Mahadeep Singh Jamwal
While COVID-19 gripped us in its fear, it also helped us see the world with a new lens. The Corona virus has changed our lives completely. We never anticipated that the intermittent lockdowns would eventually turn our lives upside down. We started working from home, colleges and schools started online classes, and we saw some historic changes. A reality that the world has certainly seen its share of generation-defining events, the latest one the ‘COVID-19 pandemic’ have brought behavioral changes in the populace world over. With the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve surely learned a lot. Some lessons have been painful but those lessons have given us recognition of our wrong and that has helped to push our systems in the right direction. Some of the disruptions, the Pandemic crisis caused, may produce lasting benefits. We have to admit that The COVID-19 has changed life as we know it and it has changed everybody’s life goals and priorities ranging from dawn to dusk. When the pandemic commenced, it constrained a comprehensive effort to ensure that everyone practiced behaviors to keep themselves healthy and safe and keep others healthy as well. Not all but many people have learned a whole lot about respiratory infections and viruses, and how they spread from one person to another. This has prioritized every sensible and aware people’s decisions as to avoid many functions if we don’t feel well and even have very minor bad colds and prefer to stay home. We have realised the fact that in the human population, social contacts are a key for transmission of bacteria and viruses. Protective behaviors became the norm in our life. Everyone has embraced preventive measures such as mask wearing, maintaining a physical distance, and washing hands frequently. We picked up important wellness habits. The use of Masks once by medical professionals during surgery and the general hospitals, Jain monks covering their nose and mouth with a cloth to prevent microorganisms in the air from entering and getting killed, to hide the identity, scarves and veils of different colors and shapes were customary in countless cultures long before, but now the face masks seems to be critical to prevent the transmission of bacteria and viruses, and its use has become a symbol of times and use of facemasks seems to be an accepted intervention in our life worldwide that provide a barrier that can keep respiratory droplets from spreading. People have practiced self-care in a multitude of ways during the pandemic as they were forced to adjust to new work schedules, change their routines, and cut back on socializing. We realized the wastage of money on ‘show off’ during our functions and have committed to cut down the list of invitees in functions. This way luxurious arrangement in costly banquet halls has brought such functions back to our home space and we can easily pass on the expenditure without attracting burden on our wallets. The COVID-19 pandemic has had tremendous and swift effects on workplace culture. People have discovered that they don’t have to be in an office, that they can get most things done remotely. They do not need to commute to work. People who were part of a community during the pandemic realized the importance of human connection, and those who didn’t have that kind of support realized they need it. We tuned ourselves to socializing only to the required commitments.
While everyone’s situation is different and some people have experienced tremendous difficulties, many have seen that it’s possible to be resilient in a crisis. Scientists and nonscientists alike learned that a virus can be more powerful than they are. This was evident in the way knowledge about the virus changed over time in the past year as scientific investigation of it evolved.
The pandemic has probably taken the Internet from a ‘nice to have’ to a core utility for a large proportion of the population and businesses. The pandemic has been a great teacher.
We grew better at listening, not assuming that everyone’s realities are the same, and focusing on things that truly mattered above all.
We’ve definitely learnt some skills and have become more independent than ever before. Another realization has been about our family’s integral role in our lives. We were so consumed by the larger events that we failed to appreciate the little moments.
Indeed, there have been many sobering moments when we realized: ‘Actually, nobody knows what’s going on, when it will end, what’s going to happen next.’
This situation has shown us that we are all the same regardless of our religion, culture, customs, whether we are poor or rich.
The virus simply does not choose. It connected us in a way; it showed us that we should all stick together. Finding the good elements of the sudden culture change, taking pride in them, can reinforce these shifts in behavior for the long-term.