Life After Covid: Dressing for a Fresh Start
Oh, that’s a painful title. Apologies.
This post is inspired by Julia over at When the Girls Rule. She was feeling philosophical as the date of her first vaccine was approaching and feeling like maybe, just maybe, all THIS was coming to an end.
As I’m writing this, tomorrow is the day of my first vaccine, and there is definitely a feeling of taking a step towards…I don’t know what exactly. I mostly did not mind “quarantine,” as I enjoy need a lot of time to myself, anyway. Quarantine just made it easier. And I’ve enjoyed that for a time there were fewer people out in the world. I’m not like agoraphobic or anything (at all), everything is just easier when there are fewer people. There’s less traffic, there’s more parking, there are shorter lines, there aren’t people interrupting your view of things. It’s just nicer. And I’m grateful for having been able to experience that for a short time. It’s probably a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.
But things are moving more towards normal with each day and pretty soon Covid and 2020 will just be a weird “ooh, remember when….” memory.
But as Julia pointed out, a significant event like this can be used as an opportunity to assess, think, grow. She shared some questions with her readers, and with her permission, I’m sharing them here with you. I’d love to hear how you’re all feeling as you’re moving away from Covid Life a bit.
HOW DO I WANT TO EMERGE FROM THIS?
I want to make more opportunities for myself to do things, go places, learn more. I intend to make full use of the fact that The World is Open for Business again (you know, when it is) and go all the places and do all the things. Going and doing feel like luxuries after the past year…luxuries I will not take for granted again.
HOW DO I WANT TO ENGAGE WITH THE WORLD AGAIN?
For me, quarantine was the respite from people/the world that I feel like I have needed for my entire life. After having some time away from THEM, I feel a little easier about rejoining the world. I have actually been seeking people out more, reaching out to old friends, picking up the phone more (if you know me in person, you know the miracle that THAT is).
So for me, the question isn’t so much “how do I want to engage with the world AGAIN,” as how do I want to engage with it period. Because engaging with the world has not been my happy place for a very long time, and was usually avoided when possible. So I will continue to give myself permission to Be Alone as needed, even when that means saying “no” to people and invitations…to enable myself to feel more comfortable in doing more things with people.
WHAT DO I WANT TO KEEP FROM THIS TIME AND WHAT AM I HAPPY TO BE DONE WITH?
During quarantine time, while my world was, on the one hand, smaller…on the other hand, it started feeling much larger. For maybe the first time in my life, really, I started looking beyond my own little box (#americanwhitegirl) and really looking at people of other races and from different cultures.
The horrific events that led to this year’s Black Lives Matter movement were eye-opening and I made it a point to learn more about black history and chains-of-events that I had not been aware of before…and start to understand how all of that has resulted in our current culture. I don’t intend to stop learning and trying to understand.
TikTok. Yes, “that silly dance app” has introduced me to many different people, cultures, gender identities, etc. The power of seeing people different than yourself on a daily basis is not to be taken lightly. It normalizes things that before you only “knew existed,” but weren’t seeing them as part of your everyday life. Now I am reading about the violence against Asian people, trouble in Myanmar and Thailand…and trying to learn and understand all the many iterations of gender identity.
I read and listened to more news in the past year than ever in my life, between the virus and the political environment. It has certainly dropped off to an extent, but I don’t think I will ever be buried as deeply under a rock again as I have been for the majority of my life.
I guess the only “what I’m happy to be done with” item is WEARING A MASK. I do it because it’s the right thing to do but MAN do I hate wearing that thing.
HAVE MY PRIORITIES CHANGED – DO SOME THINGS HAVE MORE MEANING AND SOME THINGS LESS?
Hmm. I need to think on this a bit more. I’ll get back to you.
Insert awkward segue into clothing portion of this post here
And along with a fresh start after a year of Covid, some new colors can bring a fresh start to your wardrobe.
Oh wow, that’s bad. Forgive me. I’m feeling awkward today and just can’t do it any better than that.
A LILAC SWEATER! One of the springtime colors I’ve been craving…and such a nice addition to a palette of darker winter colors. Lilac is like “gentle purple” to me. Purple Light.
While I’m wearing it here with black skinnies and flats, I will also wear it with white jeans, light-wash denim, and if I can ever find myself a pair of “washed black” (which is not the same as grey) jeans, I think that would be a great combo. And one of my quests for this year is TROUSERS. I would love this color over grey wide-legged trousers with chunky white sneakers.
The v-neck makes it so versatile as it can be worn alone, over a tee, turtleneck, or collared shirt.
What new colors are you craving for spring?
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em
Well, as usual, I came here for a different post and got drawn in to wanting to read all the things…haven’t gotten to the original post yet. THIS is why I need more surfing time in my life. I could read posts from my favorite bloggers…interact on Instagram… Which brings me to what you’ve written above. I think we are SO very similar in our people-ling, Your words above could’ve been mine. Which, I think, is why I feel such a strong (and maybe unnatural) connection to the bloggers I am “friends” with… Funny that when I talk about all of you to my family, I describe you all as “‘blogger friends,” but those I interact with the most DO feel like friends… to me. ANYWHO…when life picks up speed again, that will be interesting. I am feeling called to be more outgoing…but I think I will be VERY antsy simply being around people again.
AND…thank you for reminding me that I also have a lilac sweater–in a color similar to YOUR gorgeous swearer– that is perfect for the transitional season. Love it with black pants and a white shirt….even though I haven’t worn actual “pants” in over a year. (and that was a bummer, because I had just purchased SEVERAL pair to get me out of jeans mode before you-know-what hit.) Love your outfit, thanks for the inspo!
bettyewp
Yep, “internet friends” have been my main socialization point for MANY years…like…since I first discovered the internet back in 1995. Can you say “MSN Chatrooms”?? Ha, but I always managed to find a small group of people that I vibed with and felt comfortable with…and that was all I needed. And I think because I had THAT I didn’t feel a strong need to meet REAL people, and have always been content with 1 or 2 close friends.
So it’s so weird for me lately that I literally feel like yelling LET’s BE FRIENDS to All The People. The REAL people, like the Out in the World people. And that has NEVER been who I am. But I know I still have a very low “people tolerance,” as far as time spent with them. So I need to take care of myself in that regard.
PS – there is NEVER enough surfing time in my opinion. The endless delights abound…and if you get bored with one thing, several others will pop up in its place. Now I’m obsessed with watching people doing insane physical/athletic things…AND people who are just extremely talented at sports and dance things. Those things have NEVER really interested me, but now? I want it all. And don’t even get me started on figure skating, haha. Who even AM I??
xoxo
jodie filogomo
It’s funny because when you take the introvert/extrovert test, I actually fall on the introvert side. But you’d probably never know it in person. One of one with people is the way I love to interact, so this year has made that SO hard. I think we also accommodate well (to me it’s one of those human traits we all have) so there’s part of me that is used to the less socializing. Yet I’m not sure it’s been good for me. I’ve been more depressed or annoyed lately (and I don’t like it when that happens).
What your words mean to me, is proof how we are all so different. And allowing each of us our differences is something that will help change the word.
OXOX
Jodie
http://www.jtouchofstyle.com
bettyewp
DIVERSITY RULES! Or, it SHOULD. Hmm, I just had this thought…you know how we (Americans) say “Democracy rules” (an expression I’ve always disliked, by the way), maybe we should really be saying DIVERSITY RULES. This might make sense only in my head. There are so many things that make PERFECT sense in my head that I can never quite put a voice to so other people can understand it.
What am I talking about? Em has got me all riled up.
“I’ve been more depressed or annoyed lately (and I don’t like it when that happens).” Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. I’ve been annoyingly NON-depressed, which is a unique treat for me (maybe not so much for those around me but).
I think introversion/extroversion fall on a spectrum (as do MOST things, IMO), so I can understand an outgoing person falling on the introvert side in a quiz. Plus, those quizzes are way too black and white and we’re mostly shades of grey. Or “rainbow” in your case 🙂
Em
YES!! Especially to paragraphs one and two. I had to delete Tik Tok because it was making my chin triple.
bettyewp
What? Chin triple? Remember, I’m dumb, I need things dumbed wayyy down. is this “sitting around too much” reference, or “looking down at the phone” thing – or is that just me?
em
Good grief, I seriously should carry a translator around with me who can explain all the dumb things I say. The comment at my house is that I’m spending so much time looking down at my phone that I’m turning my double chin into a triple.
bettyewp
HA HA HA HA I’M ROLLING. Please stop. My landpeople think I’m crazy as it is.