5 Things I Learnt during the COVID-19 Lockdown

Like every year, this year too began with a bang. It was even the more special, for it was the beginning of a new decade. When we all were in high spirits, had our resolutions and bucket-list ready and had some great expectations from 2020, the news about a deadly new disease breaking out in China started finding its place in the Indian media. In the beginning we looked at it as just another epidemic similar to SARS, MERS and a few others which had spared us earlier. But before we could even know, the deadly epidemic which had its origin in Wuhan, China, turned into a global pandemic and reached our doorstep. It was indeed our moment of truth. It was a global health crisis and none of us had even dreamt of it in the wildest of our dreams, let alone being prepared for it. When India was flying high, scaling newer peaks and was travelling the world like never before, there came a time when India was locked down in its homes. Now, three months and a little more into this vital yet difficult phase, as India begins to unlock itself gradually, all through, did you ever realise that destiny has thrown at us some very important life lessons which have disguised and acronymed themselves into COVID-19. Here’s how…

1. Compassion

An epidemic never breaks out alone. It brings along an outbreak of emotions and sentiments of the people enduring it. When life is at stake, negative emotions always come out at the very first instance. However, with time, they are replaced by mankind’s purest, most fundamental and integral ones. One such emotion of ours, which seems to have somehow taken a back seat over the last few years has surfaced strongly during the COVID-19 lockdown. Be it empathizing with the plight of the migrants, feeding the needy – be it humans or animals, helping out others and caring for everyone… Guys, we have indeed found Compassion back!

2. Optimism

When life is easy-going, we always have an option to be a pessimist or optimist. But what when being pessimist is just not an option. The COVID-19 pandemic exactly put us all in such a situation.  The queues we used to jump earlier have grown only longer, but dare we push and pull each other and crowd at the counters now! Similarly, all of those whom we used to find faults with, be it our house help, the sweeper who cleans up our roads, our milkman, laundryman, or even the vegetable vendor with whom we used to bargain until he gave up… We all have come to realise the true value of their invaluable service to us during these three months of lockdown. Last three months have indeed shown us the brighter side of life and have filled our hearts with gratitude. Moreover, the oxymoron that social distancing is has made us realise the importance of human touch like never before.

3. Vulnerability

Until recently we thought human race is the most powerful and smartest one on this planet. Little did we know that a virus which is not even visible with a naked eye, would outsmart us and outsmart so badly. The pandemic has indeed given us a reality check of our vulnerability and has proved the omnipotence of nature yet again. We have experienced some amazing changes happening in the environment around us as soon as we paused all the abuse we used to do to it with our daily activities. We better respect nature, at least now on and adopt a lifestyle that’s in harmony with it. Well, let’s not forget even the coronavirus has emerged out of humans introducing something (Bat, I mean) in the human food chain, thus playing havoc with nature’s harmony and ultimately resulting in a lethal zoonotic disease. If we mess up with nature, it is ought to get as nasty as it can.

4. Introspection

The hustle and bustle of our life had left us with no time to introspect, which actually the lockdown phase has done. With travelling in lockdown, working from home and spending all our time with our family has made us find that one thing which we all were badly missing. Even in the distressful times of a pandemic, it was our family and our home, where we found solace. When days were normal, how many of us really took efforts to spend quality time with our parents? How many of us caught up with our long lost folks? How many times did we thought of lending a helping hand to our spouse in domestic chores? Or how many of us even seriously thought of adopting a healthy lifestyle? Don’t you think, the lockdown has indeed helped us open our mind to so many important things in life, that really do matter!

5. Disaster Management

It’s said, ‘toughest times are the best teachers’. This pandemic has indeed been a moment of truth for all of us. It has shown us the mirror and has made us realise, that India indeed needs to strengthen its healthcare system to such a great extent. An ever increasing population of nearly 140 crores needs many more hospitals and medical personnel to combat any such crisis in the future. While the pandemic has given a reality check to our politicians, administrators and bureaucrats, it has made us aware of our responsibilities and duties as a society and community towards efficiently managing and overcoming any kind of disaster.

So, all in all, life is all about perspective. As the great American motivational speaker, Dr. Wayne Dyer had said, “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” If considered a pandemic, COVID-19 is one, and of course it is, but let’s try and read in between the lines of this mind-boggling puzzle that nature has thrown at us and we will be able to take some vital lessons that have come in disguise. With everything happening for a reason, who knows, its exactly what nature wants to teach us. So let’s keep our spirits high, and always believe that something wonderful is about to happen.