The COVID-19 pandemic nearly changed everything in everyone.
2020 is the year that I was supposed to make up for trips Iβve missed two years prior. I thought I started the year right when I spent a week in Dubai in February.Β A birthday trip to Bali and a second visit to Dubai this year were all in order.
In March, the Luzon region was placed under an enhanced community quarantine, which is effectively a total lockdown.Β That was the weekend I was supposed to be in Baguio with my friend, Ella. We both needed a βcreative retreatβ.
This is the part where I say βIβve made plans but 2020 had other plans.β
Now what?
Obviously, that Bali trip in July isnβt happening. Aviation experts say the inconvenience of travel during the pandemic is likely to extend until 2023. Think extra hours for check-ins, disinfection in airports, and jacked-up airfares.
No one can say what happens next. Things are uncertain now. Events can be frustrating.
Change is the only thing to expect.
Some of us have lost friends and loved ones to COVID-19 during the pandemic. Others lost their jobs. Many businesses are on the brink of shutting down if they havenβt already. This pandemic taught us that life is unpredictable. One minute you are having a life, the next you could be fighting for it.
Catastrophic it is, but we canβt let loss and misfortune render us motionless and overthinking. Easier said than done but do we have a choice? Would you rather sit your ass the whole day, analyzing why you were shit-canned after five years with the company? Or youβd see it as an opportunity to start over, veering away from the same old jobs that kept you stuck.
Change, of course, is not necessarily pain-free, not to mention inevitable.
The New Normal
COVID-19 pandemic left thousands unemployed and struggling. We keep hearing nowadays βbrace for the new normalβ. The term actually refers to a financial crisis following a global recession. This time, it refers to the aftermath of the virus outbreak.
The new normal, for me, is a change of perspective and attitude. In a world where people are judged according to social and financial status, perhaps this pandemic is a reality check. It reminds us that we are no better than anybody else. The virus does not distinguish between rich and poor, the educated and the unschooled, or the able-bodied and the handicapped.
Two months of quarantine made me appreciate home-cooked meals, eight hours of sleep, and decluttering my closet. Life, really, doesnβt need to be grand. You just need to embrace even the mundane. The lockdowns proved to us that we donβt need weekend Starbucks meet-ups just to keep our friends. Group chats can be fun too. Sunday trips to fancy restaurants arenβt necessary to bond with family. This pandemic reminds us that going back to basics also means living your best life.
Donβt Avoid Change
You canβt stop change anyway so why fight it? Chances are, this isnβt the first time that you have faced a dilemma. Think back. What is that one change that you feared in the past but ended up doing?
People who got fired from their first and second jobs eventually found new employment. Businesses that went downhill somehow reopened. Someone who got scammed in a bitcoin investment ultimately recovered his losses.
Life may not always be a bed of roses but neither is it a blanket of thorns. The other side of adversity is a blessing.Β What youβve lost, youβll recover; what youβre feeling, youβll overcome; and what shattered you will make a better version of you.
The pandemic is a time to learn our lessons. A new cycle is coming. These last few weeks taught us a lot β most of all patience and perspective.Β No one is cursed even in a series of misfortunes. Just trust the process.
Reflect and Rewind
The lockdown was long enough to give us a chance to reflect.
How much have you learned about yourself over the last few weeks? Are the things youβre doing in alignment with who you are? Do they make you happy? What things do you regret? Is there something you want to go back to?
Someone taught me this exercise but I never made time for it. She said, βMake a list of the things that make you happyβ. I asked, βBig things? Small things?β She replied βWhatever.β Then she told me to make a list of the things I do every day. She asked me to compare them. By the end of this exercise, you would’ve probably figured out what needs to change.
Weeks of staying at home made me think of the things Iβve put on the back burner. I wanted to learn a third language (I think Spanish is sexy). Iβve put off blogging for a while now. And I have a habit of picking up books that I never quite get around to reading. Every day, I spend ten hours at work and five on the road. I barely even say a word to anyone when I get home. Iβm zonked on work days.
Time certainly waits for no one. Who wouldβve thought a virus would ruin all our plans? Itβs more frustrating than holding off buying a dress and losing it to another customer.
So when this is over, donβt wait for the perfect moment to do something youβre aching to do. There is no such thing as a perfect moment anyway, only calculated risks.
