11 habits to motivate you out of lock down blues

Have you ever thought of anything positive out of lockdown due to deadly pandemic, Covid-19 virus? What if I say that my list includes 11 habits to motivate you out of lockdown blues and these 11 changes will be around us for a long time to come. ‘Going nuts’ – you may exclaim!

Friends, I am writing these lines under the excitement of watching ‘Ring of Fire’, during the longest Sun Ellipse of this century, which is approximate 6 Hours long. When the world is in sync with the deadly pandemic COVID-19 and my country has reached on the top 4th position badly hit by the virus. I never ever wished to witness this kind of race against humanity. Planet earth has lost more than 0.461million human lives and 8.7 million people are still affected by the coronavirus and making us more worried.

Among this dark and grave situation, there is a small hope of light in the form of few inspiring news headlines like New Zealand becoming the first country to beat corona with zero affected people and some smaller countries like Taiwan managing corona with minimum most causalities. We are still looking forward to more such positive headlines on the TV news around the world. Until then, we have to be realistic and accept corona as an unwanted guest in our society and wait for the vaccine to be on the roll.

The complete globe is under lockdown affecting economy and GDP of every country. The lockdown is being relaxed at many levels in different states of every country. As the lockdown days are passing one by one, and we are experiencing a different challenge every day. What I feel on a personal level is that there are certain habits that are going to stay with us even after the lockdown is over. Few of them are as follows :

Namaste IN – Hand Shakes Out:

“Namaste” has been an integral part of Asian culture since the beginning. In ancient time, Namaste was the main posture to greet somebody and it was a common practice from India to China and Japan. It is after the breakdown of COVID -19 that people started avoiding any kind of touch with the people coming from outside and ‘Namaste’ took the front seat in common communications.

More people including political heads and ambassadors of many countries are using Namaste in place of regular handshakes. So this posture of both the hands together with a bright smile on face and a slight bow is going to stay among society after lockdown is over.

The Mask:

Do you remember Jim Carry? I have been a big fan of his splendid movies and ‘The Mask’ has been on top of the list. I believe that you liked this movie too. Whenever the lead actor wore a mask in the film, he used to change into a different personality.

I sincerely used face mask during the lockdown and every time I wore the mask, there was that feeling of Jim Carry. 

I felt so special as saving myself and the whole world around me from the devil (this time, Covid-19). I feel that if a simple item like mask can prevent us from deadly infection, why not to use it every time we go in public. So yes, the mask is going to be an integral part of our culture from now on. Already maximum shops have put the message on their gate-‘No Mask-No Entry’.

Importance of Family Members:

This pandemic made us understand the value of our family. The bond among every member of a family is indispensable. Before COVOD-19, this bond somehow lost its sheen and all the members were too busy in the house with their phones. The warmth of family was not flourishing much as indicated on social media and daily news update like home violence, child abuse and not caring enough for the older parents.

The togetherness of all the family members during lockdown shifted the focus of highly occupied and busy working couple on empathy, caring and better understanding. This love of family will continue and flourish in society – I presume and pray.

Urgent visits IN – window shopping OUT:

You remember the time when we go out to the shopping malls and spend hours just on the window shopping. Actually it was a lot of fun to go to the various shops and feel all the new items on the shelf under the burning eyes of storekeeper.

Those poor sales girls always had an impression that we want to purchase the whole store but nothing is available to suit our standard. It made me laugh when we come out with our empty hands and our pockets full of intact money.

With lockdown and current ‘touch me not’ situation, we have learned to stay at home and STOP going outside just for window shopping. The essential commodity is always available online and there is no urge to step outside of your home. This trend will continue for a long time to come, at least until some cure is out in the market for Covid-19. International vacations will be a complete ‘NO’. Only urgent and essential official visits are on the cards in the future.

Trustful Internet Connection:

Until now, we have been using our mobile hot spot to run internet on our machines. There was always the scarcity of data and the problem of slow internet speed. Bothered by all these frustrations, I got a new WI-FI Broadband connection with 100MBPS speed.

Soon after taking this connection, the pandemic broke down. We were fortunate enough to have high-speed internet connection before the lockdown started and I can say with great satisfaction that the experience of high speed was awesome.

As the lockdown is partially over, I believe that we shall stick with this experience. High-Speed Internet has become a necessity now, so it is going to stay.

Self-prepared food – for self and for loved ones:

We are a family of foodies. Everyone in the family has different taste buds and we all like to explore a different type of recipes. Being in pandemic lockdown we have come up with unique ideas to experiment with the food of different cultures. We used YouTube to its full extent and learn a lot of new recipes. It was a pleasure to have an excellent self-cooked variety of foods every day.

With all the family members on the table and sharing quality time is a unique experience. The feeling is extremely good. I hope that we will continue the routine even after lockdown is over. What can be more fulfilling and satisfying than having all the family members’ together every day -for a party and enjoy the food and drinks?

Balcony Garden – homegrown vegetables – Turmeric milk – magic potions of our grandma are gaining popularity among all odds.

Books – still the best friend:

I remember my younger years when I was mad for the pocketbooks. It was my hobby to collect books on motivational topics and comic superheroes. During every journey, I had a new friend with me, and it was the best-seller novel or a classic self-help book.

With time and availability of new technology, printed publications were replaced with E-Books. I got to know the content but the smell of paper was missing. The pleasure of holding a new book in my hands and starting all the way from preface to glossary of terms was so exciting. Only the book-lovers can understand this feeling.

During locked down, We got the opportunity to open our cupboards and clean them thoroughly. And wow… the treasure of all my books was in front of me. Our children got excited to see my collection of old comics, Sydney Sheldon’s novels and a heap of motivational books.

We made it a routine to read a few pages before going to bed. It helped us to have a better sleep pattern. We are automatically tuned to book reading even after lockdown is over.

Exercise – the essential daily routine like bath:

The exercise or the physical activity was never on the cards before lockdown but we all learn various ways to be active out of compulsion. With nothing more to do during the pandemic period, we were forced to adopt in-house physical activities. And that turned out to be extremely useful and motivating. My wife reduced 3kg of weight during the lockdown period. Balcony Gym is a common sight in our neighbourhood and spot running is taking over brisk walks in the gardens.

Now, this has turned out to be a routine. A dream come true – to adopt exercise in our daily routine.

I have written an article on ‘Beating the Lockdown Blues’ explaining how we enjoyed various activities during the lockdown. You must spend a few minutes on it -to get some really beautiful ideas.

Social Distancing:

The virus of COVID-19 spreads through contacts and the only way to stop it is through social distancing. We have been going through all the articles on the internet and government instructions on Social Distancing. The past few months have shown us how to keep our self and our families safe. It is a hard truth that we need to adopt social distancing as a permanent precaution.

Social distancing needs to be adopted for the safety of everybody, no matter what the situation is. The naked truth of today is that social distancing is going to stay for a very long time and our new generations will find it as the necessary etiquette of society. ‘Touch me not’ is the new fad and we must adapt and respect social distancing.

WFH – becoming more productive and gaining respect:

With the longest ever lockdown due to pandemic, all the companies and big business houses are facing trouble to provide facilities with the hygienic workplace and continue employment for their workforce.

During the past few months, WFH – ‘work from home’ gained popularity for a safe working environment. The compulsion of WFH, in the beginning, has become a necessity now. Work from home is a ‘respected’ option today.

Out of the need, it as becomes obvious that the people working from home are more active on their work front and producing better results. Productivity has increased to a new level which is good for both employer and employee. Work from home is saving a lot of resources to the employer and they are opting for smaller business rented areas in big cities. Even carbon print is decreasing due to the less movement of people when working from there.

On the other hand, there are people who are not satisfied with work from home culture. Sometimes there is the uncertainty that the employer is going to continue for the existing projects with the same manpower or not.

As a ‘Plan-B’ for continuous Income to run the family and the dilemma of the current employment situation has increased a lot of searches on the internet for online business options. During this process, some sparking opportunities have also been surfaced to us. One such opportunity is wealthy affiliate University. You can read my complete review on ‘wealthy affiliate- a work from the home business’ here.

In my opinion, WHF and Online business opportunities are going to stay with us.

The birth of a ‘Better Me’:

As we have seen people going through the pain and the problems of lockdown, I could sense the birth of a better me. I believe that there might be many people who are feeling the same way.

During this lockdown period, we could find the ‘Quiet Time’ and explored our quest to know our self. The ‘Self Trust’ has gained strength inducing the much-needed motivation. We have learned to enjoy the Virtual Parties and Zoom Birthdays. Online courses have constantly upskilled our knowledge. We have been more vigilant towards respiratory hygiene in public places and Washing hands as become a new code of personal Hygiene.

We have experienced a solace during the newly found meditation techniques. We have started believing the Supreme Power above us and within us. We could understand the meaning and depth of enjoying ‘NOW’ moments. The words like gratitude, empathy, will power and mindfulness has a new meaning for us during Covid-19 sufferings. It is certainly a ‘better me’ now – who has learned to see the world from a positive perspective.

The Pain of losing the very dear people in our life, the financial breakdown and the uncertain economic environment cannot be substituted with mare words but gaining the strength to face the reality and act to create confidence for our families and friends make us the real human being. We are accustomed to the power which controls the strength of our emotions and how we respond to situations around us.

If you feel the same way or experienced something more positive during the lockdown, please do share in the comments section below, so we all can gain from your experience. Spread the love and be safe.

P.S. – Just to update on the current situation, please read following excerpt by an unknown author, which is doing rounds on social media, worth to mention here –

“Imagine you were born in 1900.

• When you’re 14, World War I begins and ends when you’re 18 with 22 million dead.
• Soon after a global pandemic, the Spanish Flu, appears, killing 50 million people. And you’re alive and 20 years old.
• When you’re 29 you survive the global economic crisis that started with the collapse of the New York Stock Exchange, causing inflation, unemployment and famine.
• When you’re 33 years old the Nazis come to power.
• When you’re 39, World War II begins and ends when you’re 45 years old with a 60 million dead. In the Holocaust, 6 million Jews die.
• When you’re 52, the Korean War begins.
• When you’re 64, the Vietnam War begins and ends when you’re 75.
• A child born in 1985 thinks his grandparents have no idea how difficult life is, but they have survived several wars and catastrophes. 

Today we have all the comforts in a new world, amid a new pandemic. But we complain because we need to wear masks. We complain because we must stay confined to our homes where we have food, electricity, running water, wifi, even Netflix! None of that existed back in the day. But humanity survived those circumstances and never lost their joy of living. 

A small change in our perspective can generate miracles. We should be thankful that we are alive. We should do everything we need to do to protect and help each other.”

Warm Regards,

Gaurav Gaur