Pandemic is a word that hit us like a Tsunami globally. One afternoon in 2020, we randomly started hearing words on news channels like “Outbreak/Virus/Engineered Virus” etc which made no sense to us whatsoever. However, little did the world know that these words are going to be our real vision for an unpredictable timeline of life.
Kids losing out their childhood years, teens trying to navigate their puberty years within masked faces, online education and withering motivation. When it comes to adults, the pandora’s box was just tumbling – unemployment, losing loved ones, multi-tasking families with work-life along with a crumbling support system.
The year felt like the Titanic iceberg that desperately needs a lifeboat. After an entire year of this new world reality, the only life jacket that one has, in such times is HOPE.
Hope, is an underrated yet powerful antidote to whatever adversity may occur. I write this consciously, being aware that with so many people losing their loved ones all around, hope seems just like a word than actual relevance. That’s why, once we accept the grieving times and actually share our venting, we find hope at the end of this gloomy tunnel.
With I also being infected recently and seeing how isolated, weak and incapable it feels, the one thing that helped me and would certainly help anyone at this time, is empathetic sharing, listening and simply pouring their heart out.
Having hope doesn’t mean rejecting the pandemic or undermining illness, rather it means to honestly face, share, support and staying active in finding resources/people and ideas that can promote self-care.
A lot of my hope, came, not just from family and friends but simply from speaking to strangers who were offering COVID aid to me, pharmacies willing to deliver, food services keeping us afloat, security personnel taking charge of delivering medicines and even news channels sharing critical data, rather than just gossip-mongering.
This pandemic shed light on not just how terrible a pandemic can be, and brought out the worst in people, politicians, or fake charities but on the other end, it also showered a list of humanity chain where strangers and organisations worked tirelessly to help out others at this time of crisis.
The year also gave a new meaning to words like Mental health, empathy, humanity, survival and resilience.
People now, for ages ahead should feel grateful and more supportive of what struggles truly are. Having a support system, tangible resources, the ability to meet family, loved ones, and most of all, having health is something that will now give us hope for the future.
A few things that genuinely make us feel blessed are tokens like :
- Self-care
- Financial stability
- Having someone to share life stories with
- Safety of a home and a caregiver
- Helpful neighbours or society
- Ability to speak to qualified health care professionals (be it doctors/ counsellors or therapists)
These are all privileges that we all should be thankful for and if at all, we know anyone who lacks these, ensure that you can do their little bit by being sensitive, empathetic and non-judegmental. Avoiding preaches and promoting overt optimism may seem offensive to those affected, thus hope in today’s times is a fine skill that one must be careful about.
To all those, who are suffering and have sustained scars that they would live lifelong with, just be a beacon of Constructive Hope, where you not only support them with inspiration but also with a plan in the pandemic, for a roadmap ahead.
Hope in today’s times may seem futile and unimaginable, but faith is what will make us feel afloat , when the world seems to sink.
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