The Way The Lucky Ones Live During A Pandemic
I have a new routine.
I wake up at 7:45 a.m. and roll out of bed, out of my pajamas and into my day leggings. I brush my teeth and wash my face and do a 30 to 60-minute workout in a mat-sized space I’ve carved out of my tiny living room to use as my “home gym.” I check in on Slack with my colleagues. I write. (Some days, this goes better than others.) I Zoom into a meeting. I cook something (probably an Alison Roman recipe). Maybe I FaceTime for social interaction. Maybe I watch something on Netflix. Maybe I livestream some yoga. Maybe I run out to buy food and try to stave off a panic attack at the grocery store. I drink a glass of wine. I take off my day leggings and change back into pajamas. Some days, the whole schedule thing goes to hell because it can be impossible to be productive during a global crisis and I’m just trying not to lose my mind. I go to bed. Repeat.
If you’re also privileged enough to be able to work remotely and practice social distancing amid the coronavirus pandemic, parts of my routine may feel familiar to you. (It is a truth universally acknowledged that a millennial woman stuck at home must be in want of a banana bread or a sourdough starter, or at least a decent Netflix queue.) This is how we live now if we’re very lucky.
Of course, we — the white-collar working class of New York City and the other cities across the nation and the world that have been hit hardest by this pandemic — are the lucky ones. The ones who have the great privilege to practice social distancing and work remotely. The ones who have apartments that are comfortable enough to work and maybe even play in. The ones who have health care. The ones who have savings and/or access to a regular paycheck. We can order many essentials online and have them delivered to our doors, or we can mask up and walk a short distance every few days to gather food and pharmacy items by hand, only worrying about trying to stay 6 feet away from others and hoping...
