Keeping Ourselves Sane Through The Pandemic

It is day 5 of the 2^nd phase of lockdown in India. Instagram, these days is flooded with memes about the lockdown. Not just that people have also been constantly posting about how they have been making full productive use of this quarantine. From making Dalgona Coffee to cooking some mouth-watering dishes and even re-working on their lost skills, my friends have done it all. A really close friend of mine from college even started her Youtube Channel. How amazing is that? People have been making so much out of this time while I laze all day in my bed with my face in my phone. Is it so important to make ourselves productive?

I am bored out of my mind!!! That’s what most people like me say since the day COVID-19 came into existence and made social-distancing and staying indoors the norm of our lives. Throughout the time that I have stayed indoors and practised social distancing, I have followed only one routine. Wake up, clean, cook, work, Netflix, sleep, repeat. On some days when I tried to take a break from my mundane cycle, I started to overthink without even realizing. I overthought about the situation, came with theories and each one of them concluded with the world coming to an end. Disturbing right? At least it was for me.

Now, this is why during these times when we aren’t busy with our lives like we used to be, it is important to be involved in some activity or another. You do not want to be productive, don’t force yourself. But being involved with something will keep you sane through these times.  

I have come across people saying, ‘Didn’t you want a time like this where you could sleep in all day, and do whatever you want without having to worry about anything in the world?’ Well, I personally wanted such a time for myself where I didn’t have to be worried about anything. But when one thinks about it, is that really possible? A human being not worrying about anything? We are made a certain way when we think most of us automatically start worrying about everything that can go wrong. Right now we do have the time of our lives but how can we live like we aren't bothered or anxious while the world is facing a pandemic.

I’ve tried to keep myself involved with the work that I do from home, cleaning, cooking and watching a lot of movies and some trashy web series. But I still end up feeling depressed and lost.

It is not strange that we get worried and start to panic while reading newspapers or watching the news. There is no shame in accepting that I have always been a pessimist, thinking about all the bad things that can happen to mankind. But right now nobody wants to hear about the misdeeds that mankind has done to the planet. All of us need hope to survive this pandemic and come out of it healthy, physically and mentally.

Even after keeping yourself occupied if you don’t feel like you are doing well mentally. Seek help. There is nothing wrong with wanting to talk to someone about what is happening in your head. There are numerous organisations/institutions that are working to help people in need of counselling during these testing times.

Pick up that book that you left unread a gazillion years ago. I am sure you’ve always wanted to bake that yum-looking cake when you first watched the recipe but couldn’t do it because you didn’t have time. Enrol yourself onto that novel-writing class that you always wanted to take up. Call up your friends from school, take that train down the memory lane and relive those days when you had a not so stressful life. Open that journal you used to carry along wherever you went. Read it, re-read it and start writing where you left off.

We sure are amidst a crisis we never thought of finding ourselves to be in. But we need to remember one thing.  Giving up is not an option. It surely will take time for us to come out of this. Let’s face reality it is harder than we think it is. But let’s do ourselves a favour and be positive. And the journal I was talking about. Keep writing so that 10 years down the line you can tell your extended family about what the situation was and how you overcame it.

Here is a helpline number of an organisation that is conducting free counselling session for all those who need it. And remember there is absolutely nothing wrong with seeking help.   

                                    

Patience Is The Key

We reached the place way before time. Almost over an hour before the show actually starts. It was 2 AM. We decided we could go for a long drive before we came back and so we did. Almost 45 minutes later, when we went back, there was a long queue awaiting the arrival of the man of the hour. And then he came wheeling his chariot. Interesting right? He was not on his chariot, but he was wheeling his chariot. And this wasn’t the usual chariot either. His chariot had huge vessels of dosa batter and chutney, and cottage cheese and cheese and some vegetables and maybe oil and a lot of other things.

This was the chariot of the renowned Ram Shinde.  Pushing what people of Hyderabad called ‘Ram Ki Bandi’, he came and the people who stood there waiting for him surrounded him where he stopped. This was no magician. But the way everyone swarmed towards him, took out their phones, clicked pictures, updated statuses. Coming out at 3 AM on a Monday morning for dosas surely was something. 

It was a delight to watch him make the dosas, watching people relishing them. The man had a story like all of us. He had his bunch of struggles and after surviving through each of his struggles, the result was the long queue of people waiting for him in the middle of the night to make his trademark dosas for which they could sacrifice their sleep.

 When I look at a human, a successful human, I want to be that human. It is funny how our brains work.  I have this bad habit of only focussing on a person's success & completely ignoring the fact that behind every success story is a life full of struggle that the person went through.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. So are our lives. In the generation we live in, which I’d like to call the instant generation, we like everything to come by us instantly. Be it food, cabs, jobs, money, success. No, I am not bashing at the millennials. I am one of them and I am guilty of wanting everything instantly. I look at successful bloggers, influencers, colleagues, friends and I think, what was that one thing that I did wrong and I am not where they are? It is difficult for me to answer that question. Why? Because I am affirmative of the fact that I am giving the best I can. I push myself to give more than what I did the previous day. Then why is it that I do not see the same results as the other person. In the meanwhile, do I think of the person’s experience? Do I think of that person’s approach? Do I think of the person’s struggles? Do I think of the person’s efforts?  No. I do not. Am I prejudiced? Yes, I am. And I am guilty.

Sometimes, it does not matter how much you give. Sometimes it does not matter if you sacrificed the previous night’s sleep to finish the work your boss asked you to finish. Sometimes it does not matter how much you are pushing yourself to be the best. Sometimes all that matters is for you to stop thinking about success, to stop thinking about how many efforts you put in. Sometimes, all you are required to do is to love what you do, give the best of your abilities, learn something new every day. It is a difficult task to do because life has been a competition even before we are born.

We humans have the tendency of living in our past through the present and into the future. We never fully live in our present. Ofcourse, the past teaches us to have a better future but what about today?

So every day from today, I will tell myself to take one step at a time. Because at the end of every day, I need to be happy. Because if I am not happy then the entire world’s success and wealth are not going to suffice.

Ram Shinde making his trademark dosas
PC: Priety Baid