The Janta curfew and the lockdown happened like the birth of twins, swiftly one after another. The sudden stillness in between crowded life became the new routine and as it changed, so did our lives. It brought the question of ‘what now’ along with it, the economy gurus were already talking about the global recession, and here I was hoping if again Malcolm Gladwell can come up with his new David and Goliath story and make the gurus fall flat on their face. Now it is a matter of time if that happens again.
The looming fear of uncertainty and the news of losing lives were one end prominent than at the other the new vocabulary has been found lurking around replacing the old…people swiftly tuned from ”No time” to ”enough time”. If people were divided into two zones, with the interview scheduled for my new job, now put on hold in due to crisis; I find myself hanging in the third zone-” What about me?”
In view of that, every cell of my body now couldn’t fathom the promiscuity of human nature given that not long, how I relished every sentence in a book ”Eat Pray Love” when the writer wanted to put the world in a pause mode until she catches up with the world. I readily wanted to make those words mine but now I was clueless and I felt deserted just like the empty roads, the lockdown has caused. I could feel the anxiety seeping in me; for human nature always longs for certainty and here the future holds of nothing such.
The WHO even notified the world about the risk of falling into depression was greater than anytime because of the pandemic. The news portals even reported that the country had faced with maximum numbers of domestic violence cases. Certainly, the fate has hit us badly.
Amidst all crumbling circumstances, the days hauled up by my chosen activities became the answers. I started building myself up by adopting new habits that enhance my personal growth. The time was apt to finish my start projects, to catch up on the books lying on my shelf waiting for them to be read. With no outer schedules, the day was enough to finish the chores early and thus hit the sack in time for tomorrow’s yoga session, after all the good immune is the need of the hour. I found the Ivy League has offered 500 free courses; I enrolled myself for the psychology course, something I had always longed for. I indulged myself in activities that brought me joy like baking and gardening, after all, self- care comes first.
As my favorite teacher, OPRAH puts it:” if you yourself are not full; then you can’t fill another glass” and the present time huge requirement is filling other’s glass when one of our family members could be a frontline worker or the next-door neighbor could be in need of care and support. THE hour enormous need is to share and care and that is only possible if one is secure inside, if one is stable and happy inside.
I recently came across the Brain Rose blog, founder and CEO of London Real, wherein he mentions the good utilization of the lockdown time. He urged the people to use this time in self- building so that we can be ready fully equipped when this all ends.
Now that not many days left for life returning to its normal pace, the dangling question is-‘Did we use the time for good? If not then we can still soul-search after all. Isn’t this crisis enough to teach us,”-it’s been enough time since we have taken everything for granted”.