What lies in the aftermath of the quarantine? Mike and I have been having a lot of conversations about what will happen when this time is over? Specifically, how will the quarantine affect marriages, our children, work environments, and daily life. Will people just go back to their regular “normal”, will they be impacted and encouraged to change their lives for the better, will they realize the quarantine taught them something they didn’t know about themselves?

Marriage – This is a biggie. If your marriage was on the rocks pre-quarantine, what is the outcome after being sequestered for weeks on end? Are couples more likely to try and work things out and rekindle by remembering what brought them together in the first place? Or will this drive differences even deeper and result in higher divorce rates when it is all over?

Studies show that couples usually love about 80% of one another’s personality traits. This means that the other 20% annoys the ever-loving shit out of them. One theory is that people will stray from a relationship because another person’s 80% appears as a grass is greener situation, but in the end there is still that 20% that will be annoying AF.

Our hope for couples is they take this time to regroup and when the hustle and bustle of daily life has been stripped away they can realize what they truly love about each another. This is a totally romanticized version of life, but considering we are in the twilight zone right now I suppose anything is possible.

Our children – How will our children be impacted from this sequestering from life? I wonder if therapist offices a decade or so from now will be filled with post-quarantine children who are anxious germaphobes who hoard toilet paper. In all seriousness, we talk about this all the time. Yes, the kids aren’t clueless; their schedules have been totally disrupted, they can’t see their friends, and mom and dad are probably talking about food and money issues in earshot. I can only speak to my age group of 4, 8, 10, and 11, but we have decided to try and make this time the most fun as possible for them and to stay as relaxed as we can. They understand the severity to stick together as a family unit, but they have no idea of how many people have died or are sick. They don’t know the horrors of the entire healthcare system, they just know the following: “Guys, you can’t be total morons on your bikes because we really can’t go to the hospital right now!!”

We have been doing a lot of what I’ve seen other parents doing; cooking and baking together, playing outside and bike riding, art projects (let’s be real, for me this is coloring), nightly movies, listening to music, and a lot of singing. Bottom line, stay calm and the kids stay calm. Anxious parents produce anxious children, so freak out behind closed doors.

Work Environment – I’ve always worked from home, so in all honesty this quarantine is not all that different for me aside from the fact that no one is booking travel and I have everyone here with me ALL THE TIME. However, I can’t help but think that some companies can restructure to allow employees to work from home more. Does everyone really NEED to be in the office five days a week? Listen, I’m not naive enough to think this can happen for every kind of job, but let’s really think of how many hours of work gets done in the office vs being able to work remotely. I think this would allow more parents to earn income without having to sacrifice the home-life they desire.

Daily life – In general, and I quote the song Bug from Phish, “it doesn’t matter.” Guess what guys, NOTHING MATTERS. Let’s look at what we are stressing out about right now…. STAYING HEALTHY. Health is wealth. Are people going to remember this very important fact when this is all said and done (fingers crossed if it ever truly is)? Mike made a good point and wondered if people are able, will they move away from the more densely populated areas? I wasn’t so sure about this at first because many people don’t have the luxury to change jobs. However, this whole thing might light a spark in some individuals to change paths and do something they truly love and what makes them happy. Life is short, and if these circumstances don’t show you that I’m not sure what will.

I’ve had a lot of thoughts running through my head these past few weeks and this felt good to get off my chest. I know this has nothing to do with my regular travel blog, but right now… “it doesn’t matter.” I will venture to say when we are back to regular life, we might actually miss one of these forced lazy days at home. Try to use this experience as a positive for the family unit and check out this other article I wrote when we started our quarantine: http://www.travelingmadesimple.com/2020/03/18/how-the-coronavirus-quarantine-can-be-a-positive/

Stay safe and be well.

by Ellen Volpe – Co-Owner of ET Family Travel