The world is going bonkers over Covid-19. The lock-downs across the world to prevent the spreading reminds me of Zombie Apocalypse. Thankfully, we have to stay indoors and don’t have to do a parkour run with a baseball bat.
Truth is that the fatality rate of Covid-19 is low but the scale of spread is too high causing more damage overall. When the body count across the globe is lingering around 9000, we cannot really reason on low fatality rate. Taking precautions, staying safe, not panicking and embracing temporary boredom will do greater good to you and others. Do not hoard the essentials, be considerate to others. As the Ancient One told Dr. Strange,
“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity”
Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Applying this quote to the current chaotic situation, I thought there is an opportunity to look at the brighter side of this COVID-19 pandemic situation. It is boring to see only the dark side. I am listing down some of the positive things that I observed in this situation, again, from my perspective.
- The pollution in the major cities is going down.
- People have realized how good or bad their planning or their response to a crisis is.
- Organizations around the world who had strong opinions against work from home have realized the importance and the value of working from home.
- More face time with the family.
- As I mentioned elsewhere, I played family Bingo after a long time. All those board games hidden in the toy pile are getting a life.
- Was able to feed my son more number of times this week. Earlier it was a weekend affair. (Just to make it clear – my wife feeds him on the other days)
- Communication has improved with near and dear.
- Didn’t have to wear jeans. Can work wearing shorts or dhoti.
- Less human distractions. Less number of walking breaks/coffee.
- No need to fake a sincere look in the boring meeting.
- Zero eating out or ordering in. All meals cooked at home. Healthy and cost-effective, like it should have always been.
- Reduced crowd during morning walks.
- Reduced honking on the road.
- Finding creative ways to pass time.
- No commute time. More time to read/blog/relax.
- Increased engagement in blogging communities
- Good excuse for not hitting the gym
- Full utilization of Amazon Prime and other online subscriptions.
- With cricket coaching suspended, more time to sleep in on the weekend.
- Improved work productivity due to less distractions and increased focus.
Good and evil co-exist. May be something good will come out of this bad. Let’s hope for the best and keep looking at the positive side. I just want to end this post by sharing Matt D’Avella’s tips on handling uncertainity
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Pointless & Prosaic 
You make very relevant points on seeing the bright side of what is essentially a scene from an outbreak movie come to life.
I laughed at the part about feeding your son more often than just weekends. I don’t think any of us would have mistaken that as meaning you starved him the other five days 😉
Love this, you are so right.
Solid points Sada, especially the one about the dhoti. I’ve worn shorts and sportswear at home but the dhoti still eludes me. Any tips on how I should tie one? Obviously the family time is key and yes organisations will learn to trust their workforce with regards to wfh…..the future of working will change dramatically. Also, it shows how very little survival skills we have..
I came via Rachel’s link from her blog above and I’m glad to read your positives!
I’m in the vulnerable category for the virus but insist on pointing out the positives as they happen (those clear Venice waters etc) and hope that everyone gets to like the recovering unpolluted world and want to keep it that way.
Yup. Working with what we have 🙂
Thanks 🙂
Thanks for reblogging this. Its very kind of you.
You can follow this youtube for Tamil Nadu style – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg6_k1EzaSc . It is in Tamil but you can follow the video. 😀
You are true about survival skills. We all assume that we are good in planning and surviving tough times but when the actual crisis comes it exposes us.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Bryntin. Yes, I hope we retain the sanity once we are back to normal. But then, as Amish Tripathi said, ‘It is our greed to extract the maximum from Good that turns good into evil’. Let’s hope for the best and do our bit what is in our control.
Please do take care and stay safe!
Agree with all your points!
For me, the best part about working from home- I take a bath and wear a fresh pair of night suit. 😛
haha. WFH is gonig to continue for a while. I am now worried how I am going to adjust once all this over and I’ll be forced to go back to work.
Yeah… meeting people after ages would be fine. I am already bored of seeing 3-4 faces 24*7. But working in office is going to be difficult.