Over the last month, life as we know it has drastically changed. We are in the midst of what might be a life-changing experience on a worldwide scale. Here are the Taurus team revelations, insights & some of the life lessons we’ve learned from the COVID-19 outbreak.
When you feel overwhelmed and anxious, stop and breathe. The pressure is bigger than ever to reinvent and stay relevant. We’ve realized as a team, we are really strong.
- The commute
We’re not missing the crack of dawn wake ups! Our working Mums have said goodbye to the race during the morning routine of dropping off kids, making lunches, breakfasts & having everyone out the door by 8 am sharp. No sadness about not being on trains & buses, rubbing shoulders with commuters into the city.
We miss the transition period between home and work e.g. listening to music, reading a book & having a “going to work & coming home ritual”.
“Now that it is winter, we won’t miss walking to public transport in the cold!”
2.The clothes
We’ve noticed collectively the fancy work clothes remain in the wardrobe, along with shoes (especially the heels) & we dress professionally only from the waist up!
3. Fitness
Without scheduling it in, fitness can get away from us. Yet getting some exercise is essential now for our mental & physical health. We’re using a mix of routines from F45 & Barry’s online class offerings, Kayla Itsines SWEAT APP, meditation apps & going for walks along the beach. We are enjoying fitting in exercise as an outlet in the day, but it doesn’t seem to be at the same intensity as before. We miss the physical gym & realizing how hard it is to get motivated from our living room!
“The only thing we are worried about testing positive for is obesity & the only thing we definitely don’t want to be baking right now is a muffin top!”
4. Cooking
Our struggle to get motivated & find a fitness routine is not helped by the newly found habit of cooking, baking & our visits to the fridge! We have all seen a huge improvement in our home cooking with more time to shop, plan, prepare & cook. We are less physically exhausted to cook in the evenings & are getting more creative! Some are channeling their Grandma’s cooking & baking – especially when treats are hot out of the oven!
“That overall joy of cooking for the family is a great feeling.”
5. WFH
Staff have re-fallen in love with their homes and enjoying the little spaces & nooks. DIY projects have re-emerged including gardening, setting up workspaces like reading corners, outdoor sun areas & nap spots! We claim cleaning the house is a break in between working & no more facing it tired on a return from work. While we’re worried about how much screen time we are exposed to, including our children, we are winding down watching TV, playing video games or catching up with friends via the ‘screen’.
“It is difficult to draw a line between socializing, play & work, university work!”
6. Comradeship
We all miss the mini work breaks that occurred during the day – these almost “by the clock” routines such as walks to get lunch, a morning or afternoon coffee together, to the office kitchen to grab a tea, fruit bowl grabs and an afternoon chocolate sugar fix. These were great for team laughs, random chats & face to face collaboration. They were great clarity & social breaks for our mental health.
We’ve had to build in different daily rituals, e.g. walk to the coffee shop for the ‘socially distant takeaway’, doing an essentials food shop at lunchtime, baking, cooking or jumping into a bikini to lay in the sun for a few minutes break!
7. Zoom/Video Calls & Meetings
Zoom is exhausting and especially when its back to back. We are trying to deal with the physical & mental fatigue. But then it’s good to see our clients physically by Zoom although we miss them in person.
“Wonder what will happen to corporate travel moving forward?”
8. A refocus on what is important
We have had deep & profound thoughts – realising what truly is important such as family & friends & that our weekends don’t have to revolve around social event after social event. Seeing multiple people can get exhausting! We do miss each other’s company & have realised who & what we value. We have learned so much & were able to quickly adapt because we work well together.
“We have a great relationship with different strengths that are complementary.”
9. Health
We have upped our skincare routines with a quick 1, 2, 3 step routine turning into a 13613612361 step routine. Hair straighteners have been swapped out for natural curls.
“We really miss our “lady’s” from the nail lady, to the eyebrow lady – well we miss ALL the ladies!”
10. Play
One beautiful thing has arisen out of our isolation – puzzles, board games & things like Sims4 & Lego – things adults tend to think are only reserved for children are actually fun play & creative time & are still important.
In conclusion, did we all get gifted a circuit breaker, is there more to fear?
Perhaps we needed a circuit breaker to innovate & send us into the fast future. We’ve innovated because we’ve had too on many levels. Now, governments & people know what detrimental effects a pandemic can have & they will have policies, procedures & learnings from this to refer to in the future & that our future is constant change forever! We are keen to protect our families and each other.
You can plan ahead but sometimes life hits you (this time with a virus) and you find yourself hitting the restart button – COVID-19 has taught us not to take things for granted, to live in the moment & to be grateful for what we have because some people definitely have it worse than we do.