Many of us have made life-altering shifts since the start of the pandemic, whether consciously or unconsciously. Working and schooling from home have become the norm. Our routines have been interrupted. Paychecks stifled. Plans altered or cancelled.
The ability to roll with these changes is key.
I am lucky that my voiceover work has been home-based since 2006. Not much changed for me when the shutdown started. What did change? Everything else. My almost empty nest was suddenly full again. I went from working alone at home to having a college kid and a high school kid attending on-line classes and my husband working from home all in one week. We all claimed a nook of the house in which to work or study. My husband and I shared what had been my office. We made it work because we had to.
Our ability to pivot and live harmoniously was key. We cooked together, ate every meal together and had great conversations. No one was running off to practice or rehearsals. As sad as that was, it was peaceful at the same time. Our family connection grew stronger.
The quarantine really boiled our daily life down to its essence. We weren’t traveling or eating inside restaurants. Our gym was closed. We left the house for provisions only. We shopped for our elderly friends. We got to know our neighbors.
In March of 2020, I kept busy recording a lot of health-based PSAs, physician and hospital announcements regarding Covid 19 protocols which were constantly changing. There was also a stream of voiceover work regarding telehealth visit instructions. The next wave of voice work came when the vaccines rolled out. Information about where to get the vaccine, who was eligible, and which one was being offered all needed recorded announcements. Things were calm for a long while until the booster shots became available. Most of the voiceover work was steady but did not have the urgency that the initial vaccine announcements did. Then Omicron hit. A flurry of airports and government entities joined the healthcare industry in adding new Omicron-related rules. At the time of this blog, my daily recordings are about where to get PCR tests, where asymptomatic people can get rapid tests and the shortage of at-home tests. Telehealth visits are also ramping up again.
This pandemic has taught me a little about what is important in life. As things lean into the realm of normalcy and we get back to our old ways (for better or for worse) I’m trying to hold onto some of the good habits that have sprouted from this two year period.