6 Lockdown Lessons You Might Want To Learn
Life is a lesson in itself. The daily experiences, challenges, and people that you face have a hidden message and purpose. Situations come and go, but the cycle never breaks. By the term cycle, I mean, life goes on.
In this “life goes on” sentence, do we ever keep some time to reflect?
The COVID-19 pandemic that we are witnessing, has compulsively made us awaken. Nobody signed up for this. Suddenly we were made to sit at home. Our home is our comfort zone, but we were actually out of our comfort zones.
Living in anxiety, stress, worrying about what will happen, nowhere to go, and escape our existence altogether. It is very easy for me to sit at home and write this article. What is happening with people and how they are undergoing it on ground zero is something that none of us can fathom.
What the world is facing, many people in the positions of caretakers, doctors, nurses, watchmen, daily wage workers, customers, essential goods and services providers, police, collectors, high-end officials and many more are working during this time.
This struggle is real.
Then what is the kind of struggle that we are facing?
1) Umm, Getting bored at home?
2) Not understanding what to do when our life was consumed with work and a heavy social life?
3) When we will get to meet our loved ones?
4) Adjusting and fighting with the people with whom we are living?
5) Feeling impatient, anxious, worried because of overthinking? (Also because there is nothing to do)
6) Handling our unhealthy, pre-COVID addictions and ways of living?
And the list gets very subjective for all of us.
The times that we face and the challenges we encounter provide an opportune moment to see, feel, and reflect on what we have been doing and what we should do to enhance our lives. It is a breather, a good break from everything. So when you get out of it and live a new normal, you can focus on the below 6 lockdown lessons that can serve as the guiding lights in your journey.
At Times, A Miracle Is Just A New Thought
“You can change the experience of your experiences.”
Whoever we are and whatever we do, there is always a particular element in our lives that takes away the whole of our mind-space. No matter how beautiful or bad our lives are, there is something that has so much weight to bring us down. Dwelling on it, we go mad.
The lockdown period has actually exposed these things and laid it bare in front of us to see and deal with it. So tired, that we pray and ask God or the universe to do something about it (not challenging anybody’s faith). We wait for miracles to turn the tables. In short, we rely on an external force. Then what can we do internally?
We can change our thoughts and give a good try to have a different perspective. This exercise can completely change the experience of the whole situation. Just a tweak to your thought process and mindset can get you out of your head and finally get you ahead in your life.
2. NAPS (Necessary Allowance For Personal Solitude)
It is not in the nature of all the human beings to practice NAPS but it is definitely doable. NAPS is a medicine to your mental and physical body to relax and stop the speed of your life. It is about spending time alone to introspect and know yourself better.
10 minutes to 1 hour just with your thoughts can help reboot your mind, solve problems effectively, and increase productivity and concentration. Not only that, it helps you go deeper into the very existence of you.
3. There Is Something Beyond You And Your World
At times, we get too much into ourselves. Yes, it is in human nature to be selfish, avaricious and think about survival. But when we get into a calmer place in life, we can open our eyes to see the world around us.
It isn’t the community of human beings alone but also about working for the environment, plants and trees, birds, and animals, the coming generations and building future generations together. It is helping one another and becoming an instrument to reach out to people in need. It can be in any form, tangible or intangible.
It is needless to say that we are all one. Everything is interconnected and has a ripple effect. We are nothing without the entire planet. Getting aware and spreading even a single message can be your contribution.
So look around. You never know you might have a greater purpose.
4. It Doesn’t Really Matter What You Are On The Outside
Yes. How you look doesn’t have much weight compared to what you are made of.
The pandemic has revealed much about our resilience, health, and immunity to fight back. Many perished while many survived. And this is not the last pandemic. Scientists talk about new epidemics that can happen in the future.
So the question arises, what we can do about our health and adopt a healthy lifestyle?
Building your inner strength and power doesn’t only happen by eating good and working out. A complete shift in the lifestyle like:
-Not sitting too long while working/studying
-Reducing screen time
-Taking walks in nature
-Meditating
-Connecting with people in real life
-Keeping life simple and thinking wise
-Practising mindfulness and many more!
You can create this list for yourself the way you want. It is just that we don’t need another pandemic to realize this.
5. Digital World: Both A Life Savior And Illusion
Have you ever imagined what will life be if there were no social media handles?
There are no phones, laptops, the businesses that are working online, nothing.
Today’s world is heavily dependent on digital technology. It has become a necessary part of life. We are daily surrounded by these, even if we decide to reduce our screen time. All our resources are connected digitally. And we can’t do much about it. It is a life saviour in the best ways.
But when we talk about it as an illusion, it is created by human beings. Just like money and material things, it has no value unless we give in to it. It is just a channel in the physical world. The real connection is when we go out in the physical world and live life for what it is. Out of this digital world, there is another world. We just have to create a balance between these two.
A balance that is not addictive but self-regulated.
6. Gratitude Is The Best Attitude
“It’s just another day in paradise.”
Whatever we have and whatever we want, we all should practice gratitude. We are more than lucky to have the basic of the basic things to live and enjoy. It is so much to develop the life we want.
“It is not the cost of living that is expensive, but the cost of the lifestyle that is expensive.”
Today is the time to look around and be grateful for the people, things, and circumstances you have and you will realize that it is no less than a paradise.
So, I feel it is too much to take in one bite. The lockdown has paved the way for us to know that we don’t do anything in life until we feel pain and an invisible push.
Henceforth, it is your choice to choose.