Moving into your own place during a time of physical distancing is tough

Moving homes is always a stressful process. Between packing, the cost of a moving truck, the aches that come from loading and unloading boxes and the work it takes to make your new home a liveable space, it’s never easy

It becomes even more stressful when you factor in COVID-19.

Along with the need for people to remain isolated from each other, in my case I was also moving into an apartment that is unfinished because the contractors couldn’t finish the job due to the virus’s risks.

I had no choice but to move into a new apartment on March 28. While I was lucky enough that my family was willing to make the nearly six-hour drive from southern Ontario to assist me with it, the stress was far from eliminated by having the extra hands.

Two days before moving in I was told that the contractors doing renovations on my new apartment had walked out on the job. This left me with no kitchen counters, no taps in my bathroom and no way to access running water. I still had no choice but to move in.

With two cars, a temporary apartment and a storage unit full of boxes and furniture, it took hours of back and forth trips to get my things moved in. The day was spent moving around an emergency plumber who came to finish my bathroom and restore my access to water.

While that may seem like the worst of it over, it was just getting started.

The furniture ordered for my new apartment ended up getting lost in transit, which left me with no couch or chairs. I had to eat quick meals that didn’t require countertops. And my bare living room echoed with each step I took across it.

More significantly, I had to learn to adjust to living alone for the first time in my life. This at a time when our world that doesn’t allow human contact outside of our homes.

Spending your first days in your first apartment with no roommates or family is already a lonely time. During normal times, this problem would be lessened by spending time with friends. They would be there to help you celebrate your new independence.

But in a world where you can’t get within two metres of another person, that loneliness is amplified.

In my case, it echoes through the empty rooms of my new home.

During a time when there is already so much uncertainty, adding the extra stress of an unfinished apartment and the isolation during an already solitary time, has brought me an extra challenge in an already difficult situation.