As the saying goes, 'Every cloud has a silver lining'; in the same way, I can see & experience some positive things happening around, hence i have decided to focus and list down 5 bright spots - small but worthwhile shifts amidst our current chaotic condition. It will be worthwhile to keep looking at the 'bright' side of the existing situation.
1.Family members are spending a lot of time together - Now, frustration and boredom can creep now & then which can raise differences and conflicts too ( i am a testimony to that) but if we are able to find a 'common' ground then I believe, this has presented a rare opportunity to build and strengthen our relationships by focusing on the positives and addressing the conflicts (if any). If you have a child, other than playing and watching movies with your child, to begin with you can instil lessons of courage, honesty, meditation, develop their language & presentation skills and everything else which is not taught in the school curriculum. If there are siblings, other than the usual things, it gives us an unique opportunity to deal with their conflicts and make them understand the importance of 'sibling' relationship.
2. People have 'rediscovered' their hidden talents - From singing to dancing, from reading to writing, from drawing to photography, from cooking to baking; people are creating a lot of 'original' content. I believe, this lockdown has presented a 'once in a lifetime' opportunity to work on our skills & aptitude and in the process create content which others can learn from, look up to or even simply enjoy. Once the lockdown ends, I would urge you to continue what you were doing by taking some time from your schedule & producing more good & original content.This will keep your mind engaged.
3. It's the right time to 'take up' exercising - The pandemic has raised a lot of questions on how daily exercise could have prevented and protected us from infection by boosting the immunity. People who aren't healthy & fit should consider themselves lucky, if they were not one of the affected. Now, we can utilise this time to design a plan on how to include exercising in our daily lives. Be it working out in the gym, yoga or even running; let us begin somewhere and immediately once the lockdown ends.
4. Spending is less & so the savings are up (naturally) - Since last 2 months or more, the lockdown has confined people to their homes and due to that, unnecessary spending on items, that you might 'want' but don't 'need', has come down to literally zero. It won't be an exaggeration if i would say that this pandemic has showed the 'actual' expenses (more or less) that a family needs to run their household. Personally for our family, this has been a real eye-opener. Now is the time to reduce our expenses and increase our savings considering the slowdown in economy that we might face for the next 1-2 years hence i would suggest that each one of you can map your household spending for the last 2 months and arrive at a 'ball-park' number and save the rest.
5. Cities are quieter & air pollution is lesser - Even though, this might not be a permanent feature but nevertheless, the citizens across the world got some respite from both air & sound pollution. I think, our country could have taken this advantage of reduced road, train and air traffic to speed up road, bridge and metro construction projects in the city that were either underway or lined up for this summer. With our workers being properly tested, given a safe environment & right tools to work our projects could have been complete before time and at lesser costs. The workers could have worked day & night instead of only in the nights. (This is my suggestion & observation)
We are currently living in the most unusual times and I believe, it would be wise to look at the 'bright' spots as much as we can instead of the gloom & doom that is spread throughout the world. Let me know your 'bright' spots in the comments section below. And as always, your feedback is welcome.
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