We Shall Overcome: A pandemic and the uncertainties – (Darathi Gogoi)

I start with the most trending lines written by author “Haroon Rashid” –

We slept in one world and woke up in another. Suddenly Disney has no more magic, Paris is no longer romantic. Suddenly hugs and kisses became weapons and not visiting parents and grandparents became an act of love. Suddenly we realized that power is not that valuable and money is not that powerful.

Yes!  I am talking about the present-day situation, the pandemic of corona virus. Did any one of us had the faintest idea, that someday, something of this kind would happen? No one,right? Masks and sanitizers have now been a part of our basic needs, seminars are transformed into webinars, meetings are transformed into a virtual world of Google meet, and classrooms are transformed in to mere zoom classes.

India’s public landscape has transformed dramatically over the last couple of months with this most prolonged lockdown that the nation shall ever remember. This lockdown has to some extent, curbed the spread of the virus in the country, but it has perhaps been non-conducive to good emotional and mental health of all age groups.

Every other day, there would be frightening news about the world – suicide, murders, heart strokes, deaths, fire explosions, floods, landslides, earthquakes and many more. The social media news feeds would be trafficked with all the international and national news.The economic crisis has led to contractual migrant workers being thrown out of their work. There is this sudden unemployment along with the devastating natural calamities. Financial stress or the stress of survival could take a toll on the mental health of the working community resulting in aggressiveness,post-traumatic stress, anger, fear and many more.

However, the impact of lockdown may not surround just the workers community, it also revolves around all groups of people, they may be the highly privileged service holders, the most successful businessman, the research workers, students, children, old aged and even the front line workers.

As for now, we all are uncertain for how long we are ought to stay with this new normal. Experts still predict that the traumatic effect of this pandemic will linger longer even after the virus is curtailed.

So, what can we do to cope with these uncomfortable feelings that are swirling around in our mind and heart right now?

• Meditation can be one option that takes effort but pays big dividends of relaxation by reducing our body’s stress response.
• Journaling or maintaining a diary includes a relationship with oneself, it helps in self-realizations and improve one’s overall mood and reduce depression and anxiety.
• Exploring new ideas and knowledge stimulates the brain and keeps the mind from many negative thoughts.
• Spreading positivity to everyone we meet or communicate is a good therapy to be happy and talk happy.
• Replacing technology and apps with spending time with nature or family members can ascend the moods and relive the mind from negativity.

Count the blessings and thank the universe for all the good things, it had offered to us. I conclude with few lines by the writer ‘Rhonda Byrne’ – This time will pass, I promise you. And life will continue on. In not too long, this event will be something that happened in the past. So, take it easy. Relax. You will be much wiser and more compassionate, because you got through a challenging world event that made the history books, and you came out on the other side of it.

“We Shall Overcome”.