It was 22nd March, a Sunday, there was a ‘ Janta curfew’ imposed by the Indian Government to curb the spread of Novel Corona Virus in the country. The day began with a pleasant silence , no public transport , no vehicles on the roads, the only sound I could hear was the beating of my heart , blood slowly thrumming to the nook and cranny of my body. Peace and quiet are good for us both physically and mentally. The blood pressure automatically gets lowered , the inner voice becomes much clearer , our heart rates are at the optimal rates.
It was like a day off for my stress, while one could bask in the inner most space of our sanctuary.
By 5pm we were asked to clap and make noise to thank the countless health workers whose tireless work that helped keep the spread of the virus at bay.
When I started to quarantine as a proactive choice initially, my day involved lot of emails checking, reading conspiracy theories and reading about the end of the world gloomy news. I even tried watching rerun of Big Bang Theory and started digging into comfort food which I had stacked for this COVID 19 crisis.
I had a good run on parading around with my sanitisers and deciding to make social distancing a life-style choice after meeting some aquantances who spewed gloomy statistics of the death toll caused by the virus across the globe. I finally moved to a phase where I began to embrace the fact that this is a God given opportunity to find my silver lining amongst the confusion and mayhem caused by the COVID 19.
I decided to make this phase productive and fun. I made this period a time to connect with myself on a deeper level, re connect with my hobbies and interests. I also began to learn new healthy dishes for the body , mind and soul.
Some of the things I learnt during this phase :
Never be at the mercy of the things that matter least, this helped my priorities to be in place.
Clarify what is important to you always. Whenever I took decision I began to think – “What do I want?” “What else will get affected if I want this ?” ” Am I ok if things get affected this way? Is there a better way to get this done? ” ” How am I affecting people around me ?”
Life is short so, how am I making best use of my knowledge , skill , competence to make my life magnificent?
Understand whether I am missing out on something , also thinking about whether the way I am leading my life is worthwhile. If it is not then what are the steps that I need to take towards having an enriching life.
Evidence is the surest way to know whether you are in the right track. For the goals I have defined I began to assess how far long am I on the track or how far away am I towards achieving my predetermined goal?
Unlearning is an important part . I started to think whether anything needs to be unlearned for me to move forward?
Leaving a legacy is another important part. I began to think , how do I leave my footprints in this world ? What are some of the unique things I am good at ? How do I choose to leave a mark ?
I began to draft goals in all the areas for the next 10 years of my life. I invite you to do the same. Imagine a life filled with certainty and fulfillment.