10 Things That I've Learned from the Pandemic (So Far)

In no particular order...

1. I can cut hair!  Who knew?  I have no artistic ability AT ALL and hubby would never before let me near his hair but now that I did a pretty good job of cutting it, this might become a habit, plus it's fun!
2. I should really call people more often.  Since we have been quarantined at home, we have called at least one person a day to check on them and I have found that talking to people instead of just texting them or chatting though social media is much better and more personal.
3. I don't really mind staying home.  I'm pretty much an introvert anyway so not having the social pressure to always be out and about is awesome!
4. This is the first time ever that I've been able to keep up with a self improvement checklist.  I made the list more than a week ago and check off every single item, every single day.  Before I would start such habits then quickly drop them when I didn't have time because our schedule changed.
5. We did pretty good with having lots of food, toilet paper, and supplies stockpiled.  We have not run out of toilet paper so far, we could have technically gone without getting groceries all of this time (but our food would have been boring), and aside from a few "like to have" items, we haven't had to go to the store at all for the past month or so.
6. When you are in a disaster, whether a pandemic, hurricane, or other situation that turns your life upside down, comfort food is a must.  And so is chocolate.  Especially chocolate.
7. The media is 75% awful and social media is about 90% awful when it comes to contentious, misleading, and/or straight up false information about the pandemic.
8. The amount of things we actually NEED is quite small.  I haven't bought new clothes, new shoes, new tech, or much of anything else but some food over the past month or so and I've found that all of these things that I previously needed, are actually wants and not needs.
9. Our government is a hot mess at the local, state, and national level.  People still haven't been able to apply for unemployment--for more than a month--in our state as well as other states, people are overwhelming food banks, and economic insecurity will probably become the normal state of things in the future.  This is sad and our government doesn't seem to be helping much.
10. I don't miss eating out.  Before the pandemic we ate out several times a week (it was all free but still).  Now, while many restaurants are open for take out and we could actually eat out if we want to, I actually like eating at home better.