Two years ago on this very day I wrote a piece titled ‘quarantine feels’ and a year ago on this very day, I followed it up with another piece titled ‘quarantine feels, a year later’. Here we are two full years into this pandemic and an end is finally starting to seem like a possibility. With the title revolving around quarantine and how that affects a person, it’s safe to say this time around, most of you reading this are in fact, not quarantined (if you are, I wish you a speedy recovery), but are actually living as close as a regular life as possible in a pandemic. I was going back and forth about whether or not I was going to write a follow-up because it feels like the pandemic is over even though it is very clearly not over. Just this very year, the OMICRON virus was taking the world by storm so instead of talking about quarantine feels, I’m gonna talk about how COVID has affected our regular lives in a time where we can go outside, go watch a movie or eat a restaurant.

First things first, it feels like because we endured two years without going to the movies or eating at restaurants that most families find it very hard to transition back into that lifestyle of actually going out and having fun, especially once you realize that streaming services and food delivery exists. I cannot tell you how hard I had to campaign to get my family to watch ‘Encanto‘ in theatres. However, not every family or individual is the same, I for one spent an entire two years yearning to go outside and live life and get new experiences. I am so fucking happy I decided to buy a ticket to see Wallows live in concert next January. It’s my first concert ever and it’s going to be great! That being said, I was 18 years old when this pandemic started, I will be 21 by then. I cannot tell you how hard it has been to revert to that 18-year old, ready to start living life and become an adult when I’ve had to pause it for two whole years. I am just now gonna start driving lessons and I feel terrified actually. The idea of change actually happening feels bizarre and surreal especially when we’ve had to deal with so much of the same and essentially become recluses.

I am constantly making a conscious effort to go out and live life as best as I can, I am literally trying my best to live, laugh, love in these conditions. Watching movies in theatres even if they are available to stream has been so fun. Watching ‘Nightmare Alley’, ‘The Matrix: Resurrections’ and ‘Scream‘ have been so fun but I have to say that the three times I watched ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ were all stellar. My final showing was especially nice because it was just me, I took a small trip to a big city by myself and it was very peaceful and theraputic and I cannot wait to do it again. Another thing that brought me back was buying movie magazines like Empire and Total Film, I used to collect those so often pre-COVID and in 2020 I just stopped because I wasn’t going out anymore. I started to collect some in 2021 and now I’m on the hunt for each one and I know it sounds silly but it does make me feel better. It’s so important to gift yourself these small moments and buy yourself that gift, overthinking is so 2020, start living in the moment!

It can feel scary, the thought of getting excited to live again especially when new variants pop up every couple of months but if we’ve learned anything in these two years, it’s that we can adapt to literally anything. The importance of staying safe, getting vaccinated and wearing a mask is still crucial, I cannot stress that enough but while you stay safe physically, make sure to stay safe mentally and emotionally as well. Living life on standard mode all of the time where it starts to feel like a routine is not a way to live. I’m not saying that you have to go travel the world or go on wild adventures but taking some time off to treat yourself to a nice day and doing something that truly brings comfort to you is such a necessary part of living life. This is the third post I’m writing in what I guess would be called a series and while the first two were filled with dread and fear, I am so grateful that I get to end this one with a hopeful note. If you’re currently searching for a job, living life one day at a time or struggling mentally and emotionally, I just want you to know how proud I am, we are literally not given enough credit for enduring these two years so I just hope that you look around you today and feel proud and grateful that you are here, nearing the end of this long tunnel… hopefully.

If you made it this far in the post, thanks! It feels very theraputic writing these, I don’t really plan them, the almost act like a diary entry and honestly I don’t even know if I made any sense at all but I do truly wish you the best and I’ll see you very soon for more movie reviews!