;
30. Black Friday shopping;
31. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, holding my breath while transiting through department stores’ perfume counters;
32. People who check their cell phones during a movie;
33. People who feel a need to share their every thought during a movie despite strong shushing from everyone around them;
34. Office temperature fluctuations;
35. Dressing in layers to account for office temperature fluctuations;
36. Wardrobe planning;
37. Having the right outerwear in case of a sudden change in weather;
38. Having stayed at home as much as I did, I didn’t miss the winter road salt stains on my boots and the back of my pants;
39. The monthly testing of the office fire alarm system. Even though we get an email a couple of days prior, it still seems to catch me off guard and scare the crap out of me;
40. Office fire drills;
41. Trying to find a convenient time for a large group meeting, when most can be in attendance;
42. Hunting for boardrooms for large group meetings;
43. My waistline didn’t miss those baskets of leftover Halloween candy scattered around the office;
44. Having to plan and pack lunches ahead of time. Working from home, there was more of a sense of in-the-moment food decisions (provided I thought about it on the once-per-week grocery night);
45. Worrying about whether I properly locked the front door. I never went anywhere, so it was a non-issue;
46. Worrying about whether I properly locked the car door. I never went anywhere, so it was a non-issue;
47. Picking up a cold from “Typhoid Mary” at the office who didn’t stay at home;
48. While I certainly prefer living in a tidy house, I didn’t worry about dust bunnies too much, given that we didn’t have anyone over;
49. I did not miss worrying about how to navigate around concert or sporting event traffic;
50. The rush of buying tickets for concerts or events as soon as they were released (which seemingly got replaced by the rush of booking a time slot to get vaccinated);

For these reasons, after a year-long break from all of the above, I actually feel less anxious overall. Who knew?!

With vaccinations well underway, we are probably not going to be back to our old normal anytime soon, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.

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Have a great day,
André