Life Lessons from the Pandemic

I’ve found myself at a stage where I’ve accepted the COVID reality as a part of life, and the world we now live in. Maybe it’s the better weather that’s come about or the fact that cases in Canada at least are on a downward trajectory, but I feel much calmer about it than I did in the first few weeks of the pandemic, lockdown and near-chaos that followed. So with this new-found rationality and calmness in place, I’ve been thinking about how this pandemic has affected my life, and I thought I’d put some of those thoughts down.

This one sounds very cliched, but it’s helped me realize not to take things for granted, and not question why things happen, or don’t happen. There’s a certain degree to which life can be controlled and planned, and it’s important to do that so you don’t drift, but beyond that, it’s not worth getting so caught up in it that you forget living in the present and enjoying what you have. This is something I’ve been guilty of almost all my adult life, especially since moving to Canada, and it’s been detrimental to my mental health. This time has helped me take a step back, re-evaluate my priorities, and toned down my anxiety about what lies ahead. It’s time to live in the now, the ‘new normal’.

Also, I think I’m more likely to take risks now or change my definition of what a risk is. I’ve always been resistant to too much change, and had a fear of the unknown, which won’t disappear overnight, but has definitely reduced. I’m too young (not often I get to say that now) to have understood the real impact of 9/11, or the global recession of the late 2000s, and so for me, and many others of my generation, this is our first real life-changing event. It forces you to think of life differently, and what might have seemed like a huge risk or gamble a few months ago now seems silly.

Speaking of my generation, who are in their late 20s and early 30s, it’s a wake-up call for us too to grow up and take control of our lives. For me personally, it’s definitely helped me grow up, and realize that a) I am not immortal and b) Time is running out, and I don’t have all the time in the world to do what I need to do. It might be different things for different people, and some might choose to never grow up, but it’s been a shot in the arm for me. As an example, after procrastinating for 2 years, I got my driver’s license this past Tuesday, without much thought, only thinking about it on Monday morning, and getting it done the next day. I’m contradicting what I wrote in the second paragraph, but this is different. Not so much about obsessing about life, but rather about having clear long-term goals, and getting off my backside and working towards them.

As a result, this has also brought about more discipline. As a generation, we’ve been accused of being too complacent, taking things for granted, and being too frivolous with our spending, with so many of us in debt. Some of the criticism is fair, while some are unwarranted from those who lived during a different time. A lot of us looked upon saving money as something that had to be done because our parents told us to, this pandemic has highlighted how important they are. It’s good, doing something becomes easier if you have an idea of how it’s going to help. Personal example again, we, like most others, have cut down on the amount we spend during the past 3 months and realized that it hasn’t really had much of an impact on our lifestyle. There have been moments of frustration, but it’s not like pre-pandemic life was always a bed of roses either. Even once things get back to normal, whenever that maybe, I don’t see a reason to go back to spending as much as we used to, especially when there’s no clear need to.

And lastly, I’ve learnt to take better care of myself. The importance of personal physical and mental health has been laid out in the past few months. I’ve also had the opportunity to carve out time for things I like, like writing, and discovered that cooking isn’t as complicated as it seemed to be. I used to struggle my way through recipes earlier, and while I’m no Gordon Ramsay now, I’m pretty competent in the kitchen, something that I’m secretly (not so much anymore) proud of. Oh, and I discovered more trashy Reality TV, something that I am NOT so proud of. But it is what it is.

Who knows when this will end, and what life will look like once it does? While I hope the pandemic ends soon, I hope my life has changed for the better, and that this new way of thinking and living doesn’t end along with the pandemic.

Thank you for reading!