Cozy Couch Surfing amidst COVID-19

In this post modern world of COVID19, there is no place like my couch. I say this with teary eyes, as I celebrate our anniversary of couchtime together. Couchy has been there to catch me when I fall, cradle my overly worrisome head with soft cushiness, and support me without question.

Couchy has always been there, but over the past 12 months we have rekindled our friendship, gotten to really know one another, and shared fond moments of laughter (only I laughed).

Let’s take a step back in time, to January 2020, when the news of COVID-19 brought us together.

January 2020

Back then, a lot of frantic news reporters started popping up on telly, talking about a new virus emerging from China, and they all looked really concerned.

As a self proclaimed germophobe, this was not good news. I had to start paying more attention, and so there I sat every evening, on my couch, waiting for the news bulletin to tell me what’s going to happen.

Let’s fast forward a bit to March 2020.

March 2020

The news on tv is now only reporting on COVID-19, no more puppies and feel-good stories, just floating red COVID bubbles as new numbers by new numbers are reported. You know what I’m talking about. The world was facing a full blown pandemic. It felt like being catapulted into a movie, it was all surreal.

As everything on TV turned to reporting the sad and tremendous events around the world, I felt myself slowly needing to disconnect, to save my sanity.

Couchy to the rescue

As we all started taking refuge at home, to flatten the curve, the couch was my obvious choice - man in his late twenties, meets couch, long and valuptous. It was a match made in heaven.

Netflix became my default go-to, with all this extra time I could finally watch those series that kind of looked good, but weren’t getting any attention. I discovered Peaky Blinders, the world of Thomas Shelby where there were no rules, just “by order of the Peaky blinders!” proclamations. If you haven’t seen it, you really should give it a go.

2 hours of Netflix and chill soon became 4 hours, and 4 hours soon became a nap. This device provided both entertainment and rejuvenation, and they say men can’t multi-task..

Thoughtful Reflection

Now, with all this extra time on our hands to spend on the couch, it was useful to think of different ways to be more productive, still of course being on the couch, we aren’t athletes after all.

First there was the budget, could I finally save some extra money now that I had time to plan my finances, with nowhere to go. Check. That felt really good. My partner was very impressed. Next, let’s update our insurance policies to save even more money, after all, a penny saved is a penny gained. Check. All this planning inevitably led to my next big discovery.

Couch food

Spoiler alert. Everything became couch food. Breakfast cereal, sushi, pizza, McDonalds, all joined the party.

We were in a bubble of excess calories, entertainment, reflection on all the food we shouldn’t have eaten, and naps. The relationship was going very well, and we never once had an argument.

Fast Forward to January 2021

There is hope on the horizon, a number of new vaccines have been announced, and are slowly being rolled out to the worst affected countries and regions. Sitting on my couch, I know many of you have shared the same exact experiences as I have. We’ve been worried, scared, lost - and we’ve all spent time on our couches. Stay safe and travel well. Time for a couch nap for me.