Things Are The Same, Yet Everything Is Different
Fifteen months and 21 days after my last in-person client meeting (who's counting?), I finally returned to the same office where I worked for the better part of 20 years. I woke up on June 1 and resumed my pre-COVID morning routine. I was energized and excited, kind of like the much younger version of myself on the first day of school. There I was, happily getting ready for work - a normal activity – and acclimating to what's becoming a post-pandemic new normal.
My first day back was like a metaphor of life at this phase of the pandemic. Things are the same, yet everything is different. Things are better, but not entirely. We can go more places and do more things, but there are still restrictions. Rather than waiting for everything to open at once, it’s been happening at a gradual pace.
As I've done for so many years, I drove to the same building, parked in the same parking lot, and entered the same office. I redecorated during the pandemic, so the space looks different. While clients are slowly returning to my office, no one came in on that first day, and I met with everyone via Zoom. Overall, it was a good but strange day because, after so many months of not working in my office, everything was the same, yet everything was different.
The office re-do still isn't complete, like the pandemic, but it's complete enough to resume working in, so I opened-up. Some clients have returned to meeting in person, others are still virtual, while others have chosen a hybrid schedule, a new option in this new normal.
I'm acclimating to this (almost) post-pandemic world and readjusting to people not wearing masks or standing six feet from each other. Every time I see friends and family that I haven't seen in what feels like forever, I am so happy. I've loved getting out of my house and back to my office. And thankfully, I've adjusted to wearing pants that aren't yoga pants.
Life has been surreal since March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic turned our lives upside down. Now, in June 2021, as I turn my life right side up again, I'm looking around and realizing that, in some ways, everything is the same, yet everything is different.
Think about your life before, during, and now (almost) after the pandemic. Notice the changes you've experienced and how you figured out new ways to meet your everyday needs and responsibilities. I'm curious, do you also think that everything is the same, yet everything is different? Let me know!
