At first, it seemed that Coronavirus had only affected China, but the COVID-19 outbreak knew no boundaries and soon it took over the whole world. Self-isolation, Quarantine, Lockdown worldwide and the distressing situation could be easily witnessed throughout the world. Life itself seemed insecure and chaotic. The physical and mental health of people has taken quite a toll. The economy has ground to a halt. It is indeed the worst of time for humanity.
But, still, there is Hope. We all are in this together. This is temporary and it’ll end. We all need to know what this COVID-19 outbreak has taught us. Besides, already there are many reasons to be optimistic.
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5 Reasons to be Optimistic about coronavirus outbreak
So, if you are feeling down or is upset over the current scenario, consider the following reasons to be optimistic:
1. Collective Narrative-We All Are In This Together!
Yes, we all are in this together. COVID-19 didn’t care about age, caste, colour, ethnicity, race, gender and even boundary, it has affected everyone directly or indirectly around the globe. It has thus made this outbreak a collective narrative that all of us can relate to and be empath with each other.
While most of us are under lockdown, quarantine or isolation, let’s not forget how our medical healthcare workers, researchers and others readily came on the frontline to cope with the menace of Coronavirus. All of them are risking their lives to protect us. We should follow the precautions and safety measures as forwarded by our Healthcare Authority to not let this menace become a chain of reactions.
The situation is alarming but the recoveries and positive results of clinical trials for COVID-19 are promising and giving us major hope that it’ll end soon. The cure will be available soon. But for now, prevention is better than cure. And I am sure, when it’s over, we’ll ask ourselves more beautiful questions and understand each other.
2. Collective Work in Future Without Any Divides!
Vulnerability or liability had been always a buzzword in work management. But, the COVID-19 outbreak has proved that it’s not tangible anymore. According to the UN Officials about 25 million people around the globe are anticipated to lose jobs. From unemployed to low-income to high self-employed work, everyone is affected. People have to choose between staying at home or risking their health and life by going out. This Pandemic has shed light on how much more vulnerable we are than before.
Pandemic is indeed widening the social society net. It is clear that once this outbreak is over, the work in future would be inclusive of all the workers. In fact, the occupations which were not of high income in our countries such as young engineers, sanitization staff, food and safety staff, researchers, digital healthcare systems and many others proved to be among the first ones to react to this situation and try to play their role while keeping other safe & providing digital healthcare services.
So, once this outbreak is over, it will force us to widen our horizon of kinship and make solidarity with all the workers around the globe to work together for a shared cause.
3. Nature Is Healing-Environment Is Getting Better!
YES, it might sound cliché but Nature is Healing. Till a few months ago, we all were panicking about the adverse climate changes and their effect on the environment and humanity. The COVID-19 outbreak, however, proved to be a blessing in disguise for the environment.
The data from ESA’s Sentinel-JP Satellite highlighted the significant decrease in Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) gas emission. It is one of the environmental pollutants released from automobile vehicles, power plants and other industries. This gas is thought to be affecting health issues such as Asthma as well. Various other data have shown a significant decrease in air and water pollution.
This has given us hope that we can make our environment better if we keep a check on our lifestyle. For now, a virus is containing us in our homes, imagine what would happen if we ruin “Mother Nature”, so there is always room for improvement.
4. Love, Kindness And Empathy Win!
Love and empathy go together. When everything was under lockdown, there came the volunteers of various age groups. Risking their lives but still trying to help people in need. Not only you would see volunteers in the healthcare sector but also the ones delivering the food and ration to the needy. It’s always kindness and empathy that meet with the crises not the civil war.
Apart from this, the social stigma regarding mental health has also been stressed upon in this current outbreak. Several online free stress management activities are available. Even various health and education sectors are providing online free mental health counselling.
This pandemic has taught us once again how much love, kindness and empathy are needed and this is what gives us hope and reason to be optimistic.
5. Time For Self Realization And Improvement!
It’s a hard time we all know. But, this is also the time for self-realization since all of us are spending time at home. In fact, more time alone at home and anticipating the still world out there. In the pursuit of self-realization and peace, we often divide emotions as happy or sad, good or bad. But, I believe our emotions can be more than these. They can be deep or shallow as well and this is what this outbreak has taught us. Such pandemics bring both sufferings and blessings. Blessing in a way that is on your part, how you survived and how you’ll make this world a better place and not to take the blessing of health for granted.
We may frame ourselves as failures if we are not happy or not doing anything except for being stuck at home. However, it’s the opposite, there is meaning in sadness, grief, solidarity, mourning and empathy etc. If you are feeling all these, this simply means you care and you shouldn’t be hard on yourself. It can be overwhelming, it’ll be overwhelming but I am sure that this is high time we do some self-analysis. I am sure it’s a metamorphosis kind of phase for us, just like a caterpillar waiting to be a butterfly. Remember, this time has provided us with an opportunity to start a new in a better positive way and to make life easy for us and for others.
Last, but not the least, hope and optimism provide us with clarity that even in this crisis, we still have the possibility to emerge for a better cause and life. Even the ordinary life before this pandemic was also of desperation and catastrophe of many things such as inequality, injustice, climatic changes, stereotypes, inhumane culture and the list goes on. We may not know what will emerge from this outbreak, but what I am sure of is that there is still hope and we should be working on ourselves to help and play our role.
