Promoting a new normal – what is positive about corona pandemic

Over the last few months, we have been witnessing the lock-down period because of this pandemic, COVID -19. This new normal of quarantined lives and social distancing has kept people sealed indoors to avoid chances of contamination. While people are rarely leaving their homes they feel bored and frustrated, which affects their well-being and drifts them into negativity. When the majority of people are negative about the pandemic, I believe that not everything about the corona virus pandemic is dreadful. We indeed experienced negative emotions because of this outbreak and the subsequent lock-down but it has also left some positive impacts on our lives. I would like to focus on the below aspects –

1. The clean and green environment – Curtailments on movements, traffic and, business activities have considerably reduced pollution at a global level. NASA Satellites have documented significant reductions of around 20-30% in air pollution. We can now witness cleaner air, green environment and, bluer skies. There has been a significant dip in the Air Quality Index (AQI) across the country because of less greenhouse gas emissions. Delhi and other metropolitan cities of India are also enjoying the lowest levels of air pollution as recorded in the last decades.
2. Improved Social Life – As the pandemic becomes a bigger part of our daily life, it has changed the way we think, behave, and relate to one another. The struggle to survive the pandemic has developed a high degree of cooperation amongst people by promoting a sense of togetherness and concern for each other’s well-being. Now people are more concerned about strengthening family relationships, inquiring about neighbors’ health, caring for needy, and serving the poor ones. Indeed the poverty and suffering levels have also increased but we can also see a sense of harmony amongst people to extend their help, wherever required, in their best possible manner. We notice a lot of individuals and philanthropic organizations taking effective steps to support the victims and help them in sustenance, thus encouraging and strengthening humanity in fighting the situation.
3. Health Consciousness – The initial phase of the pandemic witnessed behaviors of anxiety, depression, and anger amongst people.  But later on, people started identifying ways to relieve stress and improve both physical and mental health. As a result, people reported working on their diets, eating fresh and rich ingredients food, cutting on snacks intake, and practicing a balanced lifestyle. The increasing concern of physical well-being inspired many people to start a home workout, yoga, and meditation. With the support of many online health and yoga gurus, people around the world are now more creative with their home workouts. This has helped many in reducing the dependency on local gyms and clubs.
4. Cordial Family atmosphere – The changing home dynamics of people remaining indoors has increased the household work especially for women. The never-ending task of cooking, cleaning, washing has increased manifold with no domestic help into the picture because of lock-down.  The situation becomes more of a nightmare for working women transforming them into a multitasking superwoman overnight. But a good thing to notice during the lock-down is, male actively taking part in the household. I see men and young boys posting pictures of themselves sweeping floor, doing the dishes on social media platforms with an attitude to help their wives, sisters, or mother. This attitude helps break the stereotype and created a cordial home atmosphere during the lock-down period.  I appreciate the progressive and intellectual attitude of the male counterparts in developing a supportive household culture. It can be viewed as a welcome change and a successful step towards the fight against gender inequality as it helps build a civilized society with no gender biases.
5. Up-skilling – This unprecedented COVID crisis has proven beneficial because of numerous learning opportunities easily accessible from home through online platforms. Many of us have utilized this time to enhance skills for better career opportunities considering long term growth. A recent survey conducted by Naukri.com revealed, close to 50% of job seekers devoted their lock-down time on self-development. Most companies have also offered an online interactive training and development program for its employees. This has helped people to come up with new skill sets adding value to the current and future talent pool.

I accept that we are going through a challenging time, but this situation has also given new normality to our lives by positively impacting our health, relationship, and social lives. Despite difficult external conditions people all over the world people have understood the importance of a meaningful life which focuses on the betterment and harmony of self, humanity, and nature as well.