I began like most people in the United states, teleworking last year right around the beginning of March and at first it felt like it was a really good opportunity. As things moved on and I realized I hadn’t left the house in weeks and realize that all I did was wander around the house try not to get sick from everything around me, it hit me that maybe when I was doing was not for the best of my personal health. It turns out that I need more human interaction than I previously anticipated. One of the things that I used to think about most in my life and prided myself on was the fact that I really never liked being around other people. I guess in a way I don’t really like talking to other people and interacting with them but I love a good ball game or large venue where there’s a ton of people there. Every time I go to a large menu it’s really nice to see the energy and the people who actually love the sport or concert or whatever venue it is because they are really into it even though I am not. I’m really not into any sports I really couldn’t care less about concerts or most large-scale venues but I do go because of the energy that’s involved within the space. You can call that the architect in meeting call that the the need for nourishment of the soul, but whatever it is it’s soothing to me. I really like going to the large venues because also I get to see all of the different details as most of us architects do. It’s nice to look and see the expansion joins and how they solved the issue of thermal expansion and thermal breaking and storefront windows and all those other really cool details that come up in our own projects.
Right? Well, it turns out that as I’m sitting in my house wandering around doing nothing, I couldn’t really mentally express myself and get that energy and vibe from other people and that is a bad thing. I did solve the issue of not being able to work out with making sure I had some equipment inside my house so that I was able to walk and run when I needed to and being able to lift weights and have a workout regimen which was really nice so at least I was able to kinda stay on top of that. Together really great thing about staying home was that I really didn’t have to drive anywhere or pay extra money him forgoing certain places. It was a good and bad thing that I didn’t have to go anywhere because then I was able to start happy hour a little early. The challenge with not realizing which day it is in the week and being able to understand how things work with your own personal mentality is that you will always end up somewhere other than where you want to be. Well, it turns out that’s exactly what happened to me. Adding a bunch of stress limiting the amount of time I went outside and where I could go really put a big toll on me, I imagine a lot like other people in my situation. I was really grateful as some of the things that I enjoyed started opening up overtime and I was able to travel a little bit here and there especially for work.
Now that it’s been a year, I have been able to start taking measure of the things that I have lost and gained over the last year and it’s been pretty profound. One of the things I’ve noticed is that if I don’t concentrate on things like health and mental awareness I’m not really going to get very far. And now as the new year has been brought in and I’ve had a few months of 2021, I’ve realized that I feel much better I am way more engaged in a way healthier overall. All of that is a tribute to realizing as the holiday season came in and was missing my family and missing all the people I couldn’t be around and not being able to go into work, and how all of that played into the pressure of every day. Now that I am back in the office with a lot of my coworkers, and even though we’re still wearing masks, it feels good to be able to see people interact with people and then also seems really good to be able to go and talk to family and interact in bars and other certain venues. It’s also nice to be able to travel again and to go throughout the United States and see different sites and being able to go out hiking and do all the things that I haven’t done for over a year so that has really picked up my energy. Had become a lot more effective a lot more understanding and it has helped me understand and interact with details a little bit more as I’m once again being able to see them. I love being able to explore different design elements and in nature and in travels. Taking the time to see the things around me is really nice.
Really the one thing that I can take away from the pandemic and quarantine time is the fact that I haven’t been able to go anywhere but because of that now I understand of the things I need. I’m starting to understand a lot more of what the human interaction with the spaces around them need to look like. A lot of times I jump into projects that require LEED or WELL standards and I don’t quite understand fully how the human interacts with the space but rather more so about how the environmental impact and the material resources interact with the people. I try to focus on things like day lighting and giving the occupants what they need rather than understanding the actual needs of the occupants. So, this is one of those really cool opportunities that I’ve come to find as I slowly reintegrate with the world. I’m sure other people have found an even cooler options and things that help improve their design overtime. One of my greatest strengths right now has been able to improve my leadership through professional interaction and social interactions. Another really great thing that came out of this pandemic was the ability to Tele work and use software to another level of collaboration. I think for me, it has been really nice to be able to interact with different players of the architectural process in a way that we can still be distant but achieve the same integrated design mentality and methods. I’m looking forward to the next few quarters of the year and to see how things progress overall especially now that there is a vaccine that is readily available to most adults in most states. I already have completed my series so it is really nice to be able to not feel as freaked out about every little sneeze or cough. So, cheers as we move forward to a better healthy lifestyle and a better mental awareness!
