COVID Impacts

As COVID requires physical distancing, wearing a mask, staying home with curfews, lockdowns, and vaccination drives it has had some positive impacts. 

What you may ask are some of these positive COVID impacts?  It may be hard to find anything positive, but there is always a silver lining.  The 3 positive impacts that readily come to mind are being more home based, creativity and yearning for a get-to-gather.

Home Based

Home based is being where we live, work or operate from.  A place where there is no policing of following COVID restrictions.  Thus no need at home for physical distancing and mask wearing.  Effectively being home based, we are in curfew and lockdown. 

Our home network, with connected home entertainment, office equipment and smart appliances, for many makes being home based tolerable and possibly desirable.  Who would have thought we could be video conferencing with our relatives and friends overseas or our neighbour next door from home?  Or that our manager is happy to join us from home on the Zoom meeting? 

My friend reported she now watches a lot more TV and movies.  Although over the years she had been paying for streaming services, she never had the time to fully utilise the service.  Now she can tell the channel and time of day for her favourite shows.  Not to mention the exercise and pet grooming programmes.  

As much as I love the outdoors, now I think about family activities that are home based.  Pre-COVID, just 2 years ago, we would have been heading for a day out with the grandsons, at a park, a museum or on the water.  3 weeks ago we were playing Snakes and Ladders, a home based indoor sport.  After the game my grandson kept telling everyone that he won the game.  With all my experience, why did I keep falling for the snake, sliding back almost to the start.  Seems I never learn!

We must spare a thought for the vulnerable and disenfranchised in society who may not have access to some of the basics we take for granted.  This is in part because they are more likely to live in unstable and crowded conditions in under-resourced areas, earn less, and have lower savings.  Not surprising, many jobs deemed essential, such as home health aides, nursing assistants, delivery workers, farm workers, grocery and food processing workers, have low wages and few benefits.  To think of it, anyone who has to put food on the table and pay a mortgage/rent is an essential worker.

Creativity

Creativity is sometimes seen as the nice to do when we have the time.  Curfew and lockdown restrictions give us the time, creating the space for us to play with exercising our brilliant brain, and realise new ways of thinking and doing. 

My husband gave me a Prada mask, in my sort of colours, red and pink.  But the mask was not a good fit.  My creative juices started flowing and out came the sewing machine and an inspection of the materials in my sewing basket.  I researched the number of layers of material to make an effective mask and created a pattern based on the Prada mask.  Before you knew it I made 7 masks.  Three of these home-made masks, along with the Prada mask are shown in the photo.  I gave my daughter 3 masks, as she has a similar facial profile to me, and kept 4.  This creativity allows me to match my masks to my outfits. 

Another friend reports she has been reordering her garden.  Plants that to her were an eyesore are now gone.  In their place are almost half the plants from her local nursery.  Let us all hope the rains come in time to give these new plants a good start in life. 

I experienced the calming impact Jean Kropper’s Meditative Drawing Workshop had on me last week.  A creative approach to time at home with pen and paper during COVID.  I drew small shapes, dots or lines over and over and over to create a pattern.  Then had to agree with Jean, that slow drawing is more about the enjoying the process of making a drawing than the end result.  Listen to Jean tell her paper creativity story. 

Get-to-gather

Now is the time to declutter the house and create a better living space.  You can contribute those toiletries and new clothes being decluttered by bringing them with you to our Sydney Caribbean Festival.  Your contribution will be donated to the Will2Live charity.  Remember “one man’s trash another man’s treasure”. 

Details of the Sydney Caribbean Festival are:

Venue:  North Ryde School of the Arts, 201 Coxs Road, North Ryde NSW 2113

Date:  Saturday 9 April 2022

Time:  Opens at 1pm and closes at 8pm

You can attend in person or online.  For more information and to purchase tickets, view here. 

Share with us “What are some of the positive COVID impacts for you?” Send us an email: [email protected]

Stay Safe, Stay Well!