Wisdom from COVID 19

Do we know how to be healthier now? Or do we know how to be safer from infections now?May be the answer to both the questions is NO, but we have definitely become wiser in several other departments of life. Let me share some experiences with you to provide some context to this newly acquired wisdom!

1. Be Compassionate - Being covid19 positive is considered a crime! You read it right! The person who declares that they are covid positive is shunned by the society and their family members are tormented with questions and face isolation (for reasons other than health)! The question is, don't people know by now (after a year of facing the pandemic) that covid 19 is a disease that can infect anyone regardless of caste, creed, socioeconomic status and religion?! How can we exclude covid 19 patients when seclusion is all that is needed for a limited time?! Its been an ongoing struggle and when my husband and I tested positive for covid 19 we were bombarded with questions, more than the health department, by our housing society members without caring about our well being! The relatives that we had visited (travel being the number one culprit for testing positive for covid 19) were also relieved that they were not infected because of us and that they did not have to care for us as we were already back home! What an irony! In todays world where most of the things can be ordered online what is the number one requirement of a patient? To be treated with compassion! Nothing else!
2. Family is all we need - The pandemic has shown us that no matter what is taken away, including the freedom to walk out of the house as we please, nothing beats the company of our loved ones! My heart aches for the people who were away from their family and are still struggling to get back home. Dire times make us realise how much we love each other and that we are stronger when together. I am grateful for being with family and sharing every experience with them! Of course it was challenging when we all were 'locked up' together without fair warning and saw each other all the time! But eventually when we realised that home is the safest place to be, family is all we needed! I travelled back in time when I was 16 years old, reading Anne Frank's diary that she wrote when she was 16. I have new found appreciation for Anne's experiences that she narrates so beautifully in her diary while hiding in the basement of a house. I re-read the book and even bought the collector's commentary so that my daughter can learn when she is of reading age. Anne was thankful for her family and I am for mine!
3. Food feeds the body but good food feeds the soul! The pandemic presented opportunities to polish my culinary skills while working from home. With restaurants being closed indefinitely, I took it upon myself to make every single delicacy possible and even try my hand at cooking non-vegetarian food (I am a vegetarian). I succeeded (most of the times) in pleasing my family. The neighbours learned about my chef instincts and fed my ego by demanding to try some of the dishes! I was happy until someone said, some dishes are worth a wait to be eaten at a restaurant! :) Oh well, I am pleased with my kitchen skills over the last year and thats what really matters, isn't it?!
4. Arts and crafts increase intelligence! Its true! Remember those arts classes in school that only few enjoyed and others complained about? They were important and the pandemic has proved that if you have a hobby that involves the arts your creativity can always be expressed. I loved crochet and some extra time at home allowed me to revisit some of the fondly created pieces. Office work did not allow me to crochet much but it did give my artistic side a path forward. I did find time to write articles and absolutely loved it (am still loving it!) Remember, how can you be first rate at your work if your work is all you are?!
5. Children (of all ages) are the worst affected in the pandemic! I wrote an entire piece on this earlier but children are indeed the most affected by isolation. Even my toddler turned reserved and irritable due to loss of social contact. Her social anxiety was through the roof when she saw a new face or was occasionally taken to a grocery store. She spoke more to her iPad than to us and it was a matter of concern but is fine now. As they say some effects are reversible and some are not, I guess her selective mutism and social withdrawal are indeed reversible. Closing of schools, limited social interactions and lack of activities at home have had a negative effect on children's growth but after a year I believe children have adapted to the new normal. After all children are nothing but adaptable, teaching us adults to be flexible as well.
6. Most 'meetings' are unnecessary! I am angering so many executives with this statement but we all know that most meetings could be an email or a message! And those hour long discussions could easily be condensed into a 10 minute scrum adding to everyones thinking and working time. Of course we learned a whole new decorum to follow on video and audio calls and have adjusted to working virtually for the most part. Nothing beats the physical presence of our colleagues, the lunch conversation and tea time shenanigans! Office has a charm of its own and no amount of virtual get-togethers can account for it. I do appreciate the world coming closer with globalization through the internet but not at the cost of blurring boundaries of personal and professional lives. Nothing lasts forever so the people (employees and employers) taking advantage of working from home better have a plan in place to when the world opens up again.

Bringing it all together, we have only grown stronger and wiser in recognising friend versus fake, good versus evil and bearable versus zero tolerance! The bottom line is, people are still scared of the unknown and yet reluctant to trust science! Some people have literally gone crazy and are taking others down with them (eg: super spreaders, no masks, social gatherings). Why? because they don't know any better and don't not bother to listen. In all honestly, there is no one solution to end this pandemic neither a strategy to tackle it perfectly! All there is, is the faith that we will sail through no matter what. Lets acknowledge the fact that we know a lot more than last year, several vaccines have hit the market and several drugs are in the pipeline for the treatment of covid 19. So, we have progressed, may be not at the desired pace but progressed for sure. Lets pledge to stand together against the virus that shook the world so that we sustain to impart wisdom to the younger generation and indulge in a world where the virus is tolerable.