Finding the COVID-19 Silver Linings / by Taylor Oakley & Tyla Martin

Author: gatelesis

Hello GA Telesis friends and family! It’s Taylor and Tyla here with your much-needed dose of positivity. In this blog, we will be highlighting how we’ve been able to find silver linings throughout this pandemic. We also reached out to some colleagues to see how they’ve been managing.

If you had told us we would be living a completely different lifestyle four months ago, we would’ve never believed you. Four months ago, we were up at 5AM, rushing to our workout classes, stopping at Starbucks for our daily cold brew coffee, and planning our next vacation. So, that’s what life used to be like. Since then, I think we can all agree a few things have changed in our daily routines. Now – a mask, temperature checks, and hand sanitizer have become the new norm. Although our newsfeeds have been oversaturated with negatives, we’ve decided to draw attention to the silver linings of COVID19. Here are our top three takeaways:

  1. Bon Appétit

We (Taylor and Tyla) don’t know about you, but good eats are essential to our everyday happiness. Since we have not been able to eat out, we’ve become more familiar with our kitchens. Pinterest and TikTok have been a great help in learning new ways to incorporate healthy alternatives and new recipes into our lifestyles. This year, like many people, we have joined the Keto bandwagon, and we want to share our new staples with you. Would you believe us if we told you that you could eat a Taco Bell “must-have” while sticking to a healthier lifestyle? Well, good news – you can! This Keto Taco Bell Crunch Wrap is a perfect way to satisfy your Taco Bell cravings. And we know what you’re thinking next… DESSERT! Yes, you read that right – you’re able to eat your favorite sweets while maintaining a healthier lifestyle. If you love gooey fudgy brownies, then this Keto Brownie recipe is for you!

We caught up with Amanda Haupert, one of our Staff Accountants, to ask her what she’s been cooking up during quarantine.   Amanda’s quarantine go-to has been avocado toast on sourdough bread topped with fresh ingredients from her garden.   “Due to the quarantine regulations, I now had the time to start a garden with my mother.  I use the tomatoes and the fresh cilantro from the garden for my avocado toast – which honestly makes it taste even better. We also bought a bean sprout grower off Amazon; you can mix the sprouts with anything even quinoa,” exclaimed Amanda!

  1. Staying Active

All this food talk makes me want to hit up one of our Orange Theory or Cross Fit classes… but if you’re like us, then you know that’s not an option at the moment. Well, we have found great ways to stay active from the comfort of our own homes. From YouTube to Instagram to Zoom – there are endless ways to get in your daily workouts. We (Taylor and Tyla) have found YouTube influencer, Chloe Ting, to have the most challenging yet enjoyable workouts. Her workout videos make you feel like you’re getting a personal training session, and best of all, it’s free! These workouts are convenient but effective because we will continue to keep up with online workouts even after gyms reopen.

We checked in with Abdol Moabery, CEO, and Cathy Moabery, Head of Global Marketing of GA Telesis, to see how they’ve been staying active over these past few months. “Abdol and I have spent our evenings during this COVID period in a WALKING competition with our friends on the Nike Run Club App. Abdol has walked over 350 miles, and I have walked 307 miles in four months,” stated Cathy Moabery. WOW! Talk about staying active.

  1. Family Connections

Looking back, it’s easy to realize just how much we took for granted on a day to day basis. Four months ago you didn’t have to think twice about getting in a car or hopping on a plane to see family and friends. Although this pandemic has kept us from physically seeing some of our family and friends, it’s almost as if we’ve become more connected. We’ve made more of an effort to reach out to loved ones near and far, participating in family Zoom game nights and face timing to catch up on how our days in quarantine are going. Our friends and family have enjoyed Zoom Game Nights the most because everyone gets to participate, and it makes us feel like we’re all together again. You can find a list of the games we love here.

We caught up with Christine Gomez, Executive Assistant, Flight Solutions Group, who told us she’s grateful for the additional time she’s been able to spend with her daughter, Riley. “Since the start of the pandemic, we have been spending more quality time baking together. She just turned 3, so it has been wonderful to see her confidence develop in the kitchen.” Baking and other fun activities such as arts and crafts are a great way to keep your children entertained while still spending quality time with them.

Cesar Morales, Vice President of Sales, Component Solutions Group, has shared with us his new family traditions that began at the start of quarantine. “We now do family game night 2-3 times a week where we play board games, dominos, Cards Against Humanity, etc. The boys actually look forward to this time and ask when we are going to play. In the past, after dinner, we all would just go our separate ways in the house,” said Cesar.  Who would’ve thought a global pandemic would bring us all closer together?

This pandemic has helped us learn new ways to keep our minds and bodies entertained – from going on long walks to live-streaming at-home yoga, reading more books, crafting and painting, to the occasional lazy day consisting of Netflix and baking. Speaking of Netflix … Do you have any suggestions? Because it seems like we’ve already binged everything they have to offer, and we are desperate for some new content. It has been a long yet short 2020 so far, but we hope that after reading our blog, you’ve discovered new ways to cook, stay active, and stay connected.

Next time you feel like you’re getting caught up with everything going on in the world, remind yourself that you can always find a silver lining.