Do you think your behavior/habits/bucket list will change after we get back to normal?

Yes. I think I'm going to have PTSD about going back to work (large urban university.) Also, I've always disliked travel, but forced myself to do it anyway. No more of that. If my partner and I can live through this, keep our health, jobs, and home, I don't care if I never go anywhere again.

I expect things will return to normal.

The only big change might be work related. Though I work entirely from home, my firm has sent about 95% of it's staff home anticipating that this will be months not weeks. The company has gone back and forth on staff working from home, but the ease and speed with which the change was implemented coupled with the potential savings in expensive office space will be a tempting opportunity to save money. A lot of employers will likely look at the same change (in certain types of work, obviously.)

International supply sourcing and order processing/shipping procedures will probably change somewhat for certain types of goods, and there may be a lot of outwardly invisible changes in some places

Sylvia/R1, that's interesting. I think in regards to travel, this event has had an opposite effect and has made me just want to travel more. So many sites that I still want to see, and life can be cut short so prematurely.

Reconsidering our trips to Atlantic City for 4th of July and Universal Orlando in Sept...

Will save, save, save instead of all the extra, unnecessary shopping.

I don't use the term bucket list; it's so mainstream. Yes I will return to taking trips I want to places I've been before and places I want to explore. Yes I will resume going to concerts and plays.

I’m with you, R3.

[quote] has sent about 95% of it's staff home

Oh, dear!

I hate to admit it, in a sense, but this IS quite normal for me. I'm self-employed. My partner is in a job that has been declared essential service, but does not put him in close contact with large groups of people.. We have a small circle of friends with whom we get together at intervals. We go for walks, we hike. We live in a semi-rural location. I own my own home, so if my self-employment slows down, I don't have to worry about a mortgage. We live quite simply. Our interests and hobbies are not costly. And, (crosses fingers) our area thus far is relatively virus-free.

R3 I get your point, but I feel like I'll just be so grateful if I can keep the mundane things that I have, which are incredibly precious now that they are under threat, that I won't strive for extras.

Eventually we will have herd immunity, treatments and vaccines, so we will get back to normal. The only question is how long.

R10 - 2 to 3 months (May/June)

There have already been several threads on this OP. Would it have killed you to have done a search before you posted this? Would it? What’s wrong with having a little consideration for others and doing a search first? Would it really have been that hard? Would it? Are you going to be able to give us an honest answer to this? Are you?

I’m the opposite of the travellers here. Life is short so focus on family and community. Also need to work on keeping the mind quiet and focused (internet does NOT help with that).

I hope that travel becomes more regulated after this anyway i.e. that people take fewer trips abroad and maybe spend a period of time in quarantine before and after to avoid spreading diseases.

For r9:

((((HUGS)))))

From a distance, though. Kind of like a “cousin huh,” just to be safe.

[quote]I’m the opposite of the travellers here. Life is short so focus on family and community.

Many people travel to get AWAY from those things. I certainly do.

I hate the feeling of being trapped and having no place to escape. I realize now how much I took for granted having a US passport and rarely having to think about visas, closed borders, etc.

I'm in the restaurant industry. I'm not sure if I'll feel comfortable being in close contact with people again until there is a vaccine for this virus.

R15 I get it...but I guess I should have clarified that it’s a good thing to focus on clarifying the type of family and community we want. In this kind of situation, do you feel like talking to them? Are they looking out for you and you for them? If not, they’re not for you.

I don't want to go back to normal. I have really disliked what has happened to world especially the last 10 years or so.

I guess because I'm a loner it doesn't feel that differently from me. I DON'T miss going to work and having to deal with toxic environment, annoying co-workers or cunty managers who use their position to bully people.

Or having to deal with the rat race every morning. Everyone squawking away on their phones, or faces buried deep in phones. People on top of you, running to get to work. I think after this is over, I think more people will be more cognizant of their personal space. Before this, it bothered me how people would repeatedly invade your personal space and not even notice or care.

I think there's going to be a great deal more cases of social anxiety after this.

[quote] I DON'T miss going to work and having to deal with toxic environment, annoying co-workers or cunty managers who use their position to bully people.

100% agree. I'll add that I also don't miss academicians who think they walk on water, and stupid frau office togetherness rituals like potlucks. I DO miss not having nightly panic attacks.

[quote] I don't use the term bucket list; it's so mainstream.

Mary!

I think its going to take a long while to get back to normal, the economic damage will be enormous and long lasting. Im retired on a pretty limited budget compared to when I use to work so travel wasnt something I was really doing. So my life probably wont be too much different. I put in an application to adopt a second dog . It not like donating a bunch of money to a homeless organization or something similiar to help out millions needing help, but at least it something. The poor dog has spent his first 4 years as a stray, so hopefully I may be lucky enuf to adopt him. It isnt much but its one less dog homeless. My guess is the shelters and rescue organizations are going to be slammed with pets needing homes. I realize there are going to be a lot more people homeless or at least temporarily displaced as well. This is really a nightmare situation and almost unbelievable worst case scenerio for mankind. Having trump as president during this has made it so much worse.

I think that we’ll have more monopolies, and less competition.

Trump would love to use the disease to grab more power, more corruption, and be more of an ass. A lot will depend on the Nov election.

For me moving someplace new was always my escape plan. But in conditions of pandemic, that is no longer wise.

I've trained myself so hard to not be physically close to anyone that when I watch a movie and people touch each other or touch an object and don't immediately wash their hands, my brain freaks out. Just a touch of PTSD.

I hope people will act less entitled when traveling (at the airports, inside airplanes).

They won't r25.

Maybe people will be more respectful to store workers. I never understood all the bitching about Trader Joe’s workers being too chatty. Now I’m grateful that someone in a store is helpful.

They won't r27.

r25 I think they'll be worse than pre-Corona

My logic was that, now that our “right” to travel has been taken away, we’ll be more appreciative of it.

R25

I think Dataloungers underestimate just how many people are stupid and selfish. There are millions upon millions who right now don't care about the pandemic, or they think it's exaggerated or even fake. They won't change. Ever.

We'll be lucky if this is the ONLY pandemic we experience in our lifetimes.

I have no faith in humanity.

They will be even cuntier than ever.

Nope. Because Trump will start WW3 against China during his second term

You guys are probably right, R31 / R32. Too depressing to think about right now, that people will glean nothing from this experience.

Well, I have been forced to quit my light cigarette habit, so I’m hoping to keep that positive change.

I work in an ICU, so I'm putting all future plans on hold. There's a small chance I'll get sick or die, or quit and have to start over again, or be horrible burned out and have PTSD, or in a year or two my career will have evolved in a different direction. So, absolutely no plans for the future at the moment.

Except I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD I WILL SEE ICELAND BEFORE I DIE IF I CAN!!!

I love to travel, as I'm stuck here at home the wanderlust is like a physical pain, and I know I won't be able to travel for ages. (Not just because everything's shut down, but because if anyone could be an unwitting carrier it'd be me!) And when I can't sleep and all the terrible things that could happen to me run through my head, the thought that at least I saw a good chunk of the world when I could is a huge comfort. It wasn't just fun and fascinating, every trip meant that I was coming out of the bad place I was born into and living life on my own terms. Well, if I have to find a new way to live on my own terms, at least I saw what I could, when I could.

For one thing I will never leave my money in the stock market for more than overnight. Day trading here I come.

[quote]We'll be lucky if this is the ONLY pandemic we experience in our lifetimes

Global pandemics generally occur once per century. We were overdue by two years,

After this is over, we'll all go back to being the same asshole society we've always been, electing losers like Trump and treating each other like shit. Memories are short.

The nanosecond borders are reopened and flights recommense, I'm hitting the road, before the hordes feel confident to leave their homes. Travel will be dirt cheap and many destinations tourist-free.

^^^ recommenCe^^^

You all think rather small.

The entire world is experiencing this simultaneously .

I, for one, will not be picking up handles or tongs at buffets or Whole Foods. Millions of people will question - and attack - the wealthy - the behavior of some has been horribly selfish.

Theaters, concert halls, museums, etc here in NYC skew older. Will they return?

Is that designer bag helping you at all? Won't you finally make saving at least a small priority?

I'm curious about the responses from people who in some ways "don't want to go back to normal," as though this is all some reminder that we should stay home, mistrust adventure and things foreign, not travel, simplify our lives, live in tiny houses, grow our own vegetables, buy local, spend more time with Mother... For me it's not the opposite, exactly, it's not a license to rape the earth, to steal from the poor, to consume vastly, nor to thumb my nose at the less fortunate, but it is a reminder of how important travel is to me, how important it is to explore beyond my city, how important it is to look outward and to learn new things from new people and new places - things that don't happen if my life continues as under lockdown, just with a slightly nicer leash. Withdrawing from the world to a life of Netflix and contemplation isn't for me.

R43, it is probably because DL skews older. Speaking for myself, I traveled to Europe for years and had such a wonderful time. I am 56 now, and have less income, so I do not care if I ever get on another plane.

R44, that sums it up for me too.

Still, my reaction to R43 was "Then try picking up a book."

Reading and travel are not incompatible, R45, nor are they mutually exclusive.

I'm another one whose lifestyle hasn't really been impacted that much by the lockdown. The main thing this experience has done is confirm my feelings that I live in a country of willfully ignorant assholes who I have very little in common with. So it's reinforced my tendencies to be introverted and to stick mainly to socializing with a few trusted friends rather than to get out more and meet new people.

I really like having groceries and other things delivered instead of shopping I will continue to do that once this over.

I also love working from home and will want to expand that.

I have gotten in touch with at least one old friend and hope to continue that relationship.

I'll definitely keep getting groceries delivered, I even paid for a membership at a grocery so I can get free delivery, it'll pay for itself in no time.

This has made me realize I want to get all the useless junk out of my house as soon as possible, no more putting off the decluttering. When you live 24/7 with five bookcases full of books but you only care about maybe half of them, you get tired of it all real quick.

We’re going to have to add back hygiene stations everywhere.

Finding a place to wash your hands in an urban American environment requires a passcode, then a key, and then the ability to coax heroin users away from the sink. No, there won’t be towels or air dryers.

You all have filthy hands and you don’t demand a place to wash up. Zero self-respect.

I am happy not to shake hands or give kisses when meeting people. I truly care for about 3 people. The rest forget about it.

[quote]Maybe people will be more respectful to store workers.

Karens gotta Karen.