On 24th March 2020, The Indian government announced a lockdown in the country as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then a lot of things have changed. Along with the negative effects, this pandemic surely brought a lot of positive changes in our lifestyles and in the environment.
Before the pandemic, the world was on a run. There was a sense of rush in our lifestyle. Humans were working like robots and the environment was at its worst. Mental health was getting neglected and socializing was given least importance. But since the lockdown happened our perspectives have changed.
It is astounding to learn how important a friend circle is! We realized how much a set of people matter to us in our lives. We were too tied up in daily chores and routines, all the while trying to make ourselves look “good” to others, to an extent that we often missed reminding ourselves to appreciate our family members, grandparents, close friends and teachers. We were so busy chasing the future that we forgot to live in the present. We forgot how to respect human beings and empathise with their sufferings. The pandemic brought a new dawn to all of this. Staying inside our homes we realised the importance of socializing. Not only did we deepen our bonds with the people who were always close to us but we even made new friends, talked about their culture and some also found a new close friend or a family member in them. My parents have always taught me to have compassion for others and to do your deeds and services without expecting anything in return.
During this course of 8 months, we all understood the importance of mental wellbeing and the art of listening. Just by listening to other people’s problem is also a great help to them. Mental health saw a new boom in the country. The topic that was not talked openly with family now became a part of their conversations. Awareness among the people increased and steps have been taken precisely. Rather than only trolling on social media, some people took the lead to appreciate the creators and their content. By helping, listening, sharing and appreciating each other, we felt good about ourselves and it motivated us to promote positive vibes.
Sensitivity developed among humans. Well to do families helped the poor with money and food. Stray animals were fed. The importance of the workers in and around our houses was recognised. This lockdown helped us realise the value of the smallest thing present in our homes. Wastage was controlled, resources were valued. It is pleasantly surprising to see how little we need to go on a reasonably comfortable lifestyle, be it cars, household stuff, gadgets, food supplies or even toiletries. Yet we never stopped collecting more and more stuff to show the world how up-to-date, fashionable and wealthy we are. Although we saw a shift in this ideology of living a “quality” life rather than quantity.
The Internet gave us the way towards a new lifestyle. The internet had been a part of the younger generation but now it became frequent among the senior citizens too. The exposure to this medium brought new trends in the market. Employees started to work from home, in fact, in the technological fields work from home brought much better efficiencies and new technologies were introduced. Some companies have offered their employees an option of a lifetime working from home, one of them being Twitter. Companies also did support their employees with funds to set up a comfortable work-from-home regime, namely Google. Company giants like Apple made sure to provide their employees with proper protection kits when the lockdown was uplifted.
The education sector has now incorporated the power of the Internet at its best. Online classes are no more on paper but a reality now. Shifting to online education for almost a year now has demanded changes in the educations system, method of examination and evaluation. Not only this, the demand for Wi-Fi, smartphones and laptops increased in the market and work has been done to introduce new technologies at affordable prices. Zoom was one of the biggest players in the market of online video conferencing along with Google meet, Cisco WebEx, Skype, WhatsApp calling and many more.
The entertainment industry too made full use of the online platform. Concerts went live. Web Series and short movies were shot from home. Awareness campaigns increased. Quality of work increased. YouTube became a vital medium to showcase the talents, we saw many new emerging talents too.
Birthdays were celebrated online, videos were made, and skits were performed. Online gifting became a new trend.
With all of this hygiene increased in and around us. Masks are now a lifestyle. Proper healthcare precautions are taken. Washing hands became a routine. Sanitizers made their permanent space in the house. Healthy eating was promoted and eating fresh became a must.
With this pandemic, we actually have changed a lot. We now appreciate the things around us. Urge for positive vibes have increased. We started expressing our love for our close ones and helped the animals. With a break in our busy schedule, the environment also got a break to revive and breathe. Fresh air and chirpy birds came back.We applaud all the warriors, our doctors, soldiers and the government, who were all, on their toes all around these months to keep us healthy, safe and equipped with necessary items.We hope that this pandemic ends soon but we even pray that this sunrise of fresh healthy lifestyle sticks around for a longer period of time which is good for both humanity and the environment.
Thus, rewinding ourselves back in time and if we think again, then 2020 was objectively one of the best years of our life and a much needed speed breaker in our otherwise, hectic lifestyle.
