Looking At The ‘Positive’ Side: 12 Things COVID-19 Has Taught Us For Which We’re Grateful!

From reconnecting with our hobbies and finding time for family to cherishing home-cooked meals and realising the loopholes in our system, here is the only ‘positive’ aspect of COVID-19 we want to appreciate and remember!

We commenced 2020 with our to-do list (and a backlog of resolutions) for the year but little did we know that it rather had some different plans in store for us! 

The novel Coronavirus has been recognised as the most destructive pandemic in the history of mankind, gripping the entire world in its fear and fatality. Ever since ‘lockdown’ has been implemented in the country, leaving us cooped up in our homes to eventually be complacent with the “new normal” phenomena, we have been experiencing things we once deeply wished for. And the reality has it that it took a pandemic to help us realise and live through them. Sigh!

While we wish 2020 had chosen a more humane mode to help us pause and live, nevertheless, it’s all about what we have in our hands TODAY and at this very moment before it too fades with time! 

So here are a few lessons that the novel Coronavirus has taught us and made us appreciate the things we all yearned for before the pandemic hit us! Keeping all the negativity aside for a while, we are grateful for the following things - 

1) Family Time

Pic Credits: Outlook India

While the world was already suffering from a silent pandemic named ‘cut-throat competition’, there were instances that demanded a dire need to rest and give time to our families. Although we were staying in the same house but there wasn’t really anything that felt ‘together and warm’. But seize the moment and realise, there are more happy times with family and friends today and we are experiencing care and love that was overdue and somewhere needed badly. We are grateful! 

2) Less Pollution, Clear Blue Skies

Pic Credits: Instagram/@anujtrehan_

Cities choking on toxic gases emitted during festivals and by vehicular and factory operations isn’t alien to us. However, ever since lockdown came into implementation, Mid-March onwards to be precise, we have witnessed clear blue skies in ages! Not just that, the AQI improved tremendously for months and we inhaled fresh, pollution-free air in the longest time! This shall remain as a memory forever, for we had nearly forgotten how blue skies ever looked and fresh air felt like until we experienced them during this time! We are grateful! 

3) Preciousness Of Life

Pic Credits: Time To Climb

Each one of us have had our own share of stress where we have simply wanted to give up and end things for once and for all. However, it is during this time we have appreciated having woken up to a new and carrying out our daily chores without complaining about them. We have understood the value of our and others’ lives and how each moment is a blessing denied to many! We are grateful!  

4) Work From Home

Pic Credits: The Print

Most of us had 6 days working and it wasn’t really surprising if we also worked during Sundays too. As WFH culture has become the new normal, we have been able to save our travel time, conveyance charges, a daily pair of clothes, and additional stress of being stuck in gridlocks! Haven’t we all prayed for this once, especially when our offices were miles apart from our home? Haven’t we all taken WFH approvals prior to the pandemic when we couldn’t really make it to our office? Managing household chores while slogging at work is undoubtedly taxing, but it’s far better than skipping breakfasts to reach office early and toiling through traffic jams and metro train’s technical glitches on our way back. We are grateful! 

5) Boosting Localism

Pic Credits: Your Story

Often once overshadowed by giant firms, it’s today when small, homegrown brands are garnering their well-deserved attention and fame. The lockdown has severely impacted export relations with multiple countries and it’s when our indigenous brands that have been working in dim lighting for ages came to our rescue! From honey, coffee, and tea to skincare products, clothes, and crockery, we have become more #VocalForLocal than ever! More power and thrust to our very own Indian brands! We are grateful!

6) Wildlife Expansion

Pic Credits: Local Press Co

COVID-19 stilled human activity and it rather became an ‘anthropause’ for us. However, during this prolonged duration, nature and wildlife relaxed and were away from human disturbance! All this while, Dolphins were spotted at Mumbai’s Marine Drive, sparrows and various migratory birds returned to Delhi, the number of tigers and lions increased manifold, and other more discoveries took place that got us happy! We are grateful!   

7) Quarantine Chefs

Pic Credits: Instagram/@anujtrehan_

Most of us have either honed our culinary skills or started cooking from scratch during this lockdown period. Barring the people who have usually stayed away from home owing to work or studies, we who have been usually relying on our moms/dads or a cook for our favourite meals have experienced the effort and time it takes in the kitchen lately. Thanks to the lockdown, we have at least tried our hands on a few dishes and gave our parents a much-needed break from trudging in the kitchen for hours. Proud to be x-dishes old! We are grateful!

8) Empathy 

Pic Credits: PYMNTS

From mopping the floor and washing clothes to chopping veggies and cleaning the dishes, haven’t we become more empathetic when we had to do all the household chores ourselves in this period? Didn’t we feel hurt when someone stepped or dropped something on the floor soon after we had cleaned it? Empathy is all it took to appreciate the our domestic help's effort that often went unnoticed and uncared for before the pandemic brought the world down to its knees. We are grateful!

9) Personal Growth

Pic Credits: Reset

Let’s face it, the courses we always wanted to do and the skills we wanted to hone didn’t find a way out from our diaries until we stayed up at home. And now, if we look back to the initial months of lockdown, most of us may have been successfully able to complete our dream courses, training programs, personality development sessions, and lots more that we were desperately struggling to find time for! Rejoice, we are coming out of this lockdown with an improved personality. We are grateful!

10) Social Injustice

Pic Credits: The Times of India

The novel Coronavirus has also reflected upon the loopholes in our system and policies. And these have become quite discernible when several migrants were out on their roads, suffering and dying on their way back home as they had to walk barefoot without sufficient means to survive. However, now that these cases have shown up, we as the citizens pledge to do our bit and help those in need by any means necessary. We are grateful to have identified the flaws in our system and we are ready to fight against them!

11) Lifestyle Changes

Pic Source: My Modern Met

We have finally found time for losing weight, pursuing our hobbies, reconnecting with our old healthy habits, getting back to books, and everything else that was always on the top of our minds but couldn’t ever be channelised. Today we are able to do 10 different things and still have ample amount of time in hand to do something more exciting besides our other commitments. We are grateful! 

12) Importance Of Health And Hygiene

Pic Source: Getty Images

Do you think we would have ever been able to gulp down these homemade ‘kadhas’, immunity boosters, and whatnot if there wasn't a need for them today? Or better yet, did we ever wash our hands for 20 seconds straight or even a tad bit consciously as we have been doing these days? Hand sanitizers suddenly ‘vanished’ for a very long time from the market due to excess demand and a sudden increase was seen in the sale of hand wash soaps and masks! Imagine if all this health consciousness and the importance of safe contact could ever be instilled in us if this wouldn’t have happened. We are grateful!