While working from home last year, Matt Olsen did not have to deal with nightmare traffic on the 91 Freeway to navigate his 29-mile journey from Corona to Orange County.
“It certainly allowed me to see a lot more of my family,” said Olsen, who is married and has three children, who works as a technical director for a technology company Cypress.
“At the end of a working day, I just go down,” he said. “And I don’t have to worry about what’s going on with the highway that day.”
Now that coronavirus hospitalizations are dropping in Southern California and the COVID-19 vaccine is reaching people, Olsen said preparations are being made for a return to the office. But when he comes back, it will probably be two or three days a week.
“I don’t think there will ever be a time when I go to the office every day,” he said.
About a year ago, life changed dramatically and unprecedentedly when schools and universities abruptly closed classrooms and Governor Gavin Newsom ordered the Californians to take shelter at home.
And, while society is starting to reopen, some things may not go back to how they were.
Passengers may not drive to work as often as they did. New hobbies, such as cooking, mountain biking and watching movies on Netflix, that emerged during the tedious blocking days, may become permanent elements. And some may avoid crowded gyms after discovering they can get in shape by working out at home.
Wendy Wood, professor of psychology and business at the USC Dornsife School of Letters, Arts and Sciences, suggests that if – and how often – workers return to workplaces can determine how permanent some pandemic lifestyle changes can be. .
Those who return five days a week will return to eating out at restaurants and going to the gym after work, said Wood, who wrote the book “Good Habits, Bad Habits”.
On the other hand, said Wood, the gardening hobby that flourished due to the extra time people had at home can be put aside.
“It just doesn’t fit our lifestyle in the same way,” she said.
Some may maintain pandemic habits
Wood said that some new habits will remain regardless.
People will continue to do many of their shopping online, she said, and to watch movies at home.
“At least initially, I hope people will return to the theater because it is different,” said Wood.
When the shutdown is over, people will want to go out and do things they haven’t been able to do. “We are all a little bored,” she said.
“But in the end, more people will end up watching movies on Netflix at home because we got used to it,” said Wood. “And it is so easy.”
Anaheim residents, Jim and Kathi Bowman, are among those who have grown accustomed to watching movies in the comfort – and safety – of their homes.
Kathi Bowman said she hopes to continue like this after the end of the pandemic, going to cinemas only on special occasions, such as “an evening date with another couple”.
For the Bowmans, 2020 was a year of cancellation, as plans for a cruise to France, Italy and Spain failed in May.
Still, Kathi Bowman, who recently retired from her job as executive director of WISEPlace, a shelter for homeless and abused women, found a way to partially revive the cruise.
“I decided to go to these countries via Netflix,” she said. “I traveled the world on Netflix and visited at least 45 countries. And I’m in Peru now. “
Kathi Bowman researches video stories about people, places and the history of a particular nation and spends a week, sometimes two, learning about that country.
The 70-year-old couple made other lifestyle changes.
Kathi Bowman said she now cooks daily, preparing a variety of chicken, seafood and seafood dishes.
“Kathi was very good,” said Jim Bowman. “She took all these cookbooks.”
In the future, they plan to eat out less often than in the past.
In another change, Kathi Bowman used to exercise five days a week at a gym before and now trains on an exercise bike at home.
“I don’t intend to go back to exercising on a machine where someone is sweating,” she said.
While some feel trapped in their homes, the Bowmans do not.
“I hear people say, ‘I can’t wait to get out of prison,'” said Kathi Bowman. “I don’t feel like I’m in prison. I am in my house. And I am grateful to have a home to live in. “
Closed gyms did not prevent weight loss
Soup Pha, 34, a singer and singer who lives in Woodland Hills, also worked out at a gym before the success of COVID-19.
Stuck at home, Pha said he started gaining weight, reaching 250 pounds on his 5-foot-9 body. He started having problems with gout.
So he started exercising at home.
Pha said he ran on a treadmill. He did push-ups and sit-ups. He did yoga. And he dropped his weight to 172.
“The problem of gout has disappeared, but I am taking medication to control it,” he said.
Pha plans to continue the exercises at home.
“I realized that I can still lose weight by exercising at home, instead of driving to the gym,” he said. “And I can also save a lot on gasoline.”
Carlo Singh, a 34-year-old Pomona resident and substitute teacher in the Walnut Valley Unified School District, chose a new hobby: mountain biking.
“I wasn’t really looking to get into that,” he said.
Singh said a friend was buying a mountain bike. Singh’s wife asked him if he would like one too, so he bought one in June and started riding.
Singh fell in love with the sport. He worked his way from flat trails to other steep and rugged ones.
“And it got more interesting for me,” he said.
Singh said mountain biking got him out of the house while the gyms were closed and helped him to appreciate nature more.
“Mentally, it was what I would call a breath of fresh air,” he said.
And there are tangible results. Singh is pleased to be stronger and faster.
It is particularly satisfying, he said, to reach the top of a challenging trail.
“I can turn around and say, ‘I climbed this. I did it, ‘”he said. “I can look around and see how tall I am and enjoy the view.”
Singh plans to continue his new hobby after the pandemic appears in the rear view mirror.
“I already have plans for my next bike,” he said, although “my wife says I can’t get another one for two years, so I have to wait.”
The office does not need more than five days a week
As for returning to the office, Christina Hassija, professor and acting chairman of the Department of Psychology at Cal State San Bernardino, said she believed that the majority wanted to do so.
“As human beings, we all need social interaction,” said Hassija. “And the workplace offers that.”
This is not to say that it will not be a bumpy transition, because coming back will mean dressing up again, in some cases, and facing traffic, she said.
“Life was so stressful before,” said Hassija. “It will take some time to adjust to the life we were used to, because it has been so long.”
As stressful as it may be, Olsen, the Corona traveler, said he kind of misses Highway 91.
“I remember the traffic fondly, in a very strange way, because this is normal,” he said.
Olsen is preparing to return to the office part-time, while working from home the rest of the week. The office, he said, will become a place to go “when needed”, rather than a place to report every day.
Therefore, Olsen can expect to witness more of his 2-year-old daughter’s childhood.
It has also been good to spend more time with his two teenage daughters, he said, although they are looking forward to going back to school and being among friends.
“They’ve seen me enough,” he said.