Over the past few posts, we’ve shared some thoughts and ideas on how to cope with the current pandemic. We believed these posts would be helpful for coping with both business and life. It occurs to us though that most of those ideas might seem a bit abstract, which is fairly common when blogging for such a diverse audience and so, we are offering our impressions of the pandemic lockdowns.
Despite the fact that our virtual marketing team works from home anyway, this crisis is very personal for all of us, affecting our businesses as well as our lives.
With that in mind, we’ve asked the members of the YOMT Team to share their thoughts on the impact that Cov-19 and the lockdown orders have had on their lives.
BTW… We’ve decided to keep these anonymous to avoid potential embarrassment or confidentiality issues. And so, in no particular order (and with no agenda):
Team Submissions – Effects of Local Stay-at-Home Orders
- So, the first way it impacted me was with my photography business. Due to the quarantine and isolation measurements, I have not gotten any type of photography work and previous jobs I had lined up were canceled. I have been lucky to get some video editing work online via Fiverr and other platforms. In addition to that, our 4-year-old son started doing homeschool which has been a challenge for me to become a teacher and also finding ways to keep him entertained and busy while my wife and I work on some of the projects we currently have.
- The pandemic hasn’t really changed how I work as I have always worked from home but it has affected my workload. Three prospects that were ready to move ahead with proposals have been put on hold indefinitely while this is going on. They will come back when things have been resolved but, in the meantime, I’m not really working very much. That being said, I am taking time to work on my own website and taking some courses to develop new skills.
- Staying with aged parents in isolation since March 13th. Comfort food, Netflix, conversation, laughter, walks, yoga, reflection, learning & reading. Video chats with children & grandchildren. 9 years working online & meetings. Networking online, a virtual board game party, even online dates. We’re in this together, I choose healing, growth & connection with love.
- The pandemic hasn’t affected me at all. I work from home, I’m still working from home. There’s a curfew in place 8pm-5am but as there’s nothing open there’s no reason to go out anyway.
- I work from home so the pandemic hasn’t affected my workload. Trips out of the house are very rare as I am considered “high risk”. My adult daughter was laid off mid-March and hasn’t received unemployment yet, so the household income is greatly affected and starting to become a concern.
Two benefits of working virtually for years is that during this challenging time, working from home hasn’t been an adjustment and many of my clients (who also do a lot of their work online) have so far avoided the difficulties that so many brick and mortar companies are facing. I feel really fortunate to be able to stay home and keep working.
- Since our family already works from home and also homeschooling, it’s business as usual for us. We have been scheduling special projects on the weekend like cleaning out and organizing our basement and closets so we have items to give away to others and generating lots of garbage.
- The pandemic swept over at a time when I had planned to execute some major life events so those are derailed. Work is slow, trickling in. I miss in person-connection with community and family. Day to day, things are fine. I feel lucky to be alive at a time when we have modern medicine and science.
- Covid 19 has really affected our daily lives. I live in Metro Detroit and just my city has a few deaths a day and right now about 30 new cases every day. School has been out for us since March 11th and my kids are due to start online school on 4/27. This presents a particular challenge to get work done as my kids aren’t particularly self-motivated.
- My son was going to swim in a relay for the state swimming championships in March, but that was cancelled, probably a good thing he missed qualifying for his individual events! He also missed his high school swim team banquet, where he was going to his varsity letter his Freshman year but, we’ll get to make that up.
Swim practice (which is a huge part of both my kid’s lives) has been cancelled for a while. We’d just be starting the long course season, so hopefully they can be in the water again soon – it really does wonders for my teenagers’ mood.
- Besides a few things being cancelled and having a hard time getting groceries delivered, life just keeps moving forward. I do think this emergency has shown us some harsh realities with our health care system but, will we act on them? That remains to be seen.
- The pandemic has slowed our busy schedules, given us more time together, tested our patience, and has taught us how to give lots of grace to one another. It has deepened my/our spiritual journey and taught us how to work together as a team to provide encouragement and stay sane with a consistent routine.
- This COVID-19 time has deepened my gratitude for having a career where I work online. I’m thankful that my skills as a Digital Marketer are being used more than ever during this time. As a family, it’s helped us learn to become flexible and patient. Homeschooling has presented new challenges and keeping our 4-year old son entertained has forced us to become more creative. Also, since I’m pregnant, I’m just very aware of the risks around and I’m taking extra caution to stay safe and keep our family safe.
- The pandemic we are under has helped unify our immediate family and extended family. We are more conscious of the blessings we have to work at home, help elderly neighbors that are ill and support local businesses. I am building more vegetable gardens on our property and growing an assortment of veggies from seed so that I can give them away. It’s the least I can do. 🙂 Stay safe everyone.
- During this pandemic, we have spent more time doing outdoor activities such as gardening and hiking. Our pace is slower as we have spent family time working puzzles, sitting in the yard talking and helping each other. I’ve also enjoyed more reading time. I am very much looking forward to being able to go to church again, though I am enjoying all the services and options that are available online.
- Since I live alone and work from home all the time anyway, it has not impacted me hardly at all, so I don’t have anything sensational to say. I guess I lead a very “boring” life! LOL
Work has slowed down some so I have spent time cleaning out drawers, closets, and cupboards, and purging stuff. That’s about exciting as it gets!
- This COVID time has taught me to have more patience trying to organize and schedule things. We’re learning how to work as a team with my husband after 7 years of marriage… ha ha ha. It’s been really hard to coordinate my time for work, time for my daughter homeschooling, time for cooking, cleaning and taking care of the baby. It is really hard not being with my family. And as a professional, I’ve lost my work from the Digital Marketing Agency as a Graphic Designer, and also as a Social Media Manager because they’ve closed.
As you can see, we’re pretty much like everyone else these days. We have to cope with the same changes you do and, while a career spent working from home has benefits for many of us, the increased isolation and/or distractions from family (and pets?) has had an impact.
Feel free to comment below, especially if you feel the need to share your own personal impressions of the pandemic lockdowns on your life and business.
Whatever you need, feel free to… Get in touch with the YOMT Team today
This Saturday will be eight months since my 21-year old son was killed in a motor vehicle accident. As we near Thanksgiving, I have had to dig deep to find what I’m thankful for. As I read the Facebook posts about what others are thankful for, they seem unimportant and trivial. And in some ways, they are — at least to me in this stage of my life — but I am also glad that those people can look at the world and be thankful for the sun or the rain or waking up in the morning — it means perhaps that they’ve not had to deal with a tragedy recently. I have come to figure out what I’m thankful for this year, and I’ll share that with you later, but first, a little more about Stefan and what happened.
