What the coronavirus outbreak reminded me of.

In a world focused on productivity and profitability, key performance indicators, time to market, 5G bandwidth, side hustle, time management, #workinghard philosophy, we have been paused or at least slowed down...Stuck at home for weeks now, the novel #coronavirus bring #stress, #anxiety, and boredness to so many people to a point that some people are becoming really creative on how to spend their time. Hopefully, this will help them not going crazy. Here are a few facts that I came to realize :

1. We are all one in this together. Inequalities, categorization, social and economic rank, superstar and quidam, management staff and support staff, poor and rich, these notions have gone away, at least for now. In regards to health and death, there is only one category: #humanity. We have seen it: no matter your #social, #political or #economic rank, your level of fame or #wealth, the virus doesn't spare anyone. It made us realize that at the end of the thing we are just equal and how being healthy is all that matters.

2. The virus has brought #people together again. Neighbors are singing together from their balcony, calling family and friends we have never heard from for a while, doing several types of activities together via online applications...The other day I had for the first time a family meeting on #Zoom. Well, because everybody now had... time to do it. When everything goes back to normal we need to learn to halt and take time to give some time to thing that really matters at the end of the day.

3. China is the world manufacturing hub. I knew that already but I didn't know it was to this point. Almost everything seems to be produced in China even though it may be designed somewhere else. Because the virus started in #China we had such a disruption within small and big enterprises (#Apple can't produce enough #iPhone) that it made me realize. Isn't that interesting how much we depend on Chinese #industries?

4.- Being financially literate is crucial, even though they didn't teach us this at school. From a finance point of view, I guess now, everyone realizes the importance of having a six-month emergency fund as you can be let go anytime for any unexpected reason like a natural disaster or a virus outbreak.

5. #covid19 revealed structural weakness in our supply chain. Our health system was not ready for such an outbreak in terms of human and material resources. Italy had to call back professionals that were retired. Maybe we should consider injecting more money into health professionals and systems. It's interesting to see how superstars and athletes are the ones helping by financing the health industry.

6. Ironically the #world health is recovering. In some rivers in Italy, due to the inactivity, they were able to see some fish coming back. There is a 20% decrease in #pollution due to the industries stopping. This clearly confirms that we are harming our #environment through our daily activities. But we knew this already.

7. Never take anything for granted in life. Does not matter if you are an employee or entrepreneur, rich or poor, the coronavirus has shown are humble we need to be. As humans, we are so fragile from a biological point of view. There is no point anyone should be bragging about themselves. In a minute we could feel sick, your business could collapse in a month and you could lose a dear family member or friend in a couple of weeks.

All I can say is a big THANK YOU to all #health professionals out there #physicians and #nurses putting out so many hours fighting the #coronavirus and bringing #hope and #life to so many infected people.

Be grateful. Stay safe. Wash your hands.