COVID-19 and our Future?

In the loving memory of Shan, A friend I lost on this day, two years ago, to depression and mental health, I wanted to spread a little light to the world. I wrote most of this article before the lockdown got extended and things have only gotten worst since then.

A lot has been said about the global lockdown’s effect on the economy, but little has been said about the impending mental health crisis we’re all likely going to face in the coming months. I already feel myself slightly cracking every few days, and we’re only a couple weeks in. Imagine three months from now. Now, if you know me, You know I am usually the happiest one in the room, the optimistic one, but, this period of my life has been filled with the most agony so far, a real gruelling combination of heart wrenching pain, but regardless, I fight, I fight because I am a warrior and that’s what warriors do. I am not being pessimist but just a realist. Read on if you want or go post a positive quote.

What do you get when you socially isolate hundreds of millions of people, encourage them to stay indoors as much as possible and make it difficult for them to find meaningful work, regular exercise, and healthy nutrition?

That’s right, a shitload of depressed people.

I bring this up because the first step to dealing with this is to be realistic about what to expect. It does us no good to have false rosy outlooks. No naive positive thinking. No unjustified belief that the virus will just miraculously skip over all our friends and family (not to mention ourselves) or that a vaccine will magically appear out of nowhere. This is likely the most disruptive global event of our lifetimes. And we’re in this for the long haul. This will not be easy or fun, and the economic, political, and cultural fallout will persist for years.

But that’s reality. And you can’t cope with reality until you accept it.

Physician and veteran public-health researcher in NYC Ashwin Vasan says, “People want to talk about this virus as an equal opportunity pathogen, but it’s really not. It’s going right to the fissures in our society.”

I am not here to talk stats, all of you have that extra screen just for that. We all know that this is literally the worst time in our generation to have a positive outlook or have any outlook for that matter. I know, it’s a taboo, to talk about mental health in a boardroom but so was digital transformation a few weeks ago and now you all are on Teams, aren’t you? So, let’s face it, with the depleting frontal cortex capabilities of our brain, how good are we going to be at our job or towards society if we do not address our demons. According to a Gartner analyst, it’s going to take nine months to a year, on the optimistic side, before normal life is restored. According to a new report from EY, a new normal will emerge and we have to reframe our future. We should expect that the Covid-19 crisis will change our businesses and society in important ways. It is likely to fuel areas like online shopping, online education, and public health investments, for example. It is also likely to change how companies configure their supply chains and reinforce the trend away from dependence on few mega-factories. The invisible menace will still be present for a long time coming, if not in the air molecules, then at least in our minds. Deep crises can leave lasting psychological scars, from the shell-shocked veterans of World War 1 to survivors of the Great Depression who were unable to trust banks for the rest of their lives. Will you ever trust your delivery guy?

Look I am not a behavioural scientist, I am a computer scientist and one thing I have learnt from computers over the years is that we can use the digital capabilities that they enabled in this era to build a brighter future for humanity together. The only thing that has made our fight so efficient in todays world is our advancement in technology. Back to the Virus, Don’t internalize it. Talk to someone. Don’t hate yourself. Hate the virus. Life can be cruel and difficult. But it’s in the difficulty that we ultimately find meaning. It’s the difficulty that draws and binds us together. Take care of your loved ones, Appreciate the smaller things around you. Mend your relationships, Reconnect with your extended family. Remember this is not a holiday, this is not a lets have a virtual drinking game or the squad is online or it’s time for me to go text all my exes. This is a time to show your humanity, If you are thinking only about yourself, you definitely need to start questioning your values. This time calls for Compassion. This time calls for Kindness like we haven’t shown. We all have to bring our best empathetic self to each other else we are doomed. We all are going to come out of this a bit scared and a lot more lost than you actually know but if you know that suffering and if you accept that pain the road to recovery will be much more pleasant. Growing up I had a great life so my pain threshold was low, lower than my GPA. If you are reading this on your computer, ipad, or iphone you are probably better off that 99% of the human race. Here is the thing that my Grandfather taught me and my Dad reinstated in me recently, when I was hurting deeply, In your life, if you are fortunate, you will have few months/years or moments of real despair, simply you will hit rock bottom, and you should use these times to your advantage, grow from it because the only place you can go from the bottom is UP. Do you know that the technology that led to satellites, the internet and computers all began during the World War II? (if you don’t know it, go watch The Imitation game tonight on your Netflix, Turing was the real OG). Do you know the economic levers of our society were developed during the great depression? Do you know Instagram was found during the last Great Recession/Financial crisis. As we sit through this crisis, (and yes, it’s difficult, but sit) it’s hard to remember that these are often the incubators for the greatest leaps of human progress.

Good Things comes from ADVERSITY, the Greater the adversity, the greater the OPPORTUNITY to leap forward.

One particularly troubling aspect of this pandemic is the open-endedness of it and when I find myself spiralling emotionally, I remind myself of some basic facts. the flu pandemic of 1918 ripped through nearly 50 million people worldwide mostly young adults and children. Few generations before that, over three million people died because an egomaniacal (and short) Frenchman wanted to give everybody the metric system. Hell, the black plague in the 14th century killed an estimated 125 million people, that was 20% of the global population

But remember,

Heroes are born—not during times of ease but in periods of dangerous discomfort. Mandela became Mandela on Robben Island. Rosa Parks became a hero while facing mistreatment. And Churchill became Churchill amidst the violence of war.

It’s not about false Hope, my message is simple, Do not be fooled, Don’t always want to be on the lookout to get rid of the present struggle, rejoice your struggle, accept and enjoy your pain. Life is not meant to always find means to end, it’s meant to be lived in the present. The anxiety of the future will always bring death to the joy of the present, Consider Corona, We never expected it and my anxiety of how I am going to finish all my current projects to fly to a French Island for my birthday in April brought me nothing but misery. Someone special once told me, without the worst times, we will never enjoy good ones. We must each adapt as much as responsibility as possible for individual life, society and the world. We must each tell the truth and repair what is in despair and breakdown and recreate the beautiful golden memories. It is in this manner that we can and must reduce the suffering that poisons the world, It’s asking a lot. It’s asking for everything but we need everything. The Chaos demands everything. My favourite Philosopher of all time, Friedrich Nietzsche termed, Amor Fati, it meant the unconditional acceptance of all life and experience, the highs the lows, the meaning and the meaninglessness. It meant loving one’s pain, embracing one’s suffering. It meant closing the separation between one’s desires, but by simply desiring reality. It basically meant, Hope for Nothing. Hope for what really is because Hope is ultimately empty. Don’t hope for more happiness. Don’t hope for less suffering. Don’t hope to improve your character. Don’t hope to eliminate your flaws. HOPE FOR THIS. Hope for the infinite opportunity and oppression present in every single moment. Hope for the suffering that comes with Freedom. For the pain that comes from happiness and Love. For the wisdom that comes from Ignorance. For the power that comes from Surrender. And then, Act despite it. This is our challenge, our calling:

To act without hope. To not hope for better. To be better. In this moment and the next. And the next. And the Next.

Be a little more Kind and Love a little Harder, the World now, more than ever needs it.

Cheers, Until Next time,

Amit

Sources/Inspiration:

1.    WEF and WHO

2.    EY COVID Report

3.    Mark Manson

4.    Jordan Peterson

5.    Robin Sharma

6.    My Grandfather’s wisdom

7.    Random Google searches

8.    Heartbreak

9.    Anxiety 

10. The Virus itself and the Disastrous economy