DEALING WITH THE PANDEMIC

                                           

It has been 2 years since the last time I wrote for this blog and I've heard that several people have been waiting for an update :D 

This pandemic hit us so badly, and forced us to change our habits & lifestyle. It has also stolen our freedom to express ourselves. During this trying times, there were several challenges that I faced and I wanted to share my story with you all. 

1. Early 2020 

The news about the pandemic started to get highlighted on March 2020. The reactions were a mix between between those who believed the news and wanted to prevent such a catastrophe, and those who couldn't careless, continuing with their lives as if there wasn't a global threat hanging over them. Because of this uncertainty, when the pandemic actually hit the masses at a rapid pace, the health facilities couldn't keep up. They're overwhelmed by it due to their unpreparedness.

So I faced the difficult lock-down situation with my kids who are still young. As a working mother that's rarely at home, I'm sure you can imagine the surprised expressions on my children's faces when they found out that their mom would be at home more often, instead of going to the office like usual. If you thought they would act like their mom wasn't there, you would be dead wrong. On the contrary, they would do everything in their power to try and get my attention. That includes screaming, crying, shouting, and so much more. I couldn't handle it, in fact I wanted run away, go outside! But I can't, because, again, there's a pandemic. I became a very irritable person, what with all this pent up emotions I have at the time.

Working mothers are disproportionately more stressed at home, study claims - Workplace  Insight

The regulation that made us all WFH just made me even worse, the transition from WFO to WFH is just too much for me. The burden of a working wife is heavier than their husband's. I can spare you all the details, but this multitasking things is driving me crazy at the same time. That's not the only bad news, my babysitter also wanted to go home because the situation was getting more and more out of hand.  They preferred to be in their hometown rather than be in the epicenter areas of infection.

Inhale...

Exhale...

Good thing I have a lovely husband that completely understands me. He helped me to cook, so we cooked together at the kitchen. See... There's always a silver lining in every thing.

I'm a strong woman, I can deal with this. Suddenly, I got a phone call from a headhunter, offering me new opportunity.  I would like to have a shot of a new life and adventure. If this pandemic is not going to end soon, perhaps doing a leap of faith will change your life and make it even better. Shining and bright, just like a shooting star. 

 

2. Mid 2020 

While waiting for finalization of the new job offer, I've also been building and developing emergency scenarios to help me with the kids. Thanks to the Financial Evaluation that I learned during work. I've also arranged to take 2 of my nieces to stay with me & continue their education here in the hopes that  they could help me with the kids while I work in the office again. At first it wasn't easy, looks like my parenting style is different with the oldies so I need to do it in a cool way because now i am dealing with young adults.

The complexity of the situation didn't stop there. My younger son got the fever and had a seizure and had to be rushed to the ER. At that time, practically all the hospital has accepted covid-19 patients & all fever was suspected as covid-19 symptom. My son needed to be isolated and the thing is, I was not -comfortable at all with the hospital's health protocol in preventing Covid-19 is not up to standard. I picked this specific hospital because it's a premium one, and I thought that it would be safer. But it certainly was not. If we want someone to do something right, we have to set a good example for them. This is especially important for health protocols, because it doesn't only affect us, but other people too. If we don't follow it, then we'll be putting ourselves and others at risk of the virus. So remember these words the next time you think to forgo a mask as a good idea.

Based on my observations: health practitioner would wear protective garments to prevent themselves from being infected with Covid-19. That's good and all, but they didn't think that they could also be a carrier of the virus after making contact with the Covid-19 patients. It needs strict SOP & health protocol compliance such as testing all the patients and people that accompanied them at the hospital. I only saw this SOP applied 1 year after pandemic hit. Hopefully, there would be improvement in the future.

 

3. Late 2020 

On this period I had to make an important decision for my life. Because changing job in the middle of pandemic is not easy, especially if you had good run in your current place. Different area of expertise, different role, different company, different culture, different people, different building, different climate, different everything. Imagine that!

Super excited, as I already worked too long in the previous role and needed something new to build up my skill and upgrade my knowledge. Yea, I had to start over from scratch as I didn't understand anything at all about the industry  that this new job entails. But this actually just made me even more super duper excited.  

Even so, it didn't mean that I hate my previous role. I love what I was doing in my previous company but the pool was too small for me. It was very hard to leave the company that you spent all your time on,  not only for working but also having a found family  there. Unfortunately, the time had come and I thought I already left more than enough legacy there to remember me by.

Every reaction has an equal and opposite reaction, such as moving from protected environment into a place that turns out to be very easy going with the pandemic. Hoho...  I didn't see this coming! It was especially hard for me to accept the fact. My brain couldn't accept it. Thankfully, my hubby had convince me that I have to think positively because it would help boost up my immunity.

So, I nailed it. See my check list below : 

- Adapting with the new environment                ˅

- Visiting clients                                             ˅

- Going to salon, cooking classes, and the mall      ˅

- Eating outside (with hubby)                       ˅

I did all that while also following the health protocol. It didn't mean I started rebelling against the regulation or anything, but at some point you had to have fun in order to balance your soul and be at peace. The point is, relaxing is okay once in a while. Better to have fun outside than being stir-crazy from being inside too long XD

4. Beginning of 2021 

Welcome 2021.....

Nothing changed during this year, many people went to the mall and enjoyed everything as if the pandemic never happened. Good thing the vaccination process has already started for health practitioner and soon it'll be open for the general population. 

Many businesses is already back to the usual pace and everything went well except many mutation have formed in the past year and have attacked several countries, including my country. I tried to avoid the news about covid-19, it just affected me in such a negative way to read all those news. 

Surprisingly, people started bidding on my house. After 6 years of waiting, the deal has finally been set. Unfortunately, it was during the pandemic. This is where it gets tricky. The journey began when I needed to learn how to sell second hand house. The buyer was a retired woman from Manila, and has been looking for a house to settle down. There are many cases of house sale scam. That has made me wary in handling this, especially because I never did this. The important thing is that you need to have a trusted home agent. I knew this guy for about 4 years, he was about 50 years old and a senior home agent that started his own business with his wife. So I believed he will be the one to sell my house, and look at that, he actually did and we managed to make it happen in April.

So I've embarked on a journey of house hunting. I only had 2.5 months to move out from a 250 square meters house. Exhausted? No! I'm ecstatic! 

It felt like a race to deal again with house sale & purchase agreement, finding bank credit, dealing with customized furniture and also setting up the renovation plan. Thank god I have experience creating beautiful things from an abstract picture. Kind of like creating a product that  have several people working on it. Yea, that's my expertise! Game on!

5. Mid 2021

It was extremely tiring to work while watching the progress of the renovation at the same time. I had to deal with people that didn't comply with health protocol.  But on the upside, I get to spent more time with my hubby to look for furniture in IKEA, bought some materials, searching for electronics, and other fun things, together! Super wife have worked laboriously to not only control the foreman that we trusted to do the renovation, but also dealing with the furniture makers. All my phone contacts was full of their name. I felt the nostalgia of making a new product but this time through a home project that makes me even more excited.

Could you imagine! I had to speed up 1 month of the bank installment process and conducted the renovation less than 1.5 months! It was a whirlwind of a progress, and I managed to do a parallel process move out into 3 stages. Yup 3 stages that consist of :  First, move parents things to their place. Second, move my things into new house. Third, move all unneeded things into other house. All done in the middle of lock-down. 

It was super challenging to move out in the middle of the delta invasion. With 2 young kids, I had to put extra cost to a rent house for a couple days and make sure the new house has been sterilized and cleaned enough before they got in. All done within 5 days.

It was great team work effort and we just began the new chapter staying in our lovely house. 

Who said you couldn't do anything during the pandemic ? From my experience, I did everything that most people would avoid with a 10 foot pole. 

Afraid? Of course! 

But all things can be done if you have faith that it can be done. 

 

6. Life must go on....

So, what next ? 

Lock down is still happening until the end of this month. But it'll be too boring if I only spend my time at home. My advise is to do things that are important to your health, mentally and physically. We only live once, that doesn't mean you don't have to follow the health protocol yo, they exist to protect you after all.

I have a super exciting list that I would like to share with you all in the next blog. If I have the time to write again... Hopefully my story can entertain you all... 

Keep the fighting spirit !!!

THANKS FOR READING 😘

Warmest Regards 

YDK

 

 

 

*Already vaccinated