While Matt Olsen has been working from home for the past year, he does not have to wrestle with the nightmare traffic on the 91 Highway to navigate his 29-mile commute from Corona to Orange County.
“It definitely enabled me to see a lot more of my family,” said Olsen, who is married and has three children and works as a technical director for a cypress technology company.
“At the end of a workday, I’m just going down,” he said. “And I do not have to worry about what’s going on with the highway that day.”
Now that coronavirus hospitalizations are falling across Southern California and the COVID-19 vaccine is getting into people’s arms, Olsen said preparations are being made for his return to the office. But if he goes back, it will probably take two or three days a week.
“I do not think there will ever be a time when I go to the office every day,” he said.
About a year ago, life was improved in a comprehensive, unprecedented way as schools and universities suddenly closed classrooms and Governor Gavin Newsom ordered Californians to take refuge at home.
And although society is starting to reopen, some things cannot go back to the way they were.
Commuters may not drive to work as often. New hobbies like cooking, mountain biking and watching movies on Netflix that emerged during boring closing days can become permanent accessories. And some avoid overcrowded gyms after discovering that they can stay in shape to exercise at home.
Wendy Wood, a professor of psychology and business at USC’s Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, suggests that whether – and how often – workers return to work can determine how permanent some pandemic lifestyle changes appear to be.
Those who return five days a week will eat at the restaurant again and go to the gym after work, Wood said. He wrote the book ‘Good Habits, Bad Habits’.
On the other hand, Wood said, the hobby of gardening that thrives on the extra time people have at home can be put aside.
“It just will not fit in the same way in our lifestyle,” she said.
Some may have pandemic habits
Wood said some new habits will remain regardless.
People will continue to do a lot of their shopping online, she said, watching movies at home.
“At least initially I expect people to go to the theater again because it’s different,” Wood said.
When the closure is over, people want to get out and do things they could not do yet. “We’re all a little bored,” she said.
“But eventually more people will be watching movies on Netflix at home because we got used to it,” Wood said. “And it’s that easy.”
Anaheim residents Jim and Kathi Bowman are among those who have become accustomed to movies in the comfort and safety of their home.
Kathi Bowman said they expect to continue it after the pandemic ended, and only go to theaters on special occasions such as an appointment with another couple.
For Bowmans, 2020 was a year of cancellation as plans for a voyage to France, Italy and Spain went through in May.
Nevertheless, Kathi Bowman, who recently retired from her position as executive director of WISEPlace, a shelter for homeless and abused women, has found a way to partially revive the voyage.
“I decided to go to the countries via Netflix,” she said. ‘I went through the world on Netflix and I visited at least 45 countries. And I’m in Peru now. ”
Kathi Bowman searches for video stories about people, places and history of a particular nation, and spends a week, sometimes two, learning about the country.
The couple in their 70s made other lifestyle changes.
Kathi Bowman said she now cooks daily and makes a variety of dishes from chicken, seafood and shellfish.
“Kathi got really good,” Jim Bowman said. “She got all these cookbooks.”
In the future, they plan to eat less frequently than in the past.
In another change, Kathi Bowman trained five days a week in a gym and now trains on a stationary bike at home.
“I do not intend to go back to practice on a machine on which someone was 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 jail,'” Kathi Bowman said. “I do not feel like I’m in jail. I’m in my house. And I’m thankful I have a home to be in. ”
Closed gyms did not stop weight loss
Soup Pha, 34, a singer and recording artist living in Woodland Hills, also practiced in a gym before COVID-19 passed.
Pha stuck around and said he was starting to gain weight and reach 250 pounds on his 5-foot-9 frame. He had problems with gout.
So he started practicing at home.
Pha said he ran on a treadmill. He did pushups and sit-ups. He did yoga. And he reduced his weight to 172.
“The gout problem has disappeared, but I have medication to deal with it,” he said.
Pha intends to continue with home exercises.
“I realized I could still lose weight by exercising at home rather than driving to the gym,” he said. “And I can also save a lot on fuel.”
Carlo Singh, a 34-year-old Pomona resident and substitute teacher for the Walnut Valley Unified School District, has come up with a new hobby: mountain biking.
“I did not really want to succeed,” he said.
Singh said it happened that a friend bought a mountain bike. Singh’s wife asked him if he wanted one too, so he bought one in June and started driving.
Singh fell in love with the sport. He worked his way up from flat trails to rough, steep roads.
“And it got more interesting to me,” he said.
Singh said mountain biking got him out of the house while gyms were closed, helping him appreciate nature more.
“Mentally, it was what I would call a fresh air,” he said.
And there are tangible results. Singh is content to become faster, stronger.
It is especially satisfying to reach the top of a challenging route.
“I can turn around and say, ‘I climbed it.’ 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 is in the rearview mirror.
“I already have plans for my next bike,” he said, although “my wife says I can’t get one for two years, so I have to wait.”
Office is no longer needed five days a week
Regarding the return to the office, Christina Hassija, professor and interim chair of the Department of Psychology of the State of San Bernardino, said she apparently wants the most.
“As human beings, we all have a need for social interaction,” Hassija said. “And the workplace offers it.”
That is not to say that it will not be a bumpy transition, because if we go back, in some cases it will formally dress again and challenge the traffic, she said.
“Life used to be so stressful,” Hassija said. “It will take a while to adjust to the life we were used to because it was so long.”
As stressful as it is, Olsen, the Corona commuter, said he misses the 91 highway.
“I remember the traffic in a good way, in a very strange way, because it means normal,” he said.
Olsen is preparing to return to the office part-time while working at home for the rest of the week. According to him, the office will become a place to go to need, rather than a place to report every day.
Olsen can therefore look forward to seeing more of his early childhood from his 2-year-old daughter.
It was also nice to spend more time with his two teenage daughters, although they are eager to return to school and be friends.
“They’ve seen enough of me,” he said.