An Update to my Pandemic Life.
I think it’s time to open up a bit.
It’s been over a year since I first my first blog post. I didn’t know exactly where I wanted to take this blog, I just knew I needed to start. At the same time, I was in heavy reflection mode spending much of my time thinking about my job as a barista in comparison to the jobs I saw my customers had. I was frustrated by the lack of respect and dignity I felt I was receiving as a university-educated barista. I grew a fair amount of contempt for white-collar workers who were ignorant of the hard work my colleagues and I were producing at our internationally recognized coffee shop. I thought why am I making minimum wage driving myself to the point of physical exhaustion all the while I am serving a general public who couldn’t care less. I hated it.
I don’t need to rehash March. We all know what happened in March.
There have been both positives and negatives to the changes I experienced this past year. I went from being a tired and frustrated barista in January to a scared and hopeful freelance writer by December. That is still wild to me.
Leaving the coffee industry during a pandemic was never part of my exit plan. I love coffee, that’s why I wanted to work in it. I’ve worked in customer service for almost 10 years. I grew up in coffee shops, the culture around coffee has fascinated and inspired me for years.
At the same time, I have been writing since I was a kid. Becoming a writer was one of my top professions next to becoming a fashion designer or a movie director. I love creating, I always have. Growing up I wrote countless stories and screenplays. If it was in my head then it went on paper.
This past year I realized I needed to take that dream and work towards it becoming a reality. I want to write stuff that people will read, for a really long time. I want to write stuff that makes you think and feel, just like I have. I want to create experiences and ideas that you want to share.
Let me be clear, I am very lucky to have been able to make this difficult, precarious decision.
It has not been lost on me that leaving this industry during a pandemic was a privilege in and of itself. I may sound like a broken record, but having asthma during a pandemic and working a job that can’t be done remotely terrifies me. I am the girl who couldn’t go outside because of smog alerts. I’ve always considered myself in a statistically bad place when it comes to viruses and the strength of my lungs. I was lucky to be able to transition into this industry as there are many people still working those hard essential jobs because they need the money and I never want to forget that.
Photo by Christiano Sinisterra from Pexels
I’m not going to write on all of my personal experiences during this time, at least certainly not while they are organically happening. I feel deeply. In the future, I do plan on writing something more personal about my experiences (probably a short ebook of some sort), but right now that’s just not my focus.
My focus right now is creating a place that you want to come back to. I want to create a space where everyone is welcome and above all everyone is RESPECTED. I’m not interested in living in a world with partisan politics and misinformation.
This is the world I am interested in.
A world that recognizes climate change as real and something that is worked on by the global community actively.
A world where racism is both acknowledged and eradicated. A place where being anti-racist is just normal.
A world where all human rights are respected and people are given real opportunities for success regardless of where they came from.
A world where technology is seamlessly integrated into life without rampant privacy and security violations.
A world where human beings receive better access to education in order to enhance their critical analysis skills and better themselves as global citizens.
A world where wealth is distributed more evenly. A place where the rich pay taxes to the state that provides services to those who need it most.
I have strong political views, I always have. Going to school for history and politics only increased those ideas. I like to look at society pragmatically and truthfully. I value diplomacy over everything and believe most things can be worked on through multilateral dialogue. We all live on this big wet planet together so why not work on making it better for everyone together?
I see this time as one of immense opportunity. To be quite frank I don’t have time to dwell on the past or what it could have been. If I do it will only drive me into a place I’m very familiar with that I don’t want to be. I have the opportunity to create the life I want to live, the life I’ve always dreamed of living. Why would I focus on ‘getting back to normal’ if I never liked the normal I had to begin with?
Updates are hard, but they are also important! There certainly is a lot on my mind and that won’t be stopping any time soon. I know I always say to expect to find me here and I still mean that. Maybe pester me on Instagram if you haven’t heard from me in a while. Just know that I’m always going to be here.
Title Image Photo by Andrew Neel from Pexels
