Hi,
What's the date today?

Are you one of those who did not know what day it was today? Maybe this means you are not really giving much importance to your surroundings, or what’s going on in your environment.

Then what are you giving all your attention to? When we stop focusing on the outside world, that’s when we start focusing on our inner world, and then we start focusing on ourselves! Isn’t that great?

What makes you so frustrated? So aloof? So lonely? We all wanted a life where we could take as many holidays from work as we wanted. Netflix and chill. This is what we expected. But it doesn’t seem to be interesting now, when you have the chance to live it. Ever questioned, why?

You are not frustrated because you cannot go out of the house. It is because this is a sudden drastic change in your lifestyle and these negative emotions are because you are not able to “adapt” to this sudden change. Adaptation is indeed a difficult process.

But its results, most of the time, are astonishing. Have you seen the plants and the trees these days? They have suddenly started bearing more fruits and flowers than ever.

The birds have started chirping more than ever. The ones living in the north are finally able to see the Himalayas from their windows again after hundreds of years. This is the adaptation to this climate change, to this drastic change in pollution levels.

Isn’t the change for good? When was the last time you willingly helped your mother in household chores? When was the last time you spoke to your old best friends for hours on a phone call?

When was the last time your dad spent an entire week with your mom? To all those who missed their birthdays in this lockdown, be happy instead. This is going to be the one of this kind. It never happened before this way, nor will it ever happen later.

When was the last time you slept without setting an alarm? When was it that you could play your instrument without having a deadline to stop playing it, just to keep up with your schedule? All of this is just happening naturally now.

Nope, this isn’t something that you’ve got to do just because you don’t have anything else to do. This is adaptation. And this change is for the good.

Have you heard of minimalism? Okay, have you ever thought of giving up on things that you don’t ‘need’? The change from ‘Wants’ to ‘Needs’ is what is Minimalism. People try really hard to get into this practice. Because obviously past experiences and various researches have proved it to be of some good to humans.

Aren’t we unknowingly following it? We are. We aren’t going out shopping for clothes and food stuff we don’t need. We aren’t spending unnecessarily on buying movie tickets. We aren’t looking for leisure trips.

We are happily restricted in our small 4 walls. We are getting back to living on essentials. We buy goods that we need and we live with it. And that’s how it should be. You’ve got a chance to adapt to one of the most desirable lifestyles by many. But you won’t, right? Why? Because you resist the change.

You are lucky you have time to spend at home unlike those people who are striving hard to save your lives on roads & in hospitals, the ones who people amidst you throw stones at.

What are you afraid of? The testing? It’s just a swab collection from your throat. It doesn’t even hurt. Are you afraid of being announced as COVID positive? Whoa, that’s at least better than being announced dead due to lack of treatment. Do you fear quarantine?

Man, it’s not a jail. You’ll be provided with service there, get essential treatment, you’ll be given back a life to live for God’s sake.

Don’t run them away when you see them on roads stopping you or when they come to check you. Because if they start running away from their work, you won’t be able to run for your lives anymore, anywhere. Testing, treatment, precautions and laws are your only savior in this time of crisis.

You’ve got to spend time with your family. Many people are exploring talents that they never knew they had. People are seeing their old friends on video calls after ages. We have turned forests into meadows and meadows into cities.

At least now give those 2 and 4 legged creatures some chance to breathe in this open air which was once theirs. We are so used to pizzas and burgers, that switching to a healthier, ideal lifestyle now at home seems like a task.

People are so used to drinking and smoking on a daily basis, that even though their life seems all fine now without these addictions, they still want to step out, find it. Why? Because we resist the change, even though it’s for the good.

Who are you? Who is looking at you? We still want to step out looking for a salon, right? Why? Because your look seems ‘changed’. You still want to go out to buy vegetables and milk daily, just because you want fresh stuff? Learn about cross contamination.

Whatever you do to prevent it, it will always be less, if you are around people. Consider you want to go buy vegetables. You take your bike. Can you imagine how many people could have touched that handle, adjusted the mirrors, and seated on your bike seat?

There’d hundreds of people before you who would have touched the vegetable that you bought in the supermarket. You’d already be carrying the virus if you’d have touched your face, clothes, mask while outside and then accidentally let it in your system.

Your phone would already be contaminated the moment you picked up a call at the pharmacy shop and let it in your house before cleaning it. Although you took bath, washed your hands, changed your clothes, you’d still be carrying infection if you tuck that strand of hair behind your ears before washing your hands after coming from outside.

You see, no matter what you do, how much you do, it will all be less. This is how it spreads. And this is how the case count is ever increasing. The only way to manage it right now is to stay at home, store stuff as needed and reduce the number of times you have to go out.

Don’t be under the impression that nothing will happen to you. There were many who thought so and are regretting their thoughts right now in the hospitals. You can be a sufferer or a carrier, neither of which is called being lucky.

Doesn’t matter anymore if you’re a geriatric, youth, child or an adult. The virus is being fair to all the genders and ages. The worst is yet to come and you are the one who can manage it, who can stop it.

Here are somethings that you may start doing to get into a better mental shape:

1. 1. Get in touch with helpline numbers in case of anxiety and distress.
2. 2. Start learning a new skill, redeveloping your old passion, improving your professional skills.
3. 3. Focus on yourself. Introspect, analyze and remold yourself into a better person.
4. 4. Research, set goals, plan your future. Now is the time.
5. 5. Socialize. Reconnect with your family, friends.

You can note down the points you’d want to do to achieve something the next day. Set goals, work towards them.

Nobody is an expert in Corona Management. Yet. Nobody knows ‘everything’ about it. Yet. But how will anyone even know? This is everyone’s first time. Research, trials, implementations take time. It’s a new virus and finding ways to fight it is a novel thing too. So let’s do small things in our own capacity to prevent it:

1. 1. Maintain Social Distancing. There’s no way out. Take precautions for cross contamination. Don’t be a carrier; prevent further spread.
2. 2. Go out only when you absolutely have to. Wear a mask while out. Wash feet and hands before you enter home. Remove your mask first, wash it, wash your carry bag and the newly bought stuff, change clothes, take a bath and then start your routine.
3. 3. Exercise and eat healthy. Stronger your immunity, lesser are your chances of getting worse health wise, if infected.
4. 4. Stop believing any news, statistics, health aides, treatment measures unless it directly comes from a trusted site of WHO, CDC, Health Ministries, and National Government Arogya/ Health Sites. Refrain from sharing/ forwarding the news if not from any of the above sources. Ask people to stop it when you see someone sharing it.
5. 5. Wash hands regularly with soap or sanitize them. Nope, sanitized hands do not catch fire. Stop believing rumors, remember?

I don’t see anything bad in this lockdown. Do you? Abraham Lincoln says, the answer lies in your hands. It’s upon you to choose whether you want to crib about the change that in fact is good for you. Or you want to feel happy about it and make the most of it.

Everybody will die one day. But you can choose whether it’ll be a good death or a bad one. Choose the good one, be the good one!