Old Habits, New Habits

September 3, 2020

"Pre-COVID, my garbage disposal ate really well."
—my friend Annette

Remember when it was so easy to drop into the grocery store or get takeout on the way home from work? It feels like a fond, distant memory to me. But one of COVID's silver linings has been that the disruption of our normal routines has forced all of us to find more efficient ways to do practically everything. My friend Annette says shopping for groceries so much less frequently means she now plans ahead for meals much more thoughtfully than she did in the pre-COVID days. She's spending less, no longer tossing leftover food into the disposal, and feels better about her footprint in the world.

Another of my friends, Candace, has taken meal planning one step further these last few months: She actually has found a simple way to glamorize leftovers. Back in March, she bought a bunch of tiny decorated porcelain bowls to use for mini side dishes at dinnertime: Each evening's dinner includes the artfully-presented side dishes from last night's meal. Her kids actually fight over who gets to eat which leftovers, and Candace feels like a genius. I'm guessing her garbage disposal is going hungry these days, just like Annette's.

Doing something the same way we did it yesterday is easier than trying new methods all the time. But the year 2020 is making us re-examine our routines and re-evaluate our priorities. "Easy" is oh-so-2019; 2020 is forcing us to see possibilities around corners that we didn't know were in our way. I miss "easy" as much as anyone, but we're discovering that we're up to the challenge of reinvention, aren't we? So I'm betting that when "easy" returns, many of our new habits will be here to stay. Annette's garbage disposal will have to get by on scraps.