Happy Realisation
November 2019- She was very excited as she was recovering from her long overdue surgery. Her name is Rita, and she was a professor earlier and now a homemaker and mother of two. She is content with her life and leads a happy life with lots of friends. Rita had a lot of plans post surgery because she had lost a lot of time due to her illness. One morning as she was going through social media, she read about a strange virus which infected people in China. Soon after reading this news, Rita found out that the virus had started spreading globally.
January 2020 - The only talk everywhere was COVID-19, which was spreading everywhere. There was very little information on how to contain it and what precautions were to be taken. There was a lot of confusion and chaos and the news of it being fatal instilled fear in everyone’s minds.
March 2020 - Many countries had lockdown, flights were cancelled, and companies
and schools started work from home. There was neither a treatment nor a vaccine. The world was in a state of total chaos and the world came to a standstill. Research began to develop vaccines. Many lives were lost. It took a huge toll on hospitals, doctors and frontline health workers, and many in other sectors lost their jobs. The whole year went by with so much uncertainty and everyone was scared. People lost their loved ones.
June 2020 - Rita and her family were not socialising much.They had created a bubble with a few friends and they didn’t meet anyone outside the bubble . They met on weekends, exchanged their insecurities and gave solace to each other. It was a stress buster during the challenging times.
September 2020 - By this time people understood that this will take awhile for pandemic to get over. It was building a lot of anxiety.People were at home and it gave them the time and curiosity to learn new skills.
October 2020 - Rita realised that by limiting socialising she is now able to stay away from the people who had false facade, directly or indirectly they were transmitting negative energy.
“Let go of negative people. They only show up to share complaints, problems, disastrous stories, fear, and judgment on others. If somebody is looking for a bin to throw all their trash into, make sure it's not in your mind.” – Dalai Lama.
It’s better to have a few people with a positive attitude closer rather than a crowd whose whole purpose of life is to pull you down .
It’s not that Rita was not affected with whole situation, she faced her share of turmoil but then she read quote by JonKabat-Zinn,
“Breathe And Let Be”.
December 2020 - There was a ray of hope with the approval of the first vaccine. By then the pandemic had not only affected people economically but psychologically as well.
January 2021 - Rita was inspired by the selfless people who were helping others in need. Everyone was doing their bit by donating food , medicines etc . Coping with the unfortunate situation was not easy . Rita decided to develop the skills to help society. She started recycling old things at home and through social media taught the same to other people and raised money for social causes . She used this time wisely .
Rita was happier than earlier even though there were so many restrictions, she couldn’t travel to see her family or couldn’t go for a holiday. Even going to restaurants was not an option for a long time, no parties, even celebration of festivals was a low key affair. Previous pandemic, Spanish flu, started in 1918 , and lasted 1to 2 years. But COVID-19, with the first case, appeared in October 2019 and is still getting worse with new variants of the virus .
She was compelled to introspect, which gave her insight on what is important to her to be happy, which made her to accept the reality that wearing masks and social distancing is going to be the new normal, in favour of everyone’s well being.
It was not all bad if we look at the brighter side, the pandemic gave our Mother Earth time to heal. Human activities were slowed down and nature started to renew itself. Marine life and forests begin to regenerate .
People, of course, had time to appreciate and enjoy nature. All of us were busy to make both ends meet , and are now able to connect with long lost relations. Rita has learnt a lesson from this pandemic that it’s important to pause and enjoy and value what we already have rather than running the rat race.
As it’s rightly said:
“Every situation in life is temporary. So, when life is good, make sure you enjoy and receive it fully. And, when life is not so good, remember that it will not last forever and better days are on the way.”
Writefully Yours 6/15/2021 12:42:00 PM
Hello Pallavi, your story helps us focus on the positives in this difficult time - thank you for sharing!
Pallavi Jain
Thanks