Keeping It Sane!

There is not a single person who is not affected by the pandemic. You might argue Jeff Bezos might be the one with Amazon stocks growing about 20% in the last one month. But I am not talking about a few gainers. I am talking about the majority of us who have been stuck at home, feeling paralyzed about the situation. Some of us want to go and help solve the issues the world is facing. Some of us want their routine back. But all of us have been building up a reserve of energy consisting of frustration, sadness, and helplessness.

I am not a psychology expert but have been going through the same problems as the rest of the world. After the first two weeks of lockdown, I decided to find an activity to release my energy. I have never been a fan of exercise, so I did not have to worry about the lack of physical activity. But the mental energy I was building up was driving me insane. I needed a release for these thoughts, and I decided to write.

So the biggest question I faced, what do I write?

The first article I wrote was supposed to be a rant about things I HAVE to do because of this crisis. But somehow, I was able to give it a perspective (don’t ask me what was the type of perspective, because I do not know). I made it about the conversation between my mind and brain. For the first words ever written by me, I got very positive and decent feedback. All I had done was honestly put down my thoughts in the form of words.

I am an over-analytical person. I tend to analyze situations that do not even concern me. It was apparent I was going to explain my thoughts and their transition to words. The few positive words were enough to hook me to write more. I thought maybe this was something I could do on a more regular basis. I kept reading more and more about different topics and watched a bunch of documentaries to get the facts. After writing and analyzing about six articles, I found out that readers like my honesty and “to-the-point” writing. Immediately I started analyzing why I write what I write.

I give credit to my parents for teaching me honesty. I have gotten out of tight situations several times by just being honest about the situation. My mother has been a house-maker for most of her life. Recently she has started a homemade food products business. She is one of the most innocent human beings I have known in my life (and I say that from an analytical perspective). The word politics are entirely foreign to her. For her, the world is black or white. There is no gray area. My father has taught me to be courageous and specific. In his life, there is no room for nonsense. He has lived his life by wasting very little time. Even at the age of 60, he lives life for twenty-four hours a day on his terms. He has preached little brother — no matter and me the success or failure, you should have the courage to do what is required.

The whole point of writing about these qualities and preachings is, I never thought, I possessed these qualities till the world stopped. These qualities were incubating inside me for the last 30 years. With all the time in the world, I was able to tap into these and find myself an activity that has kept me sane for the last few weeks.

We live in a broken world right now. The amount of negativity out in the world exceeds the positive. Let’s not think about what we cannot do. Let’s tap into our qualities and embrace them. Maybe we will find a way to sanity and find the strength to face the shocks this world has planned for us.

Stay Safe! Stay Healthy!