Positivity in times of Grief! - The Economic Transcript

“Be Positive” The most cliché line that we hear in our lives but let’s talk about its applicability and how can it change our perspective.

There’re no two ways about stating that the Covid-19 pandemic is the worst time that humanity is facing in the last century or so. Businesses are shut, all and any human activity is stalled, and the world is headed straight towards an economic catastrophe. Nobody knows how long it is going to take us to come out of this situation. You switch on the news channel and all one can see and hear are statistics of how many people affected, died. You read about frontline warriors getting assaulted while helping people. There is news about unemployment, salary cuts, and movement of migrant labourer is a whole new issue. When everything in the world is going downhill how are we supposed to stay positive?

Is it even possible?

Well, it’s all about choice, it does not mean that we turn a blind eye towards the existing problems or act like it doesn’t exist, that wouldn’t help either. It begins with acknowledging the problems. Running away or denial is not solving a problem, right? But we certainly can shift our primary focus on the positive aspects of this situation. Every coin has two sides so does this world-wide pandemic.

NATURE IS BLOOMING: The first and foremost to benefit out of this pandemic is our mother earth. This beautiful planet has sustained us for millions of years, still humans being humans, continued to harm it for their selfish reasons. It was time that earth took its long due break and lockdown in various parts of the world is just doing that. It is giving our planet the breather that it deserved. I mean how else would you ever hear news like ‘Yamuna River cleared up of all pollutants’ or ‘swans and fishes in clear waters of Venice canals.’

REFLECTION: Nature is not the only one to benefit from this. We humans have our equal share to take away. The rat race takes a toll on humans as well and the lockdown is giving us an opportunity to deeply reflect on our day to day activities. People are becoming more mindful of their daily chores. We have started respecting the roles of our domestic helps, janitors, and essential service providers. It is giving us the time to have our perspective in place. We have started being grateful for small joys of life like a cup of coffee in neighbourhood café or a hug from a loved one. Having the road-side pani-puri or freely shopping through the supermarket aisle, all of this is going to hit us differently once everything resumes back to normal.

LONG-TERM CHANGES: The lockdown experience and learnings are going to be with us for a lifetime. It is going to in return, bring about huge changes in the way we conduct our lives on individual as well as business spectrum. The latest news regarding TCS allowing its 75% workforce to work from home is proof enough on what kind of changes we can expect in the future. There might be a huge wave of remote working culture in India. People may start developing the habit of saving money more than ever as future is uncertain more than ever. Our spending habits and priorities will go through a major change. People might start focusing on health and immunity than ever-before. What exact changes will take place will be decided in due course of time but we can surely predict a lot of positive changes that will stay with us for a long time to come.

SLOW-LIVING: As being confined in our homes has brought us closer to our family and loved ones, it has also bought a shift in our perspectives. People have started embracing the culture of slow-living. It does not mean to not work or not hustle, but rather the awareness that all of us need to give ourselves a break from the hustle-bustle of ambition and goals, take a step back, and analyse our lives for better. This kind of lifestyle will help us from problems like burning out and maintain the necessary work-life balance that we may seem to have forgotten.

Thus, positivity is a quality that we can focus on for our better mental health, try to make the most of this quarantine period, and not let all the negativity get to us. We have to fight this pandemic together and it is only possible when we first take care of our mental and emotional health. Let us not lose hope because Umeed pe toh duniya kayam hai!