Real-people share stories about what they’re most looking forward to doing after having fully let go of the self-quarantine restrictions.
With most of the world under stay-at-home or shelter-in-place orders helping to flatten the curve and avoid the spread of the novel coronavirus, “social distancing” is a concept that we’ve all become quite used to. However, given the fact that we are doing our part to help others (and hopefully protecting ourselves!), it takes its toll to be cut off from friends, family and favorite hobbies.
Going to the movies
“I know it sounds pretty simple, but honestly, I’m so badly looking forward to seeing a movie again,” says Phil Kim, a teacher in Virginia. For Kim, who used to go to the movies once a month with his girlfriend, the most important part is simply being in a theater with an audience surrounding him. “Not too close, mind you… but not six feet away either. Just close enough, though.
Close enough to hear the sounds of laughter, or sighs of sadness, or gasps of excitement.” He misses the moviegoing experience so much that he jokes, “It doesn’t even have to be a good movie. I’d happily go see a crappy movie.”
Returning to normalcy
Virginia-based Lianne Farbes simply wants to get back to basics. “I am most looking forward to getting my routine back!” she says. A morning person who gets up with the sun before eventually heading to her job as a beauty brand specialist, Farbes relishes her previous routine. “I have my matchas and head to the gym by 8:30. Wednesday through Friday I am usually in-store at one of my retailers,” Farbes says. “I have approximately 13 stores that I visit on a monthly basis, so I am always around people.” She doesn’t just miss seeing people she knows—she misses people, period. “My job is a customer-facing one, so I got to meet new people every day, which I didn’t realize how much I would miss now that it’s gone,” she adds.
Nevertheless, it’s her friends and loved ones that Farbes misses the most. “It is hard to only see them over Facetime,” she says. “I have been trying to stay positive and creative during this time. I’m using organization projects around the house to pass the time. My birthday is on April 28 and this is the first year that I won’t celebrate with my annual solo trip to the spa. When all of this is over, I would love to make my pilgrimage and great my friends and family with a big hug.”
Going to Disneyland
“I didn’t realize how emotionally attached to Disneyland we were until we weren’t allowed to go,” says Melinda Jagger. “We have watched every documentary out there about the park and Walt since we’ve been stuck inside.” From the time her now five-year-old daughter was a toddler, Jagger, an annual pass holder, has been making trips to the park at least two or three times a month. “For most people, Disney is a big one time or once a year vacation, but for us, it’s become part of our ‘normal’ routine as a family.” She particularly misses Grizzly River Run at Disney California Adventure, as well as the poké bowl at Lamplight Lounge.
Currently battling breast cancer, Jagger is adopting a wait-and-see mentality about going back, even once the park is open. “The safety question is a bit loaded for me since I’m on chemo,” she says.
Still, Jagger is dreaming of the day when she and her loved ones can finally return safely. “Some of our best family memories are there and we can’t wait to get back to making more soon!” she says.
Self-pampering
“Mine will sound so shallow, but I look forward to looking like myself again,” says Aly Walansky, a Brooklyn-based writer. “I want my hair done, I want a brow wax and tint, and I need my nails done. It seems so silly in the big scope of things but it’s what I fantasize about—oh, and also going out for a martini with friends and maybe some sushi!”
Walansky, who normally covers dining, traveling, and fashion, goes to a new restaurant or bar at least once or twice a week, usually on assignment. Lack of routine is just as hard to look forward to as a lack of little treats.
“I feel like so much of why this quarantine is hard is because we don’t feel like ourselves, we don’t look like ourselves, and we’re not acting like the version of the selves we’ve always been…or at least seen ourselves as,” Walansky says. “So a return to that normalcy—seeing my favorite blowout gal, having nice nails, going to my favorite bar and ordering that martini—it’s just….being me again. That’s what I keep missing and craving.”
Celebrating my daughter’s graduation properly
Kim-Marie Evans, a Connecticut-based mom of four, says, “As much as I love having my college kids home, I miss visiting them on campus. My kids aren’t the only ones missing their college lives, I am too.” Evans is particularly disappointed for her daughter, who will be missing out on college graduation. “My daughter is graduating with a double major and almost a 4.0, she doesn’t get to walk—and I don’t get to cry and watch her and take photos,” she says.
“The senior walk through the campanile is steeped in tradition, and all the things she and her best friends have looked forward to for four years are just gone,” she says.
“I am trying to turn this into something magical and memorable,” she says. “We are going to recreate graduation in our backyard and do some keg stands! She has a good friend who lives in Phoenix and if we can get him tested we are going to have him come here also and we’ll do a big thing for the two of them.”
Gladly do basic chores outside the home
“My wife and I both work and have a three-year-old. When this first started, we thought it would be two weeks and be a breeze, like an extended snow day. Wow, were we wrong,” says Adam Weinstein of Atlanta. They quickly found the challenges of working from home with a toddler overwhelming. “At one point, he was watching TV most of the working day and we said, ‘Enough,’ and actually found a part-time nanny. It was a difficult decision to weigh the risk of bringing someone into our home, but for our sanity, we had to,” he says.
“I used to loathe having a weekend packed full of plans of things that I didn’t want to do and would be happy if someone called on me—now I would do anything to be dragged to IKEA for four hours!” he says.
Enjoying my bachelorette weekend
For Ashleigh Whitby, her Miami bachelorette weekend–rescheduled from the weekend of Memorial Day to the weekend of Labor Day–is what keeps her motivated during self-quarantine. “With all the stress of wedding planning and now the coronavirus, I’m looking forward to decompressing with my best friends on the beach!”
Whitby is particularly excited to see her old friends, many of whom she hasn’t seen in years.” One friend is flying in from California, while I live in Georgia,” she says, adding, “I’ve been talking to most of these friends through Houseparty and FaceTime. My friends consist of college friends, friends I’ve gained through previous jobs, and family members. I have a large bridal party—nine bridesmaids—and most of them are actually friends from college at Mercer University.”
With the bachelor party rescheduled once, Whitby clearly hopes for the best and concentrates on what she can manage. “I am looking forward to surviving this pandemic and celebrating our love with all of our closest friends and family.” The date they chose is particularly meaningful: “We are getting married on my maternal grandparent’s wedding anniversary.”
Hosting a happy hour
James Hill, the blogger behind the ManTripping.com website, a lifestyle platform devoted to positive masculinity, has used the pandemic to collaborate alongside other male bloggers on a virtual happy hour live stream. “To support people in the hospitality industry affected by quarantine, including bartenders, budtenders, musicians, winery, and brewery owners, we’ve turned the site into: ‘What are you doing to recover and how can we support you right now?'” he says. Once the quarantine is over, he plans to keep highlighting people who are adapting to today’s strange new reality. “It’s something that we hope to continue once things are ‘back to normal,’ though obviously there will be some transition in the process with topicality,” he adds.
“I haven’t seen him in over a month,” he shares. “Ultimately, I can’t wait to get back to a state in the world where Kevin and I can hang out with our favorite bartenders and restaurant owners and do meetups with friends again in person.”
Doing Pilates workouts for my back
Gloria Yang can’t wait to get back to her pilates classes. “I tried my first reformer pilates class in November 2019 and instantly fell in love with it,” says Yang. “As someone a bit curvier, it’s hard to find exercises that won’t hurt my back or hurt my knees, or ones that feel effective even with modifications. But with reformer pilates, I feel completely supported. Instructors are there to make sure my back and my neck aren’t hurting but that I’m still engaging in all the targeted muscle groups for each exercise.”
“It used to hurt my back to sit in a car for more than 30 minutes,” she says. “After a month of the reformer, two to three times a week, that stabbing back pain was gone and my core was much stronger.”
While she’s tried streaming mat classes online, it doesn’t replace her with the computer, not to mention a live class’s consistency and support. “I also miss the camaraderie of my classmates as we show off our cute grippy socks!” she says. “I can’t wait for my class to resume so I can have a proper workout again!”
Introducing the grandparents to their newborn
After moving back from California to Kentucky in the middle of the pandemic, only before other states implemented shelter-in-place measures, Robin Phelps can not wait to visit her grandparents with her infant daughter. “I’m most looking forward to letting my grandparents hold my newborn baby they’ve never met!” she says.
“We normally would have been there weekly by now,” Phelps says of her extended family, including her 90-year-old grandmother. She explains that they were afraid of getting stuck in California for months when the pandemic hit, as they were already planning a move back to Kentucky. “We moved plans up two months and left two days after shelter-in-place orders were given.” However, the timing of their move meant the family has been confined to their new place. “People are asking, ‘How’s Kentucky?'” she says, adding they reply, “Um, we don’t know?”
Phelps, her mother, and her five-year-old daughter are riding out stay-at-home orders working from home, homeschooling, going every day to the pond to feed the ducks, and taking care of the baby, but it’s the idea of seeing family again that gets through them. “Both of my grandmothers love babies—they had 12 between them—so they will be overjoyed to cuddle her! Now to be able to watch her grow in person rather than FaceTime/photos will be worth it all.”
