The pandemic and the resulting quarantines have somehow molded me into becoming a person with more planned out schedules in general. Pre-covid, I would just decide to run errands on the day itself because I could simply postpone them to another day if anything were to come up to change my plans. When quarantines started, I had to make sure to position all my tasks that demanded me to be out of the house all on one day. This would help me be more hygienic and less tired. I didn’t want to take a bath more than necessary, which meant I should only have one exit and entrance within the same day. It became customary to only go out once or twice in the week, and anything more than that would just be tiring and even excessive.
This, coming from a person who used to spend 90% of the week outside the house! I don’t know when acknowledging this shift in my habits will get old. It still hasn’t. It’s still amazing to me how these past few months have changed me tremendously.
Now, since people have become a bit more free in going out and about, I had my first burst of spontaneity a while ago. I was craving for fried tempura – something that isn’t quite the same when you choose to have it delivered to your home. There’s something about the hotness and crispiness of the dish that complete it, that is impossible to enjoy when you have to wait at least half an hour from the time it’s been cooked for you to devour it. That meant it was necessary for me to be in the restaurant in order to satisfy my unreasonable craving.
This happens very rarely to me – having a literal hunger for a particular food and needing it a specific way, enough for me to make an effort to get to it. When I have these yearnings, it’s usually not imperative enough for me to actually get out of my way and my usual routine just to be able to quench my thirst. And having to go out of the house at lunchtime during a weekday to eat some culinary longing is probably something I have never done.
It’s always refreshing to give yourself room for these kinds of spontaneities, and there really is fulfillment in getting to see them through. Even if the tempura didn’t turn out to be as delicious as I wanted it to be; even if it was a quick, short, and simple trip; and even if it feels as if I will want to have a more legitimate tempura this week or sometime soon, just the fact that I was able to do that freely is golden in the time of ECQ. It’s a gift, in the sense that if the quarantines never happened, it’s something I would see as random and mundane, not much of anything special.
I’m always thankful for how these experiences change me and my perspective for the better. I know this time has brought a lot of uncertainty and hardship for most people. And I feel for them, for all of us – I am not excluded from the collective plight. But if there are beautiful things that it gave me, too, I guess that’s a good enough reason to appreciate and bring them to light as well.