It Took Us A Pandemic To Learn…

Benjamin Franklin rightly said, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” The COVID-19 pandemic jolted us so hard we haven’t been able to catch our breaths even two years post being put into quarantine. The past year has run the gamut of being absolutely bull**it, we know that now. But what we might not know is that having endured the hardships, toils, and troubles during this period has somehow made us either way too strong or too weak, depending on our life’s predicaments. The robustness of our mental health has been tested on several occasions and there have been instances that have made us realize that some people just couldn’t keep up.

Down below we have enlisted a handful of lessons that this pandemic forced us to learn

Jobs Are Temporary & Your Savings Can Save You

Remember the time when the pandemic freshly hit us and the world was going absolutely banana bonkers shutting places up, making institutions run on a work-from-home basis, and closing all big and small businesses down? Some people had to suffer heavy blows economically because they had either been unemployed or were forced to flee to their respective towns and countries. The workplaces that couldn’t be run on work-from-home means heftily downsized their workforce to merely 30% in Pakistan to cut back on extra costs. The people who were associated with the service sector had to put up with fiscal crises and the only money that had their backs was the one that they had saved from earlier. Therefore, save money. As much as you can. You never know when you’d need it.

Read about Privilege 101 here.

Life’s Short

It took us a pandemic to come to terms with the fact that life is short. Yours, your loved ones’, everybody. Most of us swindle our lives away thinking of tomorrow and grinding ourselves for tomorrow’s attainments. A tomorrow that we’ve never seen. There’s a fine dialogue in Kung Fu Panda that says “Yesterday is history, tomorrow’s a mystery and today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present!” This life is a gift and as long as we’re able to enjoy the moment, we’ve lived it to the fullest. Be present, learn to live, and stop fretting over what’s going to happen next.

Weddings can be Low-Key

C’mon now. I think we’ve all gotten past the stage of setting up and attending “big, fat, desi weddings”. This pandemic taught us that we don’t need to invite a thousand people to attend the festivities that follow suit for two people to get married. Weddings can happen with people who matter the most to the couple, who bless them with nothing but good wishes, and who really are happy with their wedlock alliance. More people, more problems. Fewer people, fewer problems. We need to get over our obsession with grandiose wedding revelries and settle with simplicity, minimalism, and filtering out people who really matter in our lives. We’ve finally learned that a big wedding doesn’t necessarily mean a successful marriage and vice versa. Thank god. Good riddance, IMO.

Work-From-Home is a Redeemable Option

Businesses all around the globe switched to online modes which enhanced accessibility in terms of recruiters and colleagues connecting, just not in person. Start-ups and even established businesses are now open to the idea that remote employment generates better results and diversity equals acceptance and better decisions. Extra costs could be completely cut down if office bills weren’t to be paid. People have realized that they can earn big amounts without leaving the comfort of their homes. Many of my own acquaintances dabbled into the world of freelancing and claim that it was probably the best decision they made in their lives.

Your Health is Your Real Wealth

We’ve listened to countless horror stories from people who’ve recuperated from the effects of this deadly virus. Some of them could barely breathe, others were dying of terrible body aches and loss of appetite, smell, and taste. With what people have suffered from, it is evident that there is nothing more precious and imperative than your health. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “Your health is your real wealth. Not gold and silver.” As long as you are hale and hearty and you feel alright, you can conquer the world. If you’ve been blessed with good health and have been lucky enough to either have convalesced from this virus or not have caught it altogether, be grateful. Not everybody has been that lucky, so make the most out of it.

Read this medical article to know about the loss of smell and taste.