Corona Virus, a natural experiment on living instead of dying.
The first thing COVID-19 makes many people think of is death but it makes me think more about life. I have been thinking a lot lately not only about lives lost but also lives that have been truly lived.
Since August of 2019, I have been studying as a Schwarzman Scholar at Tsinghua University in Beijing China. I managed to get home safely to New York before the situation got dire in January. Upon return, I took every precaution. I quarantined myself, monitored if I would show any symptoms (which I did not and have not), called my provider, got tested for flu symptoms, basically everything that was recommended I did it. Eventually, I decided that it would be fine to resume my life as I had lived it before, but something had changed.
My precautions turned into proactivity. During February I modified my morning routines to include more mindfulness, breathing exercises, stretching, and learning. I went above and beyond anything I could have imagined myself doing in the month prior. I was almost militaristic in monitoring my health, keeping a regular sleep schedule (sleeping and waking up early), exercising intensively twice a day, and maintaining an optimal diet of things that I cooked as well as increasing my fasting window.
Throughout all these changes in my life, I did not think much about dying. I thought about living and how much more energized and productive I felt with structure, a routine, and objectives that kept me moving forward. These micro and macro changes affected my mental health and decision making as well. They made me spend less time around people who were making me sad and I stopped doing things that I knew were not true to who I am or who I want to be.
Moreover, it wasn’t just a me thing. I actively wanted to engage more with my family, friends, and community. It made me post on LinkedIn everyday and engage with people. I worked and continue to work with many people on finding routines and strides that work for them and make them happy and just generally supporting them in whatever they do. I am just getting to the stage now where I feel like I can start to think about how I might contribute at a larger scale. However, I believe it is important for me to satisfy the immediate needs of the communities of which I am a part before trying to be proximate to anyone else’s. I always ask myself if I am the best person for the job and if I’m not then I hand it off to someone who is because it is not about me, it is about us.
In a way, COVID-19 was a natural experiment that re-energized me to think about taking the time I have and utilizing it to live to the best of my ability. That said, this may come off as selfish (which is not my intention) as there have been enormous costs to this virus for markets, businesses, lives lived, and most importantly lives lost. I recognize my privileges in this situation and hope that I can leverage them to make a real difference if only in my community to tackle this problem head-on.
COVID-19 is a collective action problem. Truth be told, this entire experience has been terrifying and my guilt mounts because while I am safely home and have been for over a month I cannot help but think about the many people who are not, people who died, are infected, are getting infected and/or are in harm's way which seems to be more and more people by the day. All of this juxtaposed to idiotic (though not all) leadership and the suppression of information and/or misinformation all over the world.
It is incredibly apparent that global institutions are inadequate and ill-equipped at coordinating and protecting people all over the world and it hurts to know that many of those who have the power to do something likely will never be proximate enough to the situation to truly care. Perhaps more importantly, COVID-19 will likely affect the poor and uninsured populations the most in the United States and decimate many countries who can't even afford to treat people for the common cold much less build resilience measures for this virus.
That said, even amidst all this vulnerability, COVID-19 has personally brought me great courage. It has made me 'live' more. I express my gratitude more openly and often. I tell the people I care about the most just how much I care every chance that I get. I take risks and try to make the most of each day. Most importantly, I focus on the things that really matter to me and prioritize those who are most important.
I say this all to emphasize that COVID-19 is a crisis that needs attention and coordination from key stakeholders and people from all walks of life across the world, but it is also a reminder to us all that life is worth living every day and in every moment to the best of our capabilities.
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