Three weeks in to the pandemic lockdown, some aspects of the experience, mostly negative, are coming in to clearer view. The following aren’t reflections on the broader impact of the crisis, which I’ll probably have a lot more to say about as this goes on, but rather things I’ve noticed at ground level. The loss of lives and jobs is a human disaster that will, I believe, have a profound impact on the way we live for years. What I’m talking about here are more mundane matters, along the lines of how to get a haircut (something I luckily haven’t had to deal with yet).

I find the saddest thing isn’t keeping social distance between myself and other people. That’s been pretty easy. No, the sad part is not being able to pet or play with the dogs that come running up to me in the park.

I’m not really scared of getting sick. The thought of getting COVID-19 isn’t something that bothers me as much as it probably should. What concerns me more is the possibility of finding myself in need of medical attention for some other reason while we’re stuck in this crisis. Already the system is overwhelmed, with non-essential services (a disturbingly elastic term that includes a lot of surgeries), being postponed indefinitely. There have also been numerous COVID-19 outbreaks in hospitals, including more than 20 cases reported in my own local General. This is not a good time to have to be dealing with any kind of health emergency. I also can’t imagine the backlog that is building up for some procedures.

The biggest personal disappointment has been my lack of productivity. You’d think enforced isolation would lead to getting more stuff done, but instead it has thus far mainly resulted in feelings of lethargy. Perhaps I need to make some “to do” lists. I hear that this helps with kids.

The worst thing is the shopping for groceries. This is an experience that has become very unpleasant. The grocery store is always packed, with long lines inside and sometimes outside, leading to the ironic conclusion that the most annoying part of the lockdown is that there are so many people around. My usual habit has been just-in-time grocery shopping, at hours when the store is only lightly attended. Now there are no such times, meaning I have to buy as much as I can at once since I don’t want to go the store as often.

This has, however, led to at least one positive result.

Because I’ve been a gym rat ever since high school, one of the biggest and least welcome changes to come with the COVID-19 outbreak has been the closing of my neighbourhood athletic complex. This immediately made me wonder just how out of shape I was about to get. I mean, I have some exercise equipment at home, but aside from the odd walk around the neighbourhood, where was I going to get a real cardio workout? I don’t jog.

Further reflection made me wonder about other possible outcomes. No doubt my cardio is going to go to hell over the next several weeks (or months). But was I going to turn into a full-blown couch potato? There were reasons to be pessimistic. I’m not going to be getting as much good exercise (with nearly everything closed I’m not even walking as much), and I’m likely to start eating a lot of snacks (comfort food) to go with all the increased screen time.

On the other hand, I also won’t be eating as much fast food, even of the take out or delivery variety. I can’t stress enough how important this is. As I pointed out in my notes on how to lose weight, eating at restaurants is a huge factor when it comes to keeping the pounds off. There is no healthy way to eat out. Meanwhile, another thing I said in that earlier post is that exercise, as a method of losing weight, is highly overrated. There are plenty of good reasons to exercise, but losing weight really isn’t one of them.

So by this calculation alone I was coming out ahead. Add in the fact that I’m not going to the grocery store as often, and trying to get in and out as quickly as possible, and the results have been better than expected. I am actually losing weight while in lockdown. I’ve been disciplined about not stocking up on crap on my grocery store runs, and I haven’t eaten fast food in a couple of weeks. I don’t know if this is sustainable, but it may lead to  some lasting changes.

People often talk about when things are going to get back to normal. This may be wishful thinking. I think normal is going to look different than it used to. And unfortunately I don’t think it’s going to be something better.