One year ago today I had my last day in my office. I know this because we were supposed to have an event on Pi Day (3/14) that we had cancelled because of the incoming threat of COVID and it was an event for very literally hundreds of people. We were answering calls and complaints and processing refunds. Then I wrote a check, cleaned my lunch container (as far as I know it is still there), and went home.
Monday morning we received an email asking us not to come into the office unless you needed a company issued laptop or phone. We started working 60 + hours a week, with hour cuts, pay cuts, and mandatory vacations through the summer as the world go more and more intense. Then raises, promotions, and 80 hour weeks into the fall and winter.
My partner and I have spent a full year with almost no one else. My cats separation anxiety has gone through the roof. We have switched diets approximately 4 times (Currently we are low carb). I have watched in the triple digits of seasons of shows, though to be fair many were repeats.
Family members have died and been hospitalized. Friends were laid off. It has been a really hard and weird year. It’s hard to believe that a full year of my life has been spent this way. 4% of my life has been a global pandemic, a national crisis, and not sincerely leaving my home.
I don’t know what the next year will bring, but if it is anything like the last one I am not at all prepared.
Pretend adult here 