10 Lessons I Learned from The Pandemic

The coronavirus has affected us all in one way or the other. But surely none of us predicted this when we ringed in the new year back in January, which somehow feels too long in the past and a matter of days at the same time. I am still having a hard time to realize that we are in September already and we are almost done with this year. Some of us are still reeling with the shock of whatever hit us and some of us are coming to terms with it and trying to move on nonetheless. I, fortunately, was among the few lucky ones who were employed in COVID-19 and still am.

It isn’t hard to understand that we all dealt with the pandemic in our own ways and will do better moving forward. But I decided to pause today and look at everything that spiralled in the last couple of months and what that taught me. Here are the life lessons learned from the coronavirus.

1. The Value of Life

We don’t really value our lives when we are hustling every day to make ends meet. But I realized how much of it was I taking for granted and not pausing for a second to thank the stars that I am healthy and living a life with functioning limbs and sort of good immunity system. If not, I would have been another number among the millions affected by the COVID-19 virus. It wasn’t just my life that I became grateful for, but for everyone around me and my family is safe and sound. Even though most of us celebrated virtual birthdays, we are glad to be alive, safe and healthy this year more than ever.

It makes me sad when I think about all the people who lost their lives in this pandemic and my heart goes to their families and loved ones. But that taught me to be grateful for the life I live and pray for every soul out there.

2. Importance of Slowing Down

It’s was the part of life – wake up, work, eat, sleep and repeat. Most of us would identify with this lifestyle before we hit the quarantine mess and were left so confused as to what to do now. I was taking a week off work when things got bad and I had so much time on my hand and didn’t even know what to do with it.

However, I figured that I need to give this time to myself to reflect and prosper productively moving forward. It became essential for all of us to slow down, grasp the reality of the situation and take a deep breath to calm down. And I believe that it is something I would like to remind myself to do time and again, pandemic or not.

3. Essential & Non-essential

The epidemic taught us the difference between what’s considered essential and what’s non-essential. Speaking in terms of occupation, I realized that the people I need to look up to and be grateful for were doctors, front-line workers, healthcare workers and not the superheroes we see in the movies. As for everything else, I also realize the things that were categorized as essential/non-essential in my daily life.

I understand now that I can do without hairdressers, dinners at restaurants, movies at the theatre and lounging at the beach and these were, in all its fairness, non-essential. But what I needed was the confidence to provide for myself while keeping people around me and myself safe.

4. The Value of Family

I live with my family and even though I never got the time off my work, I still got to understand everyone a bit more and to divulge in family conversations every now and then. A sense of gratefulness built around one another, and that makes everything seem conquerable and easy when you live with your family.

Every day when I wake up, I say 5 things that I am grateful for and I thanked my stars every day for keeping everybody safe. I rarely remember being grateful for something like this as it never occurred to me as to what if a pandemic hit us. But its different now, almost everything is new than what it was last year but with my family, I am ready for the future whatever it holds.

5. Focus on Mental Health

I wonder how the pandemic made all of us aware of our own self and we started prioritizing a better present for ourselves. I think for me, realizing the fact that I am important and the threat of what would happen if I was affected by the virus, got me. Unfortunately, I encountered some people who got the worse end of it and whose mental health was damaged more than I could comprehend. A young girl I knew, was so much worried by her parents losing their jobs, she almost suffered depression.

It was then that I made a vow to be strong and accepted whatever comes my way with a smile and hope that it will only get better. I found my solace in meditation every day before I go to sleep. I just lay down on my bed, close my eyes and think about the mental strength that I want and things I would like to do the following day that would make me happy.

6. Having a Hobby

I am so proud to have done so many new things that I wouldn’t have done if not for the coronavirus lockdown. For one, I finally picked up the courage to launch my own blog. That was a major milestone for me as I dreamt of having my lifestyle blog since as long as I could remember and wouldn’t have been possible if not for the slowing down and taking a new perspective on the things.

The quarantine taught me that I really like cycling and gave me time to catch up on the to-be-read pile. If not for the hobbies, anyone would go insane under the crumbling pressure of being employed and being safe and keeping the family safe and so much more. Somehow, we all felt closer together when we made the Dalgona coffee or baked our own bread to curb our boredom.

7. Learning New Things

Surprising as it is, I learned how to now cut my own hair (thank you, YouTube), learned a few new recipes, and decided to venture out in the world of personal blogging. As it turns out, these things were not hard, but I lacked the confidence and time to do them. I am grateful to have learned a lot of new things in the last few months, and that it's never too late to start.

8. Working from Home

We all were transitioning our workspace one way or the other. If you were still going to work, you might have learned how difficult it is to avoid contact with other people and working with masks and gloves. And for the rest of us, who started working from home also learned a couple of lessons. First, no matter how important, meetings can be done online. Second, we can all work better if we are surrounded by the people we like and have our own space.

Overall, the importance of Wi-Fi/internet could never have been clearer and more significant than now. I believe that working from home works way better and should be somehow implemented even without the pandemic for a couple of weeks every year.

9. Being Your Own Company

Another important lesson that I learned was to enjoy my own company. No matter how or when find some time to give to yourself and do something that is your guilty pleasure. For me, it is finding a nail colour that matches my mood and paint my nails while I have my favourite songs playing in the background.

It is easier for me, maybe because I identify as an introvert but even if you love the outdoors and socializing, you should neglect the peace and quiet to find yourself. You can either build yourself or tear yourself down with a mindset, but in the end, it’s your decision what you would like to do. So do what makes you happy, it just might be your coping mechanism.

10. Prevention is Better than Cure

Medical literacy really showed us the importance of forwarding truthful information and not to join the herds of sheep. Ever since the start of the pandemic, we all have read and watched so many articles and news podcasts as what to do and what not to do. But people somehow still made mistakes when they followed the information that proven not to be the best for everyone out there. I learned that when a crisis hit, we start thinking with our emotions rather than logic. So, it’s important to take the necessary steps to prevent the mess before it happens, then the other way around.

I don’t think any of us could even imagine going back to the life that we lived in 2019. I learned that this is for the best, to prevent another pandemic, at least in this lifetime. Let us know in the comment section below what lessons you learned from the coronavirus epidemic.