As the current pandemic of COVID-19 forces most of us to stay on lockdown at our homes, many people find themselves in new environment and routine they are not accustomed to. Maybe even never faced before. Having worked myself from home for several years at some point in my career, I could claim having some know how on that front. However, this current situation is not entirely similar to a common working from home scenario. There are many articles out there offering tips, measures and insight on working from home, how to establish a routine, being able to separate work and personal time while being in the same physical space, taking frequent breaks, getting fresh air, integrating workout in the daily routine, and eating healthy. In addition to appreciating all such contributions supporting those who haven’t been in similar situation before, I would also like to share another perspective, which is the resilience needed for moving on through this experience.
Many of us would read those tips and will consider them as necessary adjustments for a temporary situation, not realizing the full potential that can be uncovered if we truly live this experience. It’s not only about seeing the positive aspects of a challenging situation, but rather accepting, exploring and navigating through it, and most importantly treat it with measure that are meant to last rather than as an interim phase. As most of us, I came across interesting realizations while living the lockdown experience over the past few weeks, among which not taking the simplest things in life for granted, the ability to accumulate or relieve stress under the same circumstances, and most notably, taking responsibility for gliding through life in smooth or bumpy conditions, regardless of your role in creating them.
It’s probably an unprecedented situation that we haven’t been exposed to before in our lives, and setting expectations plays an integral role in our ability to set those measures that would enable us to sustain that situation. No one has a crystal bowl to say when or how the pandemic situation will be over, yet we can reflect, and reprioritize the different pieces of our lives during and post this encounter so we come out of it better individuals and humans. Sitting around in anticipation for outside factors to resolve the current situation potentially increases anxiety and stress, as opposed to taking advantage of the quiteness around us to figure out more about ourselves, and our future.