Life before coronavirus was full of choices and most of us believed in compulsive hoarding, but the last few months made us realize how perfect life can be even without those choices and that happiness doesn’t lie in possessing material things says Elijiah Pitman. Lockdown has been like hitting the pause button to reevaluate life and re-prioritizing what really matters to us. We should all be grateful to the coronavirus pandemic. It has taught us the meaning of life and its purpose; reminded us what we are, deep down to our bones, minus our hypocrisies.
Over the last few months, life has changed drastically around the world. Because of COVID-19 pandemic, people everywhere are being asked to stay home in order to reduce the risk of infection. The virus has brought with it a wave of negative outcomes, terrible illness and death, but it also highlighted some important life lessons. Oceans and rivers have cleaned up. Residential areas are seeing the return of wildlife. The quality of air has improved drastically. The ozone layer has started repairing itself. If we really don’t see how important it is, and how we human beings can save the environment if we have to, then all of this was for nothing. It has definitely taught us that we don’t need too much to be happy. We should be content with the basic things – food, family, home. Having your family around is the biggest positive that I can think of in this time; at least I’m with my aging parents.
“People were running fast, ignoring each other. Even within the family, nobody had time to speak to each other. COVID has brought the family time together. We were all so busy in our lives that forget how important and beautiful life is. We have never been more enlightened, more involved in, and more affected by a pandemic than this one. Did we? COVID-19 has put life on hold for many of us. We have learnt that we are not alone. We (well some of us) have learnt how to work from home. We have learnt what the roads are like without traffic, and found that this brings benefits.
Some people have learnt that the law still applies even though the roads are quiet and the car parks empty. The outbreak has changed the way we work, the way we interact with people, the way we buy things, we travel and so on. Things have changed so much in the last two months. Everyone will be very keen to get back to ‘normal’, but a key lesson from this crisis is that we will not be able to tell ourselves any more that there are no alternatives, or that there are not costs associated with our choices.
Let us beware of the biggest, most misleading story of all: that there can only be one answer and that an average is the same as an optimum.
The way we interact with people, the way we work, the way we shop, travel or eat outside; it has all undergone major changes. And due to this, we have also realized the importance of a lot of things we maybe took for granted before.
Money is Not Everything
Just a couple of months before, one way all of us weighed our mental well-being was by our material abundance. There’s no point to note that the epidemic has devastated the economy and many of us are poorer than we were a month before. Has anything good come out of it? The biggest lesson it is telling us is that money is not everything.
Value of Friends and Family
For many years and scientists have stated that we have a strong innate tendency to be with other people to share experiences, or rather our existence. All the research suggests that in the long term more connected people are happier and safer. During this lockdown, the best way to treat loneliness is to be in regular touch with friends, family, and relatives.
Our lives have undergone major changes. And due to this, we have also realized the importance of a lot of things we have been taken for granted before! So, let us not go back to the normal and together create a “new normal” once this is all over!