My Cache of Positives from the Lockdown
This is my 4th Post for #MyFriendAlexa
“I’m taking my blog to the next level with Blogchatter’s My Friend Alexa” via Blogchatter
My Cache of Positives from the Lockdown
I share My Cache of Positives from the Lockdown. Have you heard of the adage ‘there is good in every evil’? What positive will come out of this pandemic? Equality! This pandemic has shown us we are all the same irrespective of our religion, culture, and customs, whether we are poor or rich. Anyone can get the Virus! Unknowingly, it connected us it made us realise we should all stick together. We as humans are going through extraordinary times.
Lockdown or time for Self-Discovery?
What’s going on currently is unprecedented and all of us must adapt our lives and mindsets to cope. COVID-19 has brought about a pandemic of anxiety and depression in the entire world. Never in the memorable past, have we faced such a situation where entire countries are under lockdown. We’re all in difficult, unsettling times. Most of us are sad, afraid, bored, anxious, and lonely; all classic cases of crisis to our mental health. Now that we know that the lockdown or self-imposed isolation is going to continue for an indefinite period. It is time we make peace with the situation and work on it. I have taken this time to share positive vibes from a fairly negative global situation.
There is no magic pill to tide us over the pandemic, anxiety or mental pressures associated with it. It’s been months of lockdown. Living alone and being a chronically depressed person, I would have been a classic research case of a mental illness specimen. However, for the first time in 16 years, I feel restored and rejuvenated.
Boon of Internet
People started using the internet in novel ways and sought upgrades to their internet fees to increase the speed, and consistency of their home connections. Most families stayed connected via video calls especially patients who were quarantined.
And as Paulo Coelho claimed- “When you want something, all the universe conspires to help you achieve it.
”My son was home on vacation till March 18th. We had three weeks of frenetic family time. I was dreading the time they were to leave and on the D day, my grandson developed a fever. Airports were checking temperatures by then and they postponed their return. Then lockdown happened and they were here till July 8th; (Psst…The universe responded!) I was in total G ma mode, basking in the warmth of my grandsons’ love.
Blogchatter to the rescue!
April is the month of madness with the #BlogchatterA2ZChallenge and I had a legitimate excuse to give it a miss this year. But then, I never back out of a challenge and dived headlong. Believe me, it wasn’t easy juggling two hyperactive kids and daily blogging for a month. I did it all and with aplomb! It is October now and it is #MyFriendAlexa time. Another month of flurried activities and the best way to steer away from negativity.
The Pandemic Has brought on anxiety and Depression
What’s going on currently is unprecedented and all of us must adapt our lives and mindsets to cope. COVID-19 has brought about a pandemic of anxiety and depression in the whole world. Never in the memorable past, have we faced such a situation where whole countries are under lockdown. We’re all in difficult, unsettling times. Most of us are gloomy, afraid, bored, anxious, and lonely; all classic cases of crisis to our mental health.
Now that we know that the lockdown or self-imposed isolation is going to continue for an indefinite period. It is time we make peace with the situation and work on it. I have taken this time to share positive vibes that have come out of a fairly negative global situation. And personally express the polarity between my solitude and depression at one end and a full house and a great deal of action on the other.
Gratitude and being Positive
One of the most significant things I’ve learned during this time is to take care of myself and to devote more time to a healthier me. We have to be grateful and appreciate what we have. Remember the fact that there are people in the world with much less. Be happy and positive about everything around you. This will make you become a stronger person.
We were all so cocky about everything, heartless about our environment, irresponsibly looting from the Earth that nurtured us, unappreciative of the love that surrounds us and isolating ourselves from fellow humans. In one hard blow, a virus brought us to our knees.
Look around now; the Earth heals herself as pollution diminishes; birds tweet to their heart’s content, deer and even elephants salvage their land as we stay locked away
Just trust in the present; here and now; the whole shebang can change in minutes! So, do not take experiences and life for granted.
My Cache of Positives from the Lockdown | Family Bonding and Me time
Cherish life more – learn to value the small things — bonding with family and friends often gets neglected in everyday life.
As I always say, “Every cloud has a silver lining” – we have ample time to ourselves. Use it time as best as you can. Take pleasure in just lazing; sometimes by just doing nothing. It is bonus time to cultivate hobbies, interests and passions.
At the end of the day, the only things that matters are good health and the lovingness of dear ones! This is the wisdom of ages but we are realising it now.
My Cache of Positives from the Lockdown
The second e-book I published peaked at Top 6 on Amazon kindle (Drumroll)
My blog has made it to the top 14! (Once more-drumroll)
I have been invited to do live shows.
Bagged writing assignments
I was the tortoise that transformed into a hare!
My Cache of Positives from the Lockdown
- Eat home-cooked food- (my blog is popular!)
- Adequate sleep
- Appreciate the present for a change-Not pondering on the tomorrow
- Learn Housekeeping – distribute chores in the family
- Family bonding- Dinner talks, Board games, Conversations
- Rekindle dormant passions- Music, dance, cooking, gardening
- Breathe clean air- Pollution has been reduced drastically
- Shop Local, build a community feeling
- Embrace Nature-time to smell the roses
- Grow your own produce
- Self-control-limit your needs
- Exercise and Meditation- Getting into shape
- Work from Home-the new normal
- Digital world Rules- Zoom Meetings, Web Rules
- Writing and Reading are back- Wordsmiths and Bibliophiles
- Mother Earth is healing.
- Opportunity to learn new and unlearn old.
- Get an inner perspective-time to reflect
- Spirit of Gratitude
- Adopt social distancing (Less eve-teasing)
Hug someone today, because don’t know if they will be there tomorrow!
Do check out my previous posts on #MyFriendAlexa- Project Self Love, Natural Organic Hair Colour and Homemade Hair Oil Recipe for Hairloss
So many things for you to celebrate! Am sure it feels great to have positive news pouring on your from everywhere. I enjoy your food pics and videos too. Keep up the good work.
Yes, full of gratitude for the positives.thank you for the encouragement, Varsha
Pandemic has brought many hidden talents to life. To me the biggest positive that I learned is the is my day, this is present and it will never come back. So, live it to its fullest and do meaningful each day.
Yes it’s all depend on our attitude. Glad that you had spent great family time and try to keep yourself positive. Loved the theme of Alexa
Looking forward for next posts.
Now, this is something we all need, a dose of positivity in our day. Good health and the lovingness of dear ones, couldn’t agree more. LOved reading this 🙂
I agreed to you that it has taught us so many things but along with this I think it has got all of us so close and together
Wow you have published a book and become a hare. I think I have a similar list but I haven’t written a book yet. Hopefully soon! Stay safe and Stay positive. Not Covid positive.
I am enjoying the family time too. We are home cooking everything.. Snacks, pizzas, pastas, and so many dishes.. Sweets.. It’s fun..
Undoubtedly this pandemic has taught us many things, something in a good way and some in bad. Well said Harjeet lockdown period was actually a kind of self-discovery session for everyone. Congrats for turning into a hare by bagging so much of positives, you are an inspiration for many!!!
Full of gratitude and love!! loved it
Wow wow wow – congratulations on each and every achievement you have crossed and more such milestones to you!
Happiness is reverberating from the post, trust me! Once you achieve happiness in real and from the tiniest changes made consciously, it creates ripple effects.
I like how you are finding positives during this time of crisis as well. And that’s what I keep telling so many others as well. While we are down and out in more ways than one, there’s always a silver lining if we want to see it. There are so many who are still privileged to be able to earn full salaries and have three meals a day. We should definitely be thankful and greatful in equal measure.
I have spent fifteen years in strife and struggle. Just woke up this year to realise that life is passing me by and I changed my perspective. I have no income since March..I run a homestay and I am not getting any freelance content writing work as well. I was writing for a local magazine which shut, in February
You are right there are many positives to take from Lockdown.
Family bonding and spending time with family is the best thing that has happened to me.
Nice article
LIfe keeps throwing challenges at us. What’s important is how we deal with the, A positive take can make us handle any problem gracefully. Congratulations on your book and all the other accomplishments that you achieved with your positivity.
That’s a lovely way to look at the current scenario. Congratulations on your achievements on the blog and ebook front.
The pandemic has taught us that every dark cloud has a silver border. Even we learnt a lot of new things it is a journey to learn, relearn and unlearn.
Wow, so many achievements! Congratulations! I love your list of positives and to-dos. Mother Earth took time out for herself to heal, we should learn to do the same.
Your journey is inspiring and so is your confidence. Thanks for the post.
You are truly an inspiration Harjeet ji and the tips of leading a positive life as given by you are surely going to help me and many others.
Family bonding during Lockdown and following the passion has been key at my end too. Very happy to see your achievements and wishing you more success in future.
You are amazing dear. Heartiest congrats for your se int book. You truly inspire so many
This pandemic has put us all in a place where we got a chance to stop & ponder about the meaning of life. Though it turned our lives upside down we also found a way to look at life from another perspective. Thank you for mentioning the positives we got to experience because of the lockdown. Loved it!
Beautiful ways to stay positive during this pandemic. Many of the pointers on your list are similar to what I too followed to stay motivated. Eating healthy and spending time with family were the two main things out of the many.
You have come up with a very comprehensive list of positive takeaways from this terrible situation that has enveloped the entire world. We all need to take a deep breath and count our blessings as they say. 😀
This is such a happy positive and motivating post. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Priya..glad u liked it.
Such a nice post. As u said it rightly, every cloud has a silver lining, I do believe in the same thing.
Thanks for endorsing my feelings Sweta.
You know this is such a hard time for everyone and it’s so necessary to count your blessings.. I am glad that you had a fun time during the lockdown
Thanks Akanksha..it was great to have my grandsons with me.
This post made me remember my Insta post that I published in April, last week. During this crisis, for the first time I spent this much of time with my first born. When he was barely 2 months old, I resumed my work. Since then, time was a big constraint between us. Now fortunately my maternity leaves of second pregnancy and lockdown both started almost the same time. And I enjoyed every moment with my kids without worrying about work. I too agree that there is a good in every evil.
Thanks Shipra…its good to find the positives isn tit?
What a great post this is! Of course, we all are privileged enough to see the silver lining of this god-awful dark cloud. I love your little cache of 20 🙂 It’s a great reminder to live to the best of our abilities. carpe diem!
Thanks, Nupur..glad you agree Carpe diem it is
I completely agree with you take each day as it comes. I too am a freelance content writer and this pandemic has snatched all my work. Instead of content I have started taking to my other passions art and reading which had taken a backseat. Life is all about living each day with gratitude
Very true Preeti..we have to make the best of the situation.Cannot sit and cry over it.
Such a positive post i say!!
And this is really contagious. Your list of positives got me thinking and making some lists of my own. Plenty to be grateful and thankful for.
And you’re so right – blog activities do keep one busy with no time for negativity!!
Loved the vibes of this post.
Thank u so much Radhika…feels good for the ratification from friends.
First off, congratulations to you for doing so well on the blogging & writing front, Harjeet.
And I love how you’ve laid down the positives from the lockdown while most of us have spent time fretting about then changes.
lovely post. you have me thinking about my year too, and indeed, there have been lots of learnings and lessons and also many positives. time to reflect 🙂