Redditor mrgreen1464 asked:
"What was the best purchase you made during the pandemic?"
Musical Aspirations
" I finally bought a cello!"
"I’d been wanting to begin learning for years, invested and loving it."
- amediocremusician
"Cello is an underrated beautiful instrument. Watching Adam Hurst on YouTube makes me feel like I’m watching Lestat from Anne Rice’s books play an instrument."
"Cellos are the best!!!! Every song sounds beautiful and haunting."
- GloomyCamel6050
GiphyUnexpected Benefit
"I bought a doorbell camera."
"I was internally debating if I had wasted money on it or not when I realized it caught a clip of my best friend—who passed away last summer—doubled over in laughter and having his pants fall down around his ankles while he was trying to catch his breath."
"Worth every penny."
- Greyskiesgreeneyes
The Big Dig
"Heard we were going into lockdown so contacted local earth moving company and said as you will not be able to work can you drop around a 20 ton digger for me to use over lockdown and pay on the hour meter."
"Worked out so good, they dropped around their nicest machine. Chipped away over the month and moved 1/2 my section to make it flat, dug a pond etc..."
"Only cost me $2000 for a month rental!"
- ultimatedbag
GiphyWorthwhile
"Squat rack."
"Took a long time to get everything set up, but it was worth the wait."
- Longjumping-Dot4301
"*worth the weight..."
- Vinegaz
Introspection *results may vary
"I tried some magic mushrooms and realized that my life was headed down a horrible path. That realization made me get trained in a new career that will hopefully be more sustainable and healthy for me."
"Granted it's been a challenge but I don't think I would have been brave enough to change without that experience..."
- CurrentMeasurement29
"Damn I wish this was my experience with shrooms. Every time I’ve just had fun for a couple hours, then slowly descended into a terrifying hell world for the next six."
"No life changing realizations or clarity. And now I am far too afraid to ever try any kind of hallucinogen again."
"The inside of my brain is not a place I want to be trapped in, it’s f'king dark in there."
- fadingstatic
Catpanionship
"Not a purchase necessarily, but taking in a little stray pandemic kitten."
"He’s brought so much joy to my life and I honestly don’t know how I would’ve made it through the difficulties that the pandemic brought on if I didn’t have him."
- CeLaVieluv
"I somehow adopted two kittens during the pandemic. One May of 2020, the other January 2021."
"They are truly the best."
- blackcatsbrew
"Oh, it’s a purchase-cat food, litter, scratching post, vet bills, etc..."
"We took in a little black kitten in September & she’s brought a lot of joy."
"She has a cat tower that’s taller than I am because we wanted to give her a safe spot from our overly-affectionate Labradors. As it turns out, she pesters them more."
- dailysunshineKO
Alternate Reality
"Nintendo Switch to live on an island and pretend the world isn’t falling apart."
- maltymawma
"I impulsively bought a Switch and Animal Crossing days before everything got completely shut down."
"The game still consumes my life, it’s given me online friends, a creative outlet, it’s given me so much more than just the island."
"Truly a blessing."
- Mrs_worldwide_
"Animal Crossing really was the escapism I needed. I probably have a lot of weeds to pull now..."
- Jazzlike_Log_709
"Animal Crossing really came out at the best time. A former colleague got a Switch of her own (her kids had one or multiple) just so she could play Animal Crossing by herself!"
"How many hours I spent with it in the beginning, how many friends I made via the internet that told me it got them through hard times..."
- gezeitenspinne
GiphyBetter Credit
"Not what I bought...what I didn't buy."
"I saved SO much money, not shopping."
"My credit cards are 100% paid off for the first time in like 20 years."
- NotThisAgain21
Did you purchase anything that changed your life during the pandemic?
Share it in the comments!
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Curious to hear about what the last year and a half has taught us, Redditor thirstylearning asked:
"What’s surprised you the most about the pandemic?"
People touched on behaviors brought on by the pandemic.
Stocking Up
"People buying 10 years worth of toilet paper."
– Lucas2099
Reverting
"How easy it is to return to old habits when there's nothing else to do :'("
– BagleFart
Losing All Good Progress
"Before the pandemic, I quit weed after 8 or 7 years of smoking every day. I was pretty proud of myself for not touching it for about 6 months until the pandemic hit and we had to start working from home."
"I was living alone, so I said 'f'k it, might as well get high...'"
– RAmbler-2224
Excuses We Come Up With
"Or how much more free time doesn't actually mean people would be productive with their time. It was very common to hear 'I would love to do X but I just don't have the time'. Covid showed that it wasn't the lack of time preventing people from doing things."
– RealLameUserName
The following are observations of direct impacts of the pandemic.
Working From Home
"WFH or hybrid work arrangements were always a possibility, my agency is just full of a**holes."
– CatLady1018
"Not to mention how f'king quickly they could have been implemented all along. The sheer amount of workplaces that managed to set up WFH in literally a week or less was truly a sight to behold."
– Islander255
Eerie Silence
"How weirdly quiet it was at first. Living in a city of half a million people it was so insanely quiet."
– DracoImortalus313
"Makes you realize how much noise cars really make in aggregate."
– sharksnack3264
Improved Environment
"In general how clean skies and waters got when we stopped polluting as much. It's a shame we couldn't find a way to make that more permanent."
– meekamunz
People talked about their mental health in the midst of the pandemic.
Our Limitations
"No matter how strong you feel, everyone has a breaking point from stress."
– NicoModafinil
Different Breaking Points For Different People
"How crazy amounts of stress impacts people. I've heard of many people becoming socially anxious, depressed and others gaining a new perspective on life."
"Somehow this whole experience helped me overcome a lot of my issues, seek help, and ultimately I feel like a much stronger person. This sh*t is still absolutely awful though."
– Vladimir_Poontang24
Slammed By Anxiety And Depression
"Man, I thought I was doing ok. I thought I was taking it all in stride and handling it. But the second people started going out in public again and being social again, depression and anxiety hit me like a ton of bricks."
"Staying in lockdown removed any and all frame of reference. I didn't realize I was sinking until I was around people again and suddenly I was not ok."
"EDIT: If you're feeling this way and you don't know what to do, please talk to a therapist. If you're worried about the money talk to them about it. Lots of therapists can and will adjust their price to fit you. It was daunting at first and I didn't want to do it, but it helps. It's not a magic fix that will make you better tomorrow, but for me it felt like I finally stopped sinking."
– LotusFlare
Pushed To The Brink
"I figured out I had a lot of unresolved anger issues that boiled to the surface last year, pushing me to make the first step and seek therapy."
"Yay, Covid I guess?"
– caligaris_cabinet
What surprised me most about the pandemic was how far I was able to go in improving my mental and physical health.
After a period of depression and being sedentary, I forced myself to occupy my time learning how to cook healthier and doing at-home, body-weight-only workouts since gyms were closed.
Both of these were achieved by watching a slew of YouTube videos. Free education, right from my home.
I've never felt more physically and emotionally better. But it took me to almost hit bottom to realize I had to force myself from the doldrums of self-isolation.
Our will is an amazing thing. It can make us pull ourselves up. We just have to want it.
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