It’s hard to believe it’s been 5 years since Covid. This isn’t a political post, so it doesn’t matter if you think the shutdown was necessary or a catastrophic. However, in my opinion, for me it was both good and bad. It was both a blessing and curse during that time in my house. Give and take, but I suppose that’s a metaphor for life in a way. There are always going to be ups and downs, ebbs and flows as we navigate through our journey on this rock.
The Bad…
Working in Education was a nightmare when the shutdown happened. My superintendent and I put in sooo many hours trying to get as many families setup with internet. Not the easiest task in rural South Eastern Ohio! We even went as far as discussing basically setting up our own ISP. It was exhausting having everyone ask me how my vacation was once school shutdown. Technology Directors had one of the busiest jobs during that time!
It was also hard with the entire family at home. My wife at the time was a teacher and our daughter was in Kindergarten. We only had one desk setup in the office at that time. So she would work out of there, reaching out to her students and go back and forth between the kitchen table where our daughter was setup to do her remote work, and I setup in the garage and worked at the bar with a temp setup. I’ve always been a tinkerer, a garage bum, some would say redneck, it’s my happy place to do woodworking, blacksmithing, mechanics, etc. So now that I’m working out there all day, it began to ruin that happy place! By 4-5pm, I was sick of being out there doing EdTECH work and had no desire to go back out after dinner. I never imagined I’d feel like that and hated the shutdown for it. Others I’ve spoken with have similar experiences. It’s different being forced into a remote job vs choosing that one of work.
I also feel for the kids that went through it. Everything was remote, even 4-H. Upperclassman in high school and college students might understand it or even be use to it but elementary students like my daughter struggled not seeing their friends.
The Good…
As hard as the shutdown was there were some good things to come of it. The best thing was being able to spend more time with family. It was a blessing to be home with the family every day (even with the struggles of work). It also forced us to find different ways to spend time together. When you’re stuck at home all day, and can’t go to normal activities, it was easier than ever to go hiking, go on photo shoots, and spend more time outdoors in general. 2020 is a big reason I really started focusing on photography. It was easier to find the time to practice these skills. The photos above for example were taken for a photo contest about the struggles of the shutdown. During the spring of 2020 we had a bad flood locally and it provided an excellent opportunity to go photograph the local state park.
In short I hope that others who experienced the bad, also found the good during that time. It’s always hard to escape the daily grind, and it’s good to take advantage of any opportunity that allows us to ground our selves and focus on what’s really important.
If you also had a similar experience, leave a comment below!
