You don’t have to agree with me on this one. Maybe the lockdown caused you great sorrow. Maybe it thwarted your plans. Maybe it bored you. Maybe you hated it. But for my part, it had a positive effect. Here are the reasons why I’ll miss the lockdown.
1
Making do with what you have–clothes, food, books, people, everything. Not wanting more. Not seeking newness. Just making the most of what is there before you. Relearning thriftiness and minimalism.
2
The gravity and fragility of the world coming to a standstill. The street and the sky soothingly quiet. People and planes and cars not going to and fro all the time. Business pausing. Listening to the planet as it took a long, deep breath.
3
No more wasting time about the city. No more chasing girls with my camera, no more going to the cinema, no more cafes and teahouses. All those things were just distractions, it was about time I sat still for a time.
4
Quiet efficiency. Nothing encourages writing better than not being able to go anywhere. I revised three manuscripts during the lockdown and wrote well over 250,000 words. To say nothing of almost-poems.
5
Frugal living. I didn’t want to go to the bank to take money out. I just lived on what I had in the house already. And you know what? I managed to live on half as much as I’d normally spend on food and the like every month while probably eating healthier, too.
6
Book after book after book, and especially reading about plagues and epidemics in history.
7
Virtual museum visits. Now people will be too busy for such eccentric things.
8
Lower pollution levels. Cars and planes were mostly standing still, and you could feel it in the air.
9
Connecting with people in other countries and learning about their life under lockdown. From India to the UK.
10
Having mom at home every day for almost two months. That didn’t turn out to be as savage as I thought it would be. We even repainted most of the house. Well, I bought the paint and she did the painting. That counts for collaborative effort, right?
***
I’m not saying that I regret the lockdown ending. But at the other end of fear, anxiety, sorrow, and death, of statistics and headlines and crises, many of us have had a peaceful, efficient, interesting time.
And, of course, we thought more about what really matters to us. Starting with our family.
boy with a hat 
I’ll miss the lockdown as well. I have been so busy pursuing my hobbies and learning new technology. It felt like I had a work life balance. The time I spent in traffic went for much more productive things. Nice post 😚