For me, my job has been hybrid for 20 years. So, WFH some, and in the office some. We were told on Thursday, March 12th to prepare to WFH full time for the next 2 weeks. Little did I know that Sunday, March 15th would be the last time I would be leaving my house for months, at least not in any meaningful way.
The evening of Monday, March 16th, the Governor of my state issued a state wide lockdown of non-essential business, to go into effect at 5 PM Tuesday the 17th. I can’t recall what the timeline was for how long that was supposed to last, but it ended up being almost 2 months before business like restaurants had figured out how to be open for takeout only. It was almost a full year in my town before things were back to the “new normal”.
We’re still full time WFH, and there’s no going back to the office for me. They sold the building, so there’s no where to go.
Life has never fully gone back to the way it was prior to that, and it probably never will. That’s a scar that will just never heal.
On a weird personal note, I was notified on March 18th, 2020 that my divorce from my toxic ex wife was finalized. Didn’t get to celebrate for like 6 months lol.
January of 2020 I remember seeing the outbreak in China and I immediately jumped into action. Up until that point, I would never have really considered myself a “prepper,” but I would say I was typically more prepared than most.
I went out and bought 3 months worth of supplies and tried to warn all of my friends and family about what was coming. I actually lost friends over it because they told me I was overreacting and being an asshole for telling them to avoid going to the bar for St. Patrick’s day. The US came unglued a week later and some of them actually contracted Covid from going out that weekend.
That taught me that I needed to consider the kinds of people I had in my life and if they weren’t willing to pay attention to the world or listen to me when I had legitimate warnings it wasn’t worth keeping them around.
Nowadays I am 3 month ready at all times. I’d like to be more, but I have debt to pay down at the moment and that’s essential at a time like this. When traveling with a vehicle I am at least a week, if not a month ready, at all times. I bring enough tools with me to get out of any roadside situation (something I’ve always done) and even the ability to set up a small camp/ shelter if needed.
Covid simply reinforced the concerns I already had about the world and motivated me to take action for the future. Climate change and related disasters are an existential threat, and that has become my greatest prep. Everything else in society can, by comparison, be fixed with relative ease. We’re witnessing the collapse of democracy in the US and it may as well be a fart in the wind compared to climate change. That statement comes from a place of privilege as I’m fairly insulated from the current political turmoil, but my point is there’s still a chance we can turn that around. We can’t fix the planet in my lifetime, possibly ever, so we will have to roll with the punches as they come.
wow, this is what happened to me in January 2020 almost exactly. those friends that made fun of me and called me a doomsday prepper ended up apologizing come March, but they’re no longer in my life. while the covid comments weren’t the reason, i definitely am glad i’m not around them with everything that’s happening now. the gaslighting of “everything’s fine, you’re overreacting” was shitty 5 years ago, i can’t even imagine it now