How did COVID-19 measures in your country affect you?

To me the entrance of COVID impacted me on different areas. It introduced fear in my life, but also a bit of discipline.
It made me care about washing my hands, while I never did. But it also made me jumpy whenever I see someone cough or sneeze without covering their mouth, while that never bothered me before.

But what impacted me the most is how my country handled COVID and the measures they took in order to contain it. We went on a partial lockdown, which caused more damage than good. At first it seemed as if a lot of people were still allowed to do everything they wanted, while small businesses were the ones who suffered the downfall.

This caused the amount of cases to rise drastically. After the amount of cases rose to a worrying extent, finally we decided to introduce a curfew and temporary closure of a lot of restaurants and stores. I would not say that it was too late, but since a lot of small stores already had to declare themselves bankrupt because of the partial lockdown, it felt like this could've been prevented.

The impact the measures had on my life:

• A lot of my favourite stores closed down. That means i won't be able to return to them after Covid.
• I was forced to face my anxiety for showing my face on camera. Because working at home means using a webcam and maybe potential embarrassing moments. this has made me more assertive.
• I lost a lot of friends. I am not very good with things like chatting and long distance friendships. They water down very quickly.
• I became more introverted. I did not know I could become more introverted than I already was and became to enjoy the non-social situation more...
• I gained weight. I think a lot of us did. I never realised how much impact biking to work and walking to town had on my health and weight. As soon as I stopped doing that, it became very difficult to keep a fit body
• I became obsessed with skincare. Somehow being inside made it easier for me to take care of myself. My skin has never looked better. #qa #nostalgia

How did the measures from your country affect your career, yourself and your future?