by: Fratri Edson Silva

I feel as though I have lived several lives over the past year and a half that we’ve spent living in this pandemic under (various forms of) quarantine. In March 2020 – when it all started – I was working as an analyst at my 9-to-5 (actually 6 p.m.) job, meeting friends on the weekends, traveling semi-regularly, and enjoying my daily commute because it was the only time I could zone out and listen to music. When the lockdown started, we all thought it would only last a couple of weeks.

Eighteen months later (at the time of this writing), I’ve left my old job and am up for regularization as a GL Accountant at a new company (which pays much better), I don’t travel at all (unless it’s to and from the hospital or grocery store), I still see friends on the weekend (on Messenger video calls), and I listen to the same songs I always have, but instead of during my commute, I’m in my room alone.

My daily life these days is nothing special – it’s probably a familiar story: I wake up at 11 a.m., having slept at around 3 in the morning (because my shift starts at 2 p.m.). I have lunch – sometimes with my family; sometimes alone – and wash the dishes because my sister and I have agreed to take shifts on that: me in the morning and her at night. Then, I head to the bathroom to get ready for work.

My work station has moved from our living room (where the router is), to the downstairs office my father built for himself, to my room, and then back to the living room. I need to change it up every once in a while to keep things interesting. There’s not much I’m allowed to report on what I do from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. (my working hours). When it’s a slow day, it’s easy to take a break, order a cold drink to save myself from the heat, or just sit around at home.

When dinner is had and the work is done by 11 p.m., I head off straight to my room. There are no coworkers to say goodbye to or have a drink with. Honestly, I haven’t met most of my coworkers – another thing to consider when switching jobs during a pandemic.

On my bed, I spend hours scrolling through social media, food delivery services, and online shopping apps, which are, from personal experience, terrible coping mechanisms when you’re being traumatized by a pandemic. By 2:30 a.m., I pick an episode of one of the myriad podcasts I listen to (I suggest This Might Get Weird, very funny) to fall asleep to.

Then, I wake up and start all over again.

So, what I just painted was quite a bleak – but honestly typical – day in my life these days. My fitness has gone to shit. I was at an okay weight at the start; I even lost some weight toward the end of 2020, but then I gained it all back and more halfway through 2021. My spending habits were at their worst last year (using material objects to feel joy), but I have since – thankfully – been able to rein that in and am now in a much better place financially. 

But emotionally?

I’m a logical person – a realist. I’ve always been someone who was quick to accept everything at face value, so as the months kept passing by, it wasn’t hard for me to accept that things were not going back to normal anytime soon, but I would be lying if I said these traumatizing times didn’t break me.

But don’t worry; it hasn’t all been terrible. I still continue to strive to find joy wherever I can – in healthier and more wallet-friendly ways. I’ve had friends over for COVID-safe game nights and get-togethers. Also, the ability to quit my old job and find a new one that pays more is a blessing I’m incredibly thankful for; I now have financial goals for myself in the next few years that I’m very excited for. My sister became a lawyer and engaged in the span of a year, which is exciting for everybody, and I am fully vaccinated! There’s always something to find joy in.

Right now, I’m just about to finish my master’s program at AMA University, which means I’m very close to becoming Fratri Edson Silva, MBA. This was a personal goal, promise, and investment in myself I made in November 2019, right before all this started, that, despite everything, has finally come to fruition.

So, what am I getting at here? I guess I just wanted to say that daily life may not be what you envisioned it to be, but life as a whole can still be what you want it to be if you try.