Verified by 
After my first vaccine, I nearly cried and had to resist the temptation to wrap my arms around the complete stranger who administered it, a feeling dwarfed by the emotions I experienced after the two-week period following my second vaccination.
Feeling my grandchildren’s little arms around my neck, snuggling my brand new grandson with abandon, getting together with (and hugging) other vaccinated friends and family is the stuff not even pre-pandemic dreams are made of.
Can you say, “Heavenly?”
But interestingly, as I’ve been dipping my toes into the post-vaccination waters, I’ve also noticed some unexpected feelings. During my year-long, unprecedented experience with COVID, including nearly unbearable COVID fatigue and other intense challenges, there have also been lifestyle changes that actually enhanced my life, changes I’m leery of abandoning.
That proverbial silver lining behind the cloud, no doubt.
And when I’ve shared my nostalgic view with others, I’ve learned that apparently, I’m not alone. Here’s what countless friends, family and couples in my therapy practice have appreciated about their year-long, involuntary lifestyle changes.
Spending more time as a couple
Although being with one’s partner 24/7 has been stifling at times, many say that they have also enjoyed having had uninterrupted time together hunkering down, finding new ways to connect, and, in recognition of the need to get along in close quarters, discovering innovative methods to choose one’s battles and let the small things slide.
Spending more time with kids
While countless parents have confessed that they couldn’t wait to get the kids out from underfoot, they nonetheless have also appreciated the gift of unhurried time with them. Despite the pandemic’s undoubtedly unapparelled scheduling nightmares for working parents, there has also been an awareness that the extra time with their children has been a once-in-a-lifetime cherished opportunity.
It's an introvert’s haven
If you’re an introvert, you won’t need any explanation here. People who recharge by spending alone time have thrived during 2020. In fact, many introverts I know have said, “What pandemic?” They’ve enjoyed the solitude and mandate to avoid mingling with others.
The positives of working from home
Countless people have recognized how much they’ve enjoyed working from home, a serendipitous discovery during the pandemic. In fact, many have said that if they’re required to return to in-person work, they will find a different job.
A slower pace of life
Beyond the opportunity to spend more time with family, the pandemic has forced us to slow down tremendously. No running off to urgent work meetings, no chauffeuring kids to after-school activities, no busying oneself with social obligations that come about as a result of simply not being able to say, “No.” People have taken more time to smell the roses.
Spending time with pets
We’ve delighted in our canine and feline friends who kept us company and raised our oxytocin levels during homebound or lonely times. Pet adoptions and fostering increased exponentially during the pandemic. Now, as we become increasingly mobile, we also leave behind our loyal and loving pets.
Finding new hobbies
They say that necessity is the mother of invention. When our usual and beloved activities became prohibitive and our lives started to resemble scenes out of Groundhog Day, we had to discover creative and innovative ways to find enjoyment and add meaning to our lives. Many people undertook new hobbies and developed new interests during this period. (For example, sales of plants, seeds, and gardening equipment were at an all-time high in 2020.)
Appreciating life more
And last, but not least, in the words of a popular Joni Mitchell song, “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone?” The pandemic has highlighted the small, and not-so-small, things in life that have been sorely missed—hugs, kisses, dinners with friends and family, huddling with loved ones during difficult times such as illness or death, visiting elderly relatives, traveling to new places, celebrating or simply coming together. We now have a deeper appreciation for all these things and more.
In our hopefully soon-to-be post-pandemic lives, where we have successfully learned to live with the virus in the best way possible, what are we to do with our bittersweet feelings about moving on?
It’s simple.
After clicking your heels together in joy and feeling deep gratitude for having survived COVID when so many people throughout the world have not, vow to become a solution detective. Notice what worked for you during 2020. And then decide to make the necessary shifts and tweaks to incorporate these lessons into your life moving forward.
Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, “A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” Consider me stretched.
