I am sure that all of us can easily list down several things that have gone wrong since (and including) COVID-19 in 2020 and I understand why. This article is an attempt, a rather desperate one, to find that light at the end of the tunnel in these trying times.
I know that this pandemic has been a very challenging and rocky experience for most of us. Even other unpleasant events that have followed since then have acted as a trigger for a lot of people. It has been a task to keep ourselves hopeful and motivated in this uncomfortable period. So if you are sinking in productivity guilt, hopelessness or self-doubt then I would like to take the liberty to remind you of the things you have achieved so far:
We Learned the Art of Resilience
Resilience refers to “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness”. The inability to control what life throws at us is thrilling and a little (read very) scary experience. Personally, this sense of zero control only added fuel to the panic that I embody. Well-known writer Khalil Gibran said, “Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.“
These are the few lines we have managed to internalise and follow (to a certain extent) as a result of dealing with this post-pandemic life. Resilience is one of the most important life skills to learn and as it turns out, we are on the right path to learning it.
We Got Out Of Our Comfort Zone
How many of you knew that you had it in you to bake that perfect bread, go XYZ days without going out of your house and meet your friends, write a whole blog post, go without smoking for this long or be with your thoughts alone in a room and still manage to get out of your bed every morning? I did not know that I would ever put my opinions and feelings out there on the Internet for people to comment on.
The point is that for some reason this whole pandemic situation managed to shadow that self-doubt a little and pushed all of us to do things we never really thought we would do.
This time period, however trying it may have been (still is), has also been able to help us develop a sense of better understanding of ourselves and even others. The number of people who now advocate the importance of mental health has increased manifolds. People have become more mindful and empathetic. The focus seems to have shifted from other concerns to giving priority to our physical and mental health.
The insanely high bar that we had set for ourselves to feel finally happy and satisfied has lowered to some extent. Lastly, all of us in the past 4–5 months have realised the importance of genuine relationships and friendships and how important it is to be able to enjoy your own company.
I have always hated changes and dearly loved routines. Confrontations that lead to possible uncomfortable emotions have never been my strongest suit. I have hated sitting idle and letting my mind wander. Ironically though, everything that I have hated (mostly) has happened in the last few months. What I am trying to say is that as it turns out, my disapproval of a situation does not make it go away. It turns out, the only way to make it go away is to deal with it.
A character in the movie Along Came Polly said something which has always really resonated with me. He said, “There is no point in going through all this crap if you are not going to enjoy the ride. And when you know what… when you least expect it, something great might come along. Something better than you even planned for.“