Early in lockdown it was all about baking. Beer bread. Banana nut bread. Brownies. Eight pounds later and it seemed like maybe it was time for a new hobby to distract us.
As much as quarantine has been an adventure in finding creative ways to virtually spend time with friends doing things you love or dusting off those games from the back closet, there is something else that’s rather fascinating going on (at least for me and a few friends). Quarantine metamorphosis.
Maybe it has to do with the fact that our daily time is being used differently, that time, generally, feels both fleeting and amorphous, that we are spending an awful lot of time in our spaces with ourselves without distractions, but the urge to change things about appearance and decor is very, very strong.
I think it started with my hair. Because, my hair is in the awkward growing out stage I am having to learn new ways to work with it because I am not comfortable going to the salon. But, then I thought adding a couple things to my wardrobe might be nice. I had heard good things about ThredUp so went to check it out.
I have now replaced about 1/4th of my wardrobe and am now to the point of actually growing it. I suddenly and inexplicably want to start wearing bow ties. I have decided that since I no longer work in a traditional business setting (although I was not actually IN traditional business settings being a museum professional and then an editor for the niche Ren Faire and reeactment market my wardrobe was sort of business with flair) I could opt to make my wardrobe something more daring. It’s a bit history-bounding/fantasy-history, a bit Lady Door, and a bit alien who Googled ‘Earth clothes’.
It hasn’t stopped at the clothes though. We’ve started slowly updating the house. The house has always been comfortably functional and trending toward mad-scientist messy. But, we’ve decided to lean into a somewhat Steampunk, somewhat broadly vintage and historical hodgepodge I like to call Time Travelling Tea House. Like if the TARDIS were a tea house (which, let’s be honest, given everything I just said about my wardrobe should be unsurprising).
It’s weird little things, like buying toothpaste and face tonic with vintage-y packaging. Leaning into cooking medieval-inspired meals. Finding a lamp at IKEA that looks like an old oil lamp and wanting to create living room decor around it.
And bigger things like wanting to start a YouTube channel (I mean I set it up…it’s called The Time Travelling Tea House…I just am having a hard time getting started because anxiety and ADHD).
I am curious, when I finally step fully back into life in public space who I will be and what special, personal world I will have created.
Are YOU going through a Quarantine Metamorphosis? Tell me about it!
Cheers,
Tanya