When things go wrong, there is always a Sliver lining - Lock Down effect.

The outbreak of the COVID - 19 situations has brought a lot of discomfort to all of us in many ways.

Honorable Prime Minister Of India Mr. Narendra Modi had announced a complete lockdown in the country from 25th March. Which seems to be a precautionary step towards the fight with the Chinese Virus. This means no one is allowed to move or go out of their premises unless there is an emergency - Buying Groceries and Medicines are included. Well this announcement at first seems very much  raging and bit irrational but understanding the need of the hour it is very important for all of us to abide by this as it is really a good idea to not get infected as well help in eradicating the virus (well many scholars have a different opinion on this.)

We have seen many other countries that are economically and socially more powerful than us and have much better health care infrastructure, are also unable to cope up with the situation. World Health Organisation (WHO) has also praised India's decision on an early lockdown. But this all comes with a cost. This means a huge blow to the economy. A layman who survives with this daily work, labour force, retail store, etc will have to suffer, whereas the government is taking a lot of steps to help each and every person affected, but let us not get into all this, these topics are never-ending though.

Let us focus on the brighter side. It is said, "When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, there is always a silver lining." 

Yes, there are certain issues that bother me like I have to work from home and that gets a bit irritating at times, as many a time Internet plays a foul sport, or I am in the middle of a call or a zoom meeting and my mom comes over up to me asking what I will have for my dinner, and at times handling too many confusions together, yes, this gets irritating at times. You have to go to the grocery store or to the vegetable vendor to buy veggies in the wake of the situation as your parent's age is above 60, they need to take special care of themselves so they have to avoid going out and maintain social distancing.

But it dint took me long to realise that this is much easier for us to deal with, the fast pace life has to slow down a little in order to realise the importance of many more beautiful things that I will talk about in further part of this blog. Even a machine in any factory needs to shut down once every now and then for maintenance, even the motorcycle needs to get the engine oil changed in a regular interval. Likewise we humans also need to slow down the pace of life a bit in order to actually breathe.

Many of us will say how to do we slow down or what is it exactly? We are working from home, and work is increased as there is some amount of lag in the coordination that was absent while working in the office or working for a few extra hours. But we have to realise that we have stopped running and have started relaxing. Like I am enjoying my morning cup of tea, which I cannot do when I have to reach office at 10: 30 in the morning, I am always on the run, wake up get ready, travel for one and half hour to office, work for 8-10 hours, travel back home, eat dinner and sleep - this was the routine.

There were so many horrible memes at the start of this lockdown that people were so bored that they actually were calculating the time it takes for a Fan to stop, the number of tiles in their bathroom, how many holes a particular biscuit has, and the exact time it takes for a maggie noodle to cook. Listening to all this was heartbreaking as this always showed us the dark side of the lockdown, scaring us that this period will be very depressing to pass on. 

But in fact, due to this lockdown, I realised the following things, not so soon but after a while that

I am able to get an extra hour to sleep.

I am enjoying my morning cup of tea.

I can have breakfast with my family.

The three hours that I am saving on traveling, now I am spending it with my parents. 

And all of this is giving me a good feeling. There is a sudden drop in the stress level. I am working from home in my pajamas and nobody actually cares about it. At times I have to help my mom with the household chores but that is again fun, mopping the house is a kind of physical activity, earlier there was no physical activity at all in my lifestyle at all.

I am back to cooking, and cooking at least 3 times a week - this was a long lost hobby which I can now pursue with a zest. My blogpost had not seen a new post in the last 5 years and see I am back to writing these. Though this is not much that I am doing but something is always better than nothing, right?

I know many of you must have not realised this and would be still into the online LUDO games or "Netflix & Chill"  mode but is that worth it? I came across a very thought-provoking thing on the internet the other day which said that "If you do not come out of this lockdown with a New Skill or more Knowledge, or Better Health & Fitness, you never lacked time, you lack discipline."

So for many of us who don't know how to kill time or what to do, I have a few options which will help us to be a little productive person and can give a sense of some accomplishment - as the saying goes "Slow & Steady Wins The Race" it is important to have short goals to achieve larger ones.

1. Clean the Wardrobe.

Being stuck at home gives us the extra time and motivation to look around for our belongings. Starting with our clothes & garments, we can do the decluttering of books, DVDs, cassettes ( I own many of them I just realised it), storerooms etc.and try to identify the things that we do not use it regularly, and then clean up space. I try to identify things that I have not used in a year as non-useful and get rid of them. There might be things which we do not use but are in good condition and will be appreciated by others if it is given to them. Living with things which are only useful instead of piling up on things which are not and collecting dust on it is really a bad idea, this will make the Diwali cleaning more difficult, trust me.

2. Family Time.

Some of us are more fortunate than others and have the luck of being at home with our families, fortunately, in this era of technology, we are still connected with our loved ones through the internet. Even if we are in different space, the time spent while catching up with family is very precious. There are thousands of things to talk about, the routine, new developments in the world, hobbies, baju walli aunty, etc. ( I am teaching my Mom and Dad how social influencing works and how to use Instagram). 

3. Reflect and Redefine.

It is important to take the stock of your life every now and then in order to move ahead, at some time you need to get off some grudges to move ahead easily or you need to get in some extra skills to help you climb up the cliff. What so ever for this most important prerequisite is TIME. We can pause on all the things usually occupying our minds to reassess the direction that we are going in and evaluate if we are on the right track or need some changes? It is also a great opportunity to reflect on our personalities and identify personal strengths & weaknesses to work with, be it personal or professional - development is a constant process, getting stuck in the loop and forgetting to realign our goals and plan of action can cost us true happiness and contentment.

4. Get Creative.

Have you ever thought of starting the blog and sharing your thoughts, experience, insights? Write a fictional novel about your life? or script a movie? drawing & experimenting with colours?  There are many forms of expression we can try and we never know what might appeal to us and turn into a relaxing new pastime to get our mind off stress and pressure. Why not try Adobe Premiere Pro or Photoshop and edit pictures of friends and family or why not make a movie? Obviously, I am not talking about "Tik Tok video creation".

5. Keep Learning.

There are thousands of classes available online to keep our brains busy. Tonnes of online content is just a click away and readily available no matter what topic we want. We can give a try to a new language, there are so many teachers around us - Dad gives me lessons on gardening and Mom on cooking. Being isolated at home is a good opportunity to catch up with information and work on the problems we can do something about once the lockdown is over. 

In times like this, it is important to remember what is happening is nothing more than another one of the many crises humanity is facing, unlike that, there are more than the above-mentioned points that must be helpful to help to make yourself productive overall.

Make sure in between everything like this we do not forget that humanity is the most important thing and it is really important to help the needy neighbors or elderly people around who need help with shopping or household chores. Many people are very vulnerable in this situation and helping each other is the first priority.

Happy Reading :)