What I Didn't Get To Wear During The Pandemic

What to Wear to a Pandemic? I see the words of another author pop up on Vocal’s homepage and quickly click on the story. I think maybe it’s someone who I can relate to, someone who’s gone through the same thing as me. What I find isn’t what I expected. While the author briefly mentions that she’s been wearing the uniform of PJs (same), she goes on to write about clothes she’s seen in the movies she’s watched during the pandemic. It’s a good story, but it wasn’t what I expected or needed to find.

So, what was I hoping for? The answer to that is simple, I thought the author was going to write about all the clothes she never got a chance to wear because of the pandemic. I thought it would be a chance to connect with someone like me through a story. I’ve always been an introvert. When I was younger, I preferred burying my nose in a good book to going to the school dance. Now, I prefer to spend most of my time inside with my dog, but before the pandemic, I was considering pushing myself to get out more. I was ready to do it all, join a gym, go to the zoo, the movies, hang out with friends, maybe even find a boyfriend. I wanted these things, but I knew that I had to seek them out.

I was willing to seek out those things, but then the idea of doing so was ripped away from me. Everything was closed, and I couldn’t go out even if I wanted to. My once cozy familiar spaces had become a prison. The only place I was going was to and from work and sometimes the gas station.

I felt as if I had been robbed. I was finally going to take the plunge and try getting out more. I was ready to go out and make new friends, or at least reconnect with the old ones, and suddenly my opportunity was stolen. All the happiness I’d imagined for myself had been snatched away. It only got worse when I was furloughed. I had planned to learn a new skill, exercise daily, and up my makeup game. All I did was sit around the house and do things within my house. I didn’t even dye my hair a cool color. My anxiety over being furloughed got in the way of me doing anything interesting.

The one thing I did do was write. I got a writing prompt book from Five Below and wrote my heart out. I found writing prompts on Reddit. I even entered a contest or two on Vocal (I didn’t win or even place). I wrote a few more articles for Vocal and Medium. I also gave writing advice to other authors on Facebook. I wish I could say those authors became friends, but they said thank you and went on their way.

I observed people attempting to live their lives online. Tiktok soon become my most used app. Something was fascinating about watching strangers do minute-long dances or skate to Stevie Nicks. I realized my laziness was getting out of control, so I made a quarantine list. I thought for a long time about the things I wanted to accomplish during my time off. I managed to check off a few things, but I was called back to work before I could finish my list.

I wanted things to go back to normal. I wanted the opportunities that I’d been robbed of, but most businesses were still closed. Some businesses weren’t coming back. For some people, life had been completely changed by Covid-19. Now things are starting to open back up and go back to normal, and I’m hoping that I can do all the things I hoped to do before.