LIFE AFTER COVID- what changes, what doesn’t? … (Essay)

 

 Illustration by Rashi Sharma

The year 2020 marks the year of adventures! The year would definitely count as the year full of surprises, while some of them sweet and others sour or rather tasteless enough for us to wish this nightmare ends soon!. 

Life on this planet has been so fast paced from the past few decades, that we haven’t had the time to admire the simple perks and fancies we enjoyed in our everyday lives. We were free! Free to roam anywhere, all day, eat whatever, wherever, admire the beauty of nature, write poetries in the open or spend the day capturing emotions. However, were we still content? The honest answer is no! Even though doing simple things, in the wake of a notorious global pandemic seems nothing less than a dream come true like the thought of meeting and greeting friends with bear hugs, gulping plate full of momos and breathing air without the claustrophobic obstruction of a mask. If we rewind our lives a little and introspect within , we will find that even in those moments, which we now admire, we did not feel absolute happiness! We still cribbed about the hot weather or the lengthy college assignment at hand and that when will we have free time enough to read the books stacked in our shelves or watch movies, jotted in our wish list or maybe to acquire a new skill?  

Even though the pandemic and the consequent lockdowns have brought us immense free time and the excess of anything is maddening, we must realise that this time that we are having is a once in a lifetime opportunity that we are fortunate enough to get. It is the time for individual and collective introspection. It is our ‘me time’. It is the time of unimaginable possibilities, it is the time to pause and meet your own self, before you meet anyone else out there. 

Post Covid-19, the World has completely changed, where masks, sanitizers, social distancing and washing hands every now and then have become the new normal. It is a time when routine things of everyday life have started to seem so complex, be it commute, working from office, buying grocery or even breathing. 

However, what remains constant is the urge to socialize and interact to people. Even in times like these, despite facing several other problems like financial upheaval, emotional turmoil, unemployment and delayed exams and outing plans, the thing we wish for the most is the company of a friend. 

And, that is what makes us human! While testing times like these might get over with a successful vaccine or may become the new normal. But, what matters the most is to live the present moment and to make the most out of it. To keep striving, to keep learning and as Swami Vivekananda says, we shall arise, awake and stop not until our goals are achieved. While our lives might not continue to remain the same, but let us be optimistic that it will change for the good, as long as we keep moving. We must become the change; we wish to bring to this world!