75 Positive Covid-19 outcomes: Brought to you by the team at CCE
As the end of a complicated 2020 approaches and the holiday season heading our way, the CCE team took a moment to reflect on the year and what they are grateful for. Team members were invited to share positive outcomes or silver linings that may have come about due to the pandemic. They generously shared their experiences and given that helping one another is one of CCE’s values, we thought it would be nice to share with our community.
November 26, 2020
|
- Making the most out of nice days by going on walks, runs and hikes or other healthy, socially distant activities (get all the sunlight!)
- Being more aware of one’s emotional state
- Finding creative ways to maintain friendships through online activities
- Grateful for loving and caring children, family and friends
- Finding creative ways to avoid food waste
- Hearing children's voices as they play in the park outside
- Spending more time with pets
- Less commuting
- More time to cook nice meals
- Having a significant other or partner to go through this with
- A reminder that quality time spent with family and friends is not to be taken for granted
- Discovering the province of Quebec
- Grateful for family and friends who remain healthy and safe
- A reminder to take things one day at a time, that tomorrow is not promised, and the importance of gratitude and appreciating the little things
- Grateful for the baby boom; babies put a smile on anyone’s face
- Enjoying loungewear rather than corporate apparel
- Home redecoration and renovations
- Developing better habits to regularly tackle large house projects (painting that room, organizing that closet, etc.)
- Regularly doing High Intensity Interval Training exercises to substitute not having access to a gym
- Allowing time for academic or professional development projects
- Taking more time to reflect and plan ahead
- Binging on TV shows and movies
- Adding yoga to a daily wellness routine
- Grateful for laughter, smiles and just plain silliness!
- Developing patience to better manage stress and anxiety
- Grateful for a well-stocked pantry and deep freezer during the days and weeks of scarcity of basic supplies
- Happy to have followed the sage advice to save money and invest no matter how small the amount
- Grateful for the opportunity to travel in the summer months
- Developing personal faithfulness and mindfulness
- Waking up every day knowing it is a new day
- Appreciating having the means and opportunity to move
- Learning a new musical instrument
- Spending more time on creative activities (painting, drawing, needle point, etc.)
- Becoming closer with family far away thanks to the many video call platforms available
- Starting gardening as a hobby to make a more pleasant workspace and home
- Setting up a home gym to stay in shape
- Discovering that the Nintendo Switch was surprisingly an excellent tool to communicate (in addition to gaming purposes)
- Rediscovering past passions and hobbies
- Finally getting to that ‘to do’ list of things that’s been building over time
- Doing a “Marie Kondo” in all closets to get more organized
- Buying and selling stuff on Kijiji
- Time to mourn deaths or losses from home (as opposed to dealing with it at the office)
- Taking the time to call elderly friends who may live alone
- Finding pride in family and children’s successes
- Grateful to be working
- Less time spent in traffic
- More time spent with children
- Feeling content working from home
- Grateful to be working with kind people
- Saving money
- Slowing down social life allowing for more time to rest
- Grateful to work for a supportive employer
- Learning to “choose battles” and let things go: “Don’t sweat the small stuff”
- Grateful for security: financial, access to affordable health care, insurance
- The importance of humour
- Learning to cope in a situation where a lot is out of our control
- Enjoying the flexibility of working from home
- Many people and organizations were forced to re-evaluate their way of doing things
- Significant attention was paid, and improvements were made to provincial CHSLDs (still a long way to go)
- Grateful for the public health system in place, although not perfect, was able to address the situation
- The pandemic has called on people to be more aware and responsible for their local communities
- New accelerated conveniences as a result of the pandemic (online grocery, online doctor’s appointment)
- Major investments in mental health
- More homemade bread (thanks Ricardo!)
- Grateful for free parking over the holidays
- The undeniable positive effects on the environment
- Grateful that Concordia offered additional holiday time off to employees and students to cope with the situation and take care of family
- Discovering the benefits of meditation ...and a few stories from our team members:
- The pandemic was, for my husband and I, a time to pause and think about what we really want for our future. Not only did we have time to reflect, but we acted upon the decisions we made and are presently engaged in the resulting process of change.
- When the pandemic started, I saw an article where the author had written that “For the first time the world has stopped, now is the time to do all the things you have been putting off because you did not have the time.” I have tried to embrace that throughout and have had some definite positive changes since this all began. There of course have been downs as well as ups, but all in all, I feel like when this is over, I will have come out of this better prepared with some great new habits!
- Every day, I am grateful for my partner, who makes me laugh, loves me unconditionally and is still at my side after 36 years.
- The sun continues to come up each day, even if there are clouds in the way on some of the days. That’s comforting somehow.
- I’ve been managing my dad’s farm long-distance. I haven’t been able to go there due to the pandemic, but still managed to grow, harvest, dry, and sell about 1000 kilos of pistachios last month while sitting at home here in Montreal. I also harvested 600 kilos of grapes this past September
- My girlfriend and I have been together for 6 years now. Yet for the past 6 years we have lived separately, her with her sister and lately her parents, whom she sponsored for immigration from their native Venezuela. Me with my children every other week. It has been 6 years of intermittent nomadism, with each of us never feeling entirely at home. Then the pandemic came. I was working from home, my children were in remote schooling, my girlfriend was working from home, living with her whole family stuck in their tiny apartment. Then, we made the big decision to move in together at last. It felt great to have a project in common, and it was exciting for the both of us to visit apartments and browse classified ads – something I never would have thought to be fun.
- The pandemic has been quite a challenge for me. I'm guessing for all of us. As our good old Winston Churchill once said: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste”. I genuinely believe this crisis will bring better ways to live my life moving forward. Before March 13, I used to be very socially active. I would often go away on weekends, look for the best activities to do with my girls and husband, see the latest shows, and plan nights out with my friends. Don't get me wrong, I miss many of those things ... but I don't miss having so many distractions that kept me away from the essential questions. The questions that I decided not to answer because they were too painful ... Now, I write my thoughts and finally choose to address those questions that will help me grow peacefully with the people I love the most. Although I hope this crisis ends soon, this long journey has taught me to choose a more serene path, and I'm confident that the way I path that I have chosen is filled with love and hope.