Watching a recent webinar had me giving a thought about my plans. People has been thinking and talking about what’s going to happen after the extended community quarantine, after the general community quarantine and after a vaccine has been found and readily and easily available to the public. I thought about my short, medium and long term plans and how these plans have changed because of the pandemic.
Circumstances has become so fluid now and making concrete plans seems to be so pointless. But I do know that plans still has to be made and they have to made liquid like the times. They have to be made adaptable.
Cash is king. In this pandemic, I’ve heard this phrase repeatedly in the webinars, in the news, and in chat groups often enough that I hear the voices in my head chanting them almost every waking day. Fine. Gather enough to live and live comfortably. Practice wiser spending — wiser than even before the pandemic, if it’s at all possible.
So save whatever I can even however small it may seem to be. Sell stuff that I do not need. Maybe it’ll help to pack the stuff that I’d want to keep just to help things be tidy. Get a job after ecq — if I still have a job. Maybe. Or just get something on the side for additional income.
Things will not go back the way they were because I believe it’s a mistake not to learn from this life lesson and go back to the way we were like nothing ever happened. I see the general community quarantine will continue in some soft form or another for the foreseeable future. Washing hands, wearing facemasks in public and social distancing has become a norm. Maybe a year from now. I expect to see lockdowns or enhanced quarantines but on a smaller scale — maybe on a barangay level.
I see myself more paranoid than usual. I would be more cautious and be unapologetically unsocial for a while and would travel only when necessary. My work is about 12 kilometers away and, as I see it, my best option to get there is by taxi, bicycle or walk, in that order. The bus or the vans still has too many passengers for my peace of mind.
Long term, I do not see myself living in Metro Manila. I was born and raised in the province and, with the exception of the quarantine period, I have been finding the city increasingly noisy, crowded and polluted. I must admit there are plenty of distractions both good and bad. But I know I can afford not to be overly distracted.