Monday, 13 April 2020

Staying Positive: A Catalyst of balance amidst this Pandemic

Staying Positive: A Catalyst of balance amidst this Pandemic #Covid19
Utsa Mukherjee
Currently, at the turn of the tide, we are facing probably one of the worst pandemics that has affected the humankind in this century. Yet staying positive is a core ingredient in the recipe of successful coping in a crisis. Now, more than ever, is the time for us to be proactive about creating small moments of happiness in our days, given the findings in psychology research that positive emotions help us to undo the negative effects of stress. Being locked in the tiny apartments of ours with a haunting mundane gestapo from which there is no running back, has tinkered us to the ideas of depression and all sorts of reclusive thoughts.
A recent study from medical journal “The Lancet” notes that the psychological impact of quarantine can be great, resulting in a range of mental health concerns from anxiety and anger to sleep disturbances, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Indeed, separate studies of quarantined patients of SARS, a previous coronavirus outbreak in 2003, found between 10% and 29% suffered PTSD. 
From an article in the guardian, a conjecture can be drawn by looking at the parallels of human behaviour as of what to do in these stressful days. Starting off, savour the small moments that come along the way of this long-drawn battle. Even during the lockdown, you still have many small moments to savour. The smell of coffee, the feel of the warm shower on your back and moments even though however minuscule these can be.
Strengthening familial ties can also act as a radiance of glow for those of us in family lockdown, now is the opportunity to spend quality time with our loved ones. Also, these types of crises can bring out both the worst and the best in human nature. In this regard a parallel can be drawn that every human being has a flip side to his personality, where we must cherish what is good about that particular person rather be perplexed about his/her evil manifestations.
Recently a poem named “lockdown” by Brother Richards who is an Irish clergy, has jolted our insides and made us ponder over a lot of small happenings around the world. These developments even petty as they look have revolutionised the societal fabric and purged us from many of the illicit fallacies of our times. For e.g.: America is no longer thought of as the land of benevolence it was once made into, china can never be the guardian of the world while the European countries while comparing with the other countries toil into the proverb of “ the grass is always greener on the other side of the field”. This pandemic has also shattered the façade that the religion had made itself into an omnipotent being and made us realise that the greatest religion of all is that of: humanity, which is being provided by the health workers, policemen and all other ‘frontline’ workers. Perhaps for the first time the importance of good health and mental stability has over-weighed the scale for gold and oil dumps. And this is the only time calls from nature and the mere symbolism of nature serenity has given a buoyancy in life. Lastly, the importance of education has been realised by countries all over the world specially countries like India.
To summarise we can look at the study that was taken into consideration the studies of Dc. Lee Waters who is a psychology professor in the University of Melbourne. According to him, staying positive in these turbulent times makes us more resilient and gives us more power to bounce back with fury. Positivity, drawn from so many examples can confront us to the realities in which we are living and also make us more mentally and physically immune. Finally, according to doctor Lee, staying positive will always help us to come out of the vicious cycle of influences that we are subjected to our everyday life and make us think our lives in a clear path. On a concluding note one phrase of Shakespeare becomes very important in this regard: “all the world is a stage and we are merely actors in it”. The silver lining of this fact is  that we cannot prevent the impending crisis that this pandemic has destined us for, however what we can do is stay back and abide by the laws and be positive for the time being.


Utsa Mukherjee  [MBA HR]
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