Blame it on Covid

Feeling moody? Cannot pinpoint what is the cause? Blame it on Covid-19. Want to fly across nations like you did in 2018 and your suitcases have no more meaning – you know whom to blame.

It has become a reality – there is a defined time period now pre-Covid and post-Covid. Health insurance did not matter as much as it is now. Hospital bills are stress on their own.

My friend who used to love Karak Tea has just recovered from Covid-19 and has suddenly realised he does not fancy Karak Tea anymore. His mother noted that he is quieter than he was before the covid. He thinks maybe it is a lack of common topics that are causing the silence. Or could it be yet another impact of covid?

Does Covid change our thinking? Of course one would be mentally and physically exhausted after an ordeal such as that.

Yet another recovered person said he never believed much in herbs and spices but he found their amazing healing qualities while he depended on them during his rendezvous with the virus. A friend who is still under treatment and is completely out of touch with news said he will travel to his home in India for further treatment when he is out of hospital this weekend. We are all living in different realities and isolation can create a whole new environment. Let us blame it on Covid, but at times maybe it is better to stay tuned out of the chaos the earth is going through.

With so many activities shut out and since the norm has become abnormal, it is about time we thought out of the box and became creative in bringing down the number of Covid-19 cases. Each one of us has a responsibility and for some reason we have stopped talking about flattening the curve and breaking the chain. So it seems most of us are tired and have begun to lose focus. We need the motivation to revive the fight against the pandemic. We cannot pass on the blame to others. As children we knew it was the easiest solution but now it is not a mere blaming game as what is at stake is the world’s health.

It is tempting to go out to shop but we have to tell ourselves – do it only if you have to.

Yet another friend felt exhausted throughout the day, and even after her doctor friend kept insisting on her taking a PCR test, she brushed it aside saying her exhaustion is due to shifting house. Eventually, when she did go for the test she turned out to be Covid-19 positive. She had no other symptoms. While she isolated herself to recovery, what we must learn from her story is that at times Covid arrives with no other announcements other than just a body ache and in many cases with no symptoms.

We must also overcome the tendency to remove the mask to speak. As one poster at a doctor’s office depicted – the neck is an exposed part of the body and when a person draws it down to speak and pulls it up to cover the face again the person has actually touched the neck with the inner part of the mask and taken it up to the nose and mouth.

Maybe we are tired of hearing advice and bored with the restrictions but the fact is it is all for our safety because when we are safe others are safe and when others are safe we are safe. It proves once again how we are all interconnected.

The social beings we are had been enjoying the isolation that social media provides and failing even to connect with the person who is sitting next to us, but now when there is a need to isolate ourselves we are at loss. Maybe nature has been teaching a lesson or two in 2020 and 2021. Maybe this experience will take us back to the basic values and appreciate the beauty in simplicity.

Let us move from blaming and instead move toward practicing gratitude for what eventually works is the combination of practicing patience and gratitude. As we approach the Eid celebrations with new restrictions in place, let us be able to appreciate with gratitude and understand that we need to stand together to break the chain and flatten the curve.

So in case you want to blame Covid for the restricted celebration and enjoying the Eid Holidays, change the mode of thinking and be happy that you are going to be proactive in bringing down the numbers. It is being socially responsible.