You Have New Notifications from COVID-19 Pandemic
Never in a million years would I have thought that I will undergo such a global pandemic as what is currently happening. When the President of Indonesia Joko Widodo publicly declared the first case on March, 2nd 2020, I was indifferent. As the day passed by and the infected people gradually increased, my anxiety started to bloom.
The government encourages several movements as efforts to reduce the number — two of the most popular are ‘stay at home’ and ‘physical distancing’. Therefore, all kinds of daily activities involving a mass of people are strongly prohibited.
Thanks to technology, some of them managed to be done virtually — such as working from home, online classes, conference calls, online food delivery, and many more.
Lack of Physical Interaction
On the flip side, I am not saying that ‘stay at home’ and ‘physical distancing’ should not be applied, but virtual communications have several sides effect, one of them is limiting our physical human interaction — our basic psychological needs.
To put things in perspective, it’s similar to a couple who do a long-distance relationship. Video calls are nowhere close in providing the same impact and feeling as meeting the partner in person.
Constant Exposure
While the addiction to our smartphone was an issue before the pandemic, the limitation on our daily activities during this kind of situation indirectly multiplies twice or even thrice as we are relying heavier upon it.
They play the parts of providing entertainment, connecting with the others, catching up with the news, or scrolling the feed endlessly.
The excessive usage of smartphone leads us to hear more about the Corona as the news media, social media, and chat apps are all accessible on one delicate screen.
Especially the news media. It will never stop spreading as it needs to generate revenues.
Opening BBC News → death Corona news
Opening Instagram → how to prevent Corona news
Opening Whatsapp → forwarded hoax Corona newsThe corona is ubiquitous
Raising Awareness
Relating to prevent Corona, we were told to raise our awareness in maintaining the hygiene by not touching the face, wearing the mask, control our droplets, and washing hands 1083759364 times per day. That was a nightmare for Indonesian as we had terrible environmental health, confirmed by World Health Organization (WHO).
Lack of human interaction, the exposure of Corona-related news (without disrespecting the deaths), and awareness in environmental health have sucked a lot of my energy. I felt tired and unmotivated in doing something productive — even though we have a lot of time now.
It takes several days for me for at last accepting the situation. I realized the pandemic and the aftermath wouldn’t go away in just in weeks ahead. It will take months or even a year to recover fully in every aspect.
I do the self-reflection and find out what are the messages I can learn from this pandemic. Here we go.
1. We are facing the same thing — with or without Corona
There is no exception. Whether we argue Messi is better Ronaldo, Lebron James is better than Michael Jordan, or Arsenal is better than Spurs (sorry, the last one is actually a fact), we all fight the same enemy.
Why I classify this as the hidden gem? We did not realize that even before the Corona, we also face the same thing:
- The uncertainty of the future (money, job security, career path)
- Insecurities (continually doubting ourselves, not feeling enough)
- Inability to ‘figure everything out’.
When the time we were suffering because of all these things came, we assumed that we were the only victim. We thought that everyone is doing exceptionally well, not realizing there is no single person on this planet who has ‘figure everything out’. It was a magical show performed by social media.
Therefore, it is straightforward for us to affirm ourselves that ‘we are in this together’ as the impact of Corona is visibly seen.
I am aware of this analogy when I was hot showering. It seems real when people said it’s where inspiration strikes (backed up by this article).
2. The Mother Earth is finally finding a way to regenerate itself
Perhaps this is the only way that the universe could have done. It has been searching for a way to restore itself for a long time, yet humans are holding it up for several selfish reasons — undeniably the number one is economic growth. I will not be hypocritical as I am also the one who contributes to the destruction.
Dolphins and swans pop up in Italy, the reduction of Nitrogen Dioxide in China, and I bet there is much more happening worldwide.
While in Indonesia, the Air Quality Index (AQI) in Jakarta, which once was second-highest among all cities in the world on October 10, 2019 (AQI=187), the local media broadcast that it was 89 on March 27, 2020.
Before the pandemic, no matter the climate-change activists attempt to raise our awareness in order to minimize the environmental damage, it had only a subtle change.
Familiar with the word ‘economic growth’?
It was voiced by a 17-years-old Swedish Girl Greta Thunberg and went viral. With respect, not even she could provide an impact massively.
Again, without disrespecting her, I surfed the internet and found this ironic meme.
3. Practicing acceptance, grateful, and empathy
Similar to the first point, these three should always be practiced, regardless of the situation.
Acceptance is the barrier gate — even though it’s hard as this is unprecedented for all of us. Each of us has various coping mechanisms. For me, I had to do nothing for several days to pile up enough pain until it becomes a wake-up call.
The next is grateful. Witnessing the death numbers increase slowly, we should be grateful just to get out of the bed healthy. Our ambitions and goals are nothing compared to our health. Hopefully, the experience surviving in the pandemic period can be served as a long-term reminder — not taking health for granted anymore.
The last one is empathy. If we are one of those people who have the privilege of having enough money to stock some food and access entertainment for ‘stay at home’, it’s the perfect place to practice empathy. There are a lot of them who survive day by day. They still have to go outside by obligation for providing daily needs.
4. Fancy shoes/clothing stay as a collection.
We have at least once wasted much of our time and energy, thinking about our shoes or clothing.
‘What should I buy next?’
‘Where do I put the shoes?’
Well, as we are limiting our outside activities, all of those things are useless. We are wearing our home/sleep clothing all day, and we are fine. They can’t protect us from the Corona, unfortunately.
5. ‘Physical Touch’ love language owners are suffering, maybe?
This point is a little bit out of context, but I will write it anyway. One of my random thoughts when first I heard about ‘social distancing’ is how does it feel for them whose love language is a physical touch? Are they feel loveable? Suffering? Or else?
As I mention about the coping mechanism above, writing this article has been one of those. I am relieved by articulating what is on my mind for the last several weeks in proper sentences.
The situation is not ideal. Converting all the outside activities into one place takes adaptation time. The experts might have some prediction about the end of the pandemic, but no one knows for sure.
While facing uncertainties, it’s wise for us to do self-reflecting.
“What can we do in this situation?”
