Euw! Euw, euw, euw! Recently I read an article on “The Guardian” about new habits during home office and pandemic times. With people admitting they stopped taking daily showers – more like once or twice a week, often not even after doing sports -, same with washing their hair, brushing their teeth, changing clothes regularly. Euw! I was quite disgusted with some of the reports!
Well, it’s natural to get lazier in some regards. I’m not perfect either! I don’t spruce up for home office like dressing in classy pants and a blouse. (Unless I know I have a video call with a customer, then I put on a nice top!) Like most of us working from home, I’m wearing comfy pants, T-Shirt and a cardigan. Not to mention warm socks and horrible warm fluffy slippers in winter. (Those I would never admit buying! Ever!)
But apart from that, my routine has stayed the same. I’m wearing my basic make-up every day just like on office days, I regularly wash my hair – even though I just wear it in a ponytail – and also regularly re-colour it. I paint my nails, brush my teeth after breakfast and shower every day. I could never stand to go to bed unwashed, grimy. Euw! And euw again! Clothes? The same, changing shirts and underwear daily. Everything else is just not an option … and too horrible to even contemplate. Just thinking about how I feel after a transatlantic flight, grimy and dusty, desperate to get to the hotel and take a refreshing shower … or remembering my South America trip and the overnight bus journey … I couldn’t imagine not showering for days. Add the hot summer months … and the smells accompanying someone doused in deodorants and perfume … lovely.
I love home office, I really do, and I don’t really miss anything. But the downside, of course, is that one definitely gets lazier. The trips to work are gone, the lunch outings with colleagues, the “getting up” and visiting colleagues in other offices. Instead, we are constantly on MS Teams calls and often barely have a minute in between to get a fresh cup of coffee … or get rid of it again. On the other hand, lunch is freshly cooked or at least home-cooked and taken from the freezer. And my exercise is restricted to: getting the mail (at least I’m living on the second floor without elevator), getting coffee or tea when at work (since I have a large apartment it’s at least not “next door” but on the other end), going grocery shopping (a five-minute-walk up or down the pedestrian street), cleaning my apartment in regular intervals (vacuuming daily thanks to my cat’s hair shedding and cat litter grains distributed all over the place) and my lovely home trainer I try to use daily for half an hour (while watching Netflix or reading). I’m just not in the mood to do the whole self-testing craziness, the negative tests necessary to have a cup of coffee, lunch or dinner … so, I’m biding my time until I’m fully vaccinated … and then normal life with day trips, shopping and coffee outings will resume by just throwing my yellow vaccination pass at them and … screw you all!
Have your habits changed during the pandemic? How? Cheerio, MJ
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Wow, nice to know you keep up with your exercise for at least half an hour a day. I try to discipline myself to exercise consistently. I could have gone to a gym but with the delta virus and everything, I might not be able to just be on the cautious side. Hope you get your vaccine soon but still even after getting the vaccine, I wear a mask whenever I’m in a public place. LOL. Precaution. Precaution.
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By now I’m vaccinated and of course I wear a mask in shops and where it’s required. I never was a gym person … used to play tennis, swim and hopefully skiing vacations will be possible again soon. 😊
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