Do you remember what it was like last year, just as the entire world was going into Lockdown Mode for the very first time? Panic. Chaos. Fear. Buying tons of toilet paper and canned goods. And most of our daily habits and routines being thrown completely out of whack by Covid-19 and the new health and safety regulations.
As human beings, we need structure, order, and routine to thrive and survive. They all help us make sense of the world and work as a safety blanket of sorts. So it’s only natural that, while in mandatory lockdown, we’ve picked up some errr, shall we say, slightly peculiar habits. And by that I mean they’re so incredibly bizarre that we couldn’t wait to share them with you, dear Pandas.
The folks over on TikTok revealed the ‘mundane but unhinged’ things they started doing during the lockdown after entrepreneur Nikki Blank, aka Moneyintheblank, revealed how her weird lockdown habit is eating a sunset pickle. Yup! We love that so much, we can’t even put it into words. Don’t forget to upvote your fave answers as you scroll down and share your own Twilight Zone pandemic rituals in the comment section at the bottom.
More info: TikTok | Twitter | Instagram
Image credits: moneyintheblank
#1
The whole family is in on it like a communal descent into madness. We have a plastic duck. Her name is Martha. We move her around the house and then act like she got there on her own.
Image source: failing_full_circle
#2
I learned what all the birds mean according to native mythology and now I use them to predict the weather.
Image source: dadelikemiami, Flickr (not the actual photo)
#3
So for the past six months, every night I go down to the Mississippi River and I stare at the huge container ships that go by. And then just like any date, I have to google them. So I log on to marinetraffic.com to see where they’re coming from or going to. And they’re all coming from really exotic places like Hamburg, the Cape of Good Hope, or Trenton, New Jersey – just, like, really cool places that we can’t go to right now. I’m in so deep that now I’ve read three nonfiction books about container ships.
Image source: loudadanger
#4
This took me year and a half.
Image source: variableminerva
#5
I bought my cat and I matching red silk robes and I put them on us on Sundays to watch true crime shows.
Image source: uhohmomfoundmyurl, Flickr (not the actual photo)
#6
I found this thing online about this person who kept feeding the neighborhood crows and eventually they would start to bring her gifts like little bottle caps or shiny things. And I’ve been walking around the neighborhood a lot so I figured, why not? So I just kept buying huge bags of peanuts to bring with me on my walks. And then, anytime I’d see a crow, I’d throw out handfuls of peanuts through the neighborhood. Literally just in the hopes they’ll start bringing me garbage gifts.
I don’t know where the drop location is supposed to be. I don’t know if they’re supposed to figure out where my house is. Although, I have also started leaving peanuts around my house so they can maybe connect the dots. Because of this, I’ve become crazy tuned into the sound of crow calls. So yeah, it’s been a pretty special time for me and the neighborhood creatures.
Image source: astoldbyadri, Flickr (not the actual photo)
#7
I tell my dog everything about my life. And when I feel like she has done her fair share of emotional labor for me, I go to my rabbit and I tell him stuff as well.
Image source: sweetbabycarl1, Flickr (not the actual photo)
#8
There’s a group of squirrels that bury their nuts in my little backyard. I gave them all names, back stories and a clan rivalry.
It’s been pretty cold and I haven’t seen them for a couple months and I really miss them…except Jason. That little fucker used to come around at 4 p.m. everyday and dig up the other squirrels nuts. But I caught on real quick. I’m watching you, Jason
Image source: shakeybake, Flickr (not the actual photo)
#9
Every night at sunset I eat a pickle, and it’s my sunset pickle.
Image source: moneyintheblank
#10
Everytime I go to the beach to walk my dog, I collect either rocks, sticks or beach glass. Here’s my collection.
Image source: grummlinds
#11
I put my Christmas tree up and I haven’t taken it down. It’s almost been up for a year and I’ve changed the ornaments every few weeks.
Image source: jessica__dawn, Flickr (not the actual photo)
#12
Image source: romancenovelbookreport
#13
I don’t sleep through the night so at 3 a.m. I get up and eat the croissant on my nightstand. So instead of witching hour, it’s the croissant hour.
Image source: anacond.a, Flickr (not the actual photo)
#14
I put my stuffed animals in chairs and give them mugs so it feels like I’m working in a coffee shop, when I’m actually desperately alone.
Image source: hannahgw17, Flickr (not the actual photo)
#15
I’m an essential worker and where I work they don’t mandate our customers to wear masks so I deal with a lot of stress. So now on my Sunday I draw a hot bubble bath with epsom salt and light some candles. I put my laptop out, turn on a good show, and I make some good dinner – like something I love. And I eat my dinner in the bathtub.
Image source: ari.chanelle, Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#16
That would be the rubber band ball made from each broccoli that we’ve eaten during the pandemic.
Image source: lojurive
#17
I live near an airport and at the beginning of the pandemic I downloaded this app that lets you check local airplane radar. Now, every time that I hear a plane go by overhead, I check the app to see where they were coming from and I imagine what it would be like if I were in that place right now.
Image source: ottilie.com
#18
I got cowgirl boots to wear while watching a horse show on Netflix.
Image source: crunchy_tx, Flickr (not the actual photo)
#19
I rent a place by the lake, but I can’t afford a boat. I can’t go boating and I can’t go fishing because I’m vegan. So everyday during my quarantine summer I would come out on my porch and wait for boats to go by. As the boats went by I would pay attention to what songs they were playing and I would count that as fishing for songs. I put them all on a little playlist.
Image source: eva_alom
#20
I’ve been obsessed with the turkeys that live outside my bedroom window and every day at sundown I watch them. It’s become a ritual. I call this ‘Turkey Time.’ And it’s gotten to the point where if for some reason, due to bad weather or something, the turkeys aren’t here, I feel like my world is crumbling. They are comfort turkeys.
Image source: mik.rib
#21
I abandoned all my previously held beliefs about religion, politics, gender identity, and sexual orientation…oh, and I started painting wine bottles!
Image source: crawdaddy_longl3gs
#22
Image source: emilyrichofficial
#23
Practicing my goat face. Would you like to see?
Image source: crissy_2382
#24
Whenever I’m alone for too long and watching TV by myself [and] I have a thought about what I’m watching I will pause the TV. Pause it, look to my left as if someone is sitting there, and I will argue with myself about my opinions on the show. There’s no one there. I only play the show when I’m done saying my thought.
Image source: lrstigs
#25
Before I moved, I would go for a sunset walk every night behind my house and write the names of the people I hate in the sand.
Image source: amrix259, Pexels (not the actual photo)
#26
I started taking shots of maple syrup whenever I get stressed.
Image source: xkittykultx, Flickr (not the actual photo)
#27
These are my sticks.
Image source: variableminerva
#28
Sweeping my floor while waiting for my morning coffee is a new ritual. Every single morning, like blindly in the dark.
Image source: not_curt
#29
Cutting fabric into pieces and then sewing them back together.
Image source: handmade_bymargot
#30
I have this one blonde eyebrow hair that grows super long and I used to pluck it, but now I just let it grow out. It’s probably over an inch. It’s already fallen out naturally once so it’ll probably fall out soon, but I just love it.
Image source: mermaid_hales
#31
I will make stupid lyrics to the songs and sing them out loud to no one. Like fully in public I will sing at my dog telling her to poop.
Image source: ehhhhva_
#32
I keep eating pieces of fruit and when I go to shoot, I grow up and now I have a mandarin tree. A lemon tree, a white guava tree. This one didn’t like being reported, but she’s bouncing back. I have more pink guava guavas growing some green guava. I have an olive tree and I have a tiny little navel tree, navel, orange tree that I’m trying to bonzai. I also have some yellow dragon fruit in the red dragon fruit. But this one’s from a friend. I live in a tiny graduate housing apartment. Why did I choose trees?
Image source: insulint
#33
FaceTiming men on dating apps without warning.
Image source: keegane99, Pexels (not the actual photo)
#34
I eat the end of the bread loaves at the end of the day.
Image source: wooohooohouse
#35
I don’t eat the middles of Oreos. I save them.
Image source: candicegreat
#36
I got, like super into freakin composting. This is my stinky compost bucket full of stinky compost. Smells like sh*t. I have absolutely no purpose for it. I am just collecting stinky sh*t juice. Also, that system is called Bokashi Bucket. If you go to Banning’s and ask for Cocchi, it’s not going to go down well.
Image source: ashy_anne_
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