It's normal to feel seen by these aspects of our new collective routine.
Remember, we're all in this together.
Taking an extra nap or five during the day because time doesn't exist
Why We've All Done It: When at-home workouts, TV binges, baking and nonstop gaming gets stale, you've probably taken comfort in the fact that it's become socially acceptable to sleep during the day while quarantining.
What day is it? What time is it? No one knows, but it doesn't matter, because you're not going anywhere anyway.
Taking five online classes because you have the extra time, then regretting it a week after the course drop date
Why We've All Done It: We've all been there. If you're in higher education and thought you'd be able to speed up your degree by taking an extra class from home — or you simply thought the pandemic would be the right time to expand your knowledge base — you most likely regretted your decision when midterm season hit.
Swearing 2020 was going to be your year and instead, here you are, still a potato
Why We've All Done It: The pandemic has hit all of us in different ways, but our shared joys were definitely crushed by its viral nature.
If you swore 2020 was finally going to be the year you got your life together, but your plans were derailed and now you're knee-deep in CERB tax debt — we feel you.
Actually getting dressed at the start of working from home and then giving up a month later
Why We've All Done It: With most businesses in Montreal — save for essential services — switching to a remote work model, you may have tried to keep up your routine for all those Zoom calls at the start of the pandemic.
However, raise your hand if you stopped bothering with work clothes after two months of working from home and instead now opt to roll out of bed five minutes before your first Zoom call of the day — in pyjamas, of course.
Bonus points if you wear the same outfit everyday.
Binging the same TV series four times just for some sense of normalcy
Why We've All Done It: With the pandemic being the unstable, chaotic situation that it is, clinging to your tried-and-true favourite things is a must.
We know you watched Rick and Morty four times over during the pandemic — and yes, we know Pickle Rick is immortal.
Frenzied Amazon Prime shopping
Ifeelstock | DreamstimeWhy We've All Done It: If you didn't buy from Amazon before, you sure did during the pandemic — at least at the start, when the world was adjusting to being bored at home on the daily. With next-day delivery, it's hard to resist shopping temptation.
Did you really need that ultra-expensive neon sign for your room's aesthetic? No, but it looks cool and CERB, so why not?
Buying ample groceries, then ordering out every day and letting them rot
Why We've All Done It: With delivery services like Uber Eats and SkipTheDishes adding virtually every Montreal restaurant to their repertoires, our food-at-home options have never been better.
It's no surprise that food delivery app usage blew up during the pandemic — and according to an October survey conducted by Statista Canada, 29% of all food delivery app users in Canada fell between the ages of 25 and 34.
Having multiple existential crises
Why We've All Done It: All of us have probably been overridden with fear at one point or another during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some questions you may have asked yourself: What if we never make it out of the pandemic? What if we have to walk around in plastic enclosures for the rest of our lives? What if there's a total collapse of the economy and we lose all of our favourite stores?
Rushing to Costco when #TPgate emerged on the Internet
Why We've All Done It: For some unidentifiable reason, Canadians and Americans alike flocked to big box stores at the start of the pandemic in March to clear every shop's toilet paper supply.
Why did we do it? Nobody knows, but at least we got some good memes out of it.
Binging your favourite streaming service until it's 5 a.m. and your eyes are burning
Why We've All Done It: If you're a YouTube aficionado, it was easy to fall into a black hole of endless videos prior to the pandemic.
When businesses closed in Quebec red zones and the days blended together in self-isolation, it was doubly easy to lose six hours of time watching YouTubers explore abandoned buildings until the wee hours of the morning.
Thinking your mic is muted on a Zoom call while you're making a TikTok and later realizing everyone heard you say "Somebody come get her..."
Why We've All Done It: If this has happened to you, our thoughts and prayers are with you. But how does that tricky microphone muting work anyway?
You swore that the symbol was red and your camera was off before you started doing the "Blinding Lights" dance. But it wasn't, and now everyone's laughing at you.
Baking banana bread for a month and then never wanting to taste bananas again
Why We've All Done It: A banana bread baking craze hit the Internet in mid-May, and influencers everywhere littered Instagram with photos of the sweet, freshly-baked bread.
While you may have participated in this trend at first, it died down only a few weeks later when nobody wanted bananas ever again.
Ugly crying to your online therapist
Why We've All Done It: While therapy centres could be deemed an essential service, most psychologists and counsellors switched to online therapy when the pandemic began.
If therapy is an integral part of your life, you may have wanted to maintain some sense of having it together in your face-to-face sessions — but with online therapy, here you are, ugly crying on your couch in your pyjamas.
What even is a bra?
Why We've All Done It: Girls unite — how will we ever wear bras again post-pandemic? While we don't have concrete statistics, it's worth exploring how many Montreal women abandoned their bras for the last nine months of COVID-19.
Honourable mention goes out to jeans and professional button-down shirts... RIP.
Buying gym equipment in June and letting it collect dust in your closet by September
Kelly Sikkema | UnsplashWhy We've All Done It: Gyms being closed in Montreal has caused controversy, with some enthusiasts arguing that it's essential to mental health.
If you were a gym rat and found yourself unable to keep up your routine when COVID-19 hit, you may have bought an excess of mats, kettlebells and resistance bands for your at-home workouts, only to let them collect dust in your closet a few months later.
Getting sick of your family, significant other or roommates a month into quarantine
Why We've All Done It: Living with other people can be tough — personalities clash and you may not always have your own personal space.
Going off into the world to partake in daily activities — like seeing your colleagues at the office, going to your fitness class or other extracurriculars — gave you some much-needed time away from home, but COVID-19 made sure you'd never leave your house again. Hang in there, it'll all work out in the end!
Going from constantly forgetting your only mask to having 100 masks lying around everywhere
Why We've All Done It: At the beginning of the pandemic, masks seemed like a foreign object. Now they're part of our everyday routines with many of us keeping different ones scattered at every turn, just in case — there's the purse mask, the car mask, the 'beside the front door' mask, and so on.
There are now also so many variations of stylish masks, you can always find one that matches your outfit.
Fantasizing about not caring about COVID-19 and buying that $80 round trip to Greece
Why We've All Done It: Being locked up in the house under the threat of impending doom is no fun.
What better way to cope with the crushing weight of reality during a pandemic than fantasizing about buying cheap airline tickets, deadly virus be damned? Just think of the IG photo ops!
Being filled with joy about being forced to stay home because you didn't want to see anyone anyway
Why We've All Done It: If you're a self-described antisocial loner, this one hits home. The pandemic has been a dream for introverts who love to stay in and who longed for a job that would allow them to work from the comfort of their beds.
Besides, who misses having to commute in a jam-packed winter bus or metro for an hour or two? We sure don't.
Having raw hands from all that hand-washing and sanitizing
Why We've All Done It: While making sure to follow public health protocols is of utmost importance, alcohol-based sanitizers and excessive hand-washing may have taken a toll on your skin.
You may be fed up with having to wash your hands after everything you touch — but honestly, if you've just started practicing sanitary measures as a result of the pandemic, we're judging you.
Giving your hair a self-chop and not fearing the outcome because you have a year to grow it back anyway
Why We've All Done It: For our favourite chaotic neutrals, cutting your own bangs may have been a regular occurrence prior to the pandemic. But you may have hesitated to drastically change your mane, if only for fear of looking real wild at the office the next day.
With the world being forced to quarantine for most of the year, you may have opted to finally dye your hair purple — like you've wanted to do since you were 15 — or chopped your hair off altogether. Do you, boo!
Rachael Seatvet
Rachael Seatvet
Rachael Seatvet
