It’s already 2022 and our world has probably witnessed the most astonishing and long-term  transition since the beginning of the last century in the past couple of years. Let’s take a moment  to recall what we have been through if you are from the future when hopefully mankind is over  with the pandemic. But if you are one of us then it’s high time to reflect our inner thoughts to  the depth that the massacre is trying to evoke. Let’s focus on the greater goods now that the  damage has been done!

The pandemic of COVID-19 has introduced us to a hauntingly beautiful duality of life. It  summoned so many layers of human existence that we had forgotten along the road. Losing  the track of time, we are after the time itself! But COVID-19 not only has stomped lives but  also made us rethink our entire system, well-thought executions, and even the minimality of  the limitations of our existence in this universe. It took seconds to shatter the pride and  contentment of progressive humankind when we started losing against an invisible microbe. It  changed and rewrote the regularity that has fancily adorned the name – “The New Normal”.  Thousands of lives have been questioned, health care, education, economy, and social aspects  have encountered challenges. Some doors have already been closed for many people who were  solely dependent on physical interactions and manual labor.

On the other hand, for those, we have the luxury to rethink and reflect while staying safe it is  a sign to take a break and fathom the true essence of life. Some shifts in our daily lives are so  intense that has ensured the rise of many opportunities and new doors to knock on. For example  – the booming use of online technologies and distant execution of works. The multinational  giant Amazon hit 200% profit growth in this pandemic! ‘Work from home’ got a whole new meaning and we rediscovered ways to stay connected and keep the cruise sailing. Distant  learning measures ensured how enthusiastically people have dived into the practical skills too  along with their regular academic activities. Platforms like Coursera claimed that more than  1.6 billion e-learners benefited from this pandemic through their platform. The gaming industry  has seen a huge leap in its profit in this pandemic. In the US alone about 4 out of 5 people had  played some sort of video game in this pandemic.

Apart from the materialistic goodness we also started considering the bare minimal ways and  qualitative aspects of living life. The Healthcare system and frontline service providers have  pushed their limits. The community welfare measures have drastically improved during this  period! The environment is less polluted than ever before. Maybe in the past half a century,  this is the least damage we have caused as a species towards the environment. The waterways  are cleaner, the flora and fauna are restored to an impressive extent. In the path of losing lives,  we realized the necessity of having our dear ones’ back. Families got reunited more than ever  before. We got a healthier and safer internet to connect with the world and have access to better  content while staying aloof! New measures have ensured that nothing can stop the vision of  mankind even when our hands are tied and there is nowhere to go. Whereas losing loved ones  and restructuring life messed up the mental health of many, some sources shared interesting  facts! A survey data from Fitbit users in the US has claimed that they are having 17 minutes  more sleep than before the pandemic hit. Some have been taking the long-desired break that  was keeping them away from spending quality time with friends and family. This helped to  decrease the mental fatigue due to the isolation we usually have because of our professional  lives. Not only that we innovated new ways to discover different cultures through virtual  exhibitions and tours. Another bright side is the carbon emission got cut up to 8 percent lesser  than usual as this is the rarest ever recorded in the past 70 years of data.

We, as the ordinary mass, had breakdowns, scary nights, and different sorts of crises along the  way. But maybe this was a necessary evil that was much needed to make us reflect on our lives  in the mirror of our inner soul and take a break to cherish what we love and rethink what’s more  important in this ”quarantine”.

Well, for me? It was one of the worst times for sure but I won’t label it entirely the worse when  I look at the bigger picture. As Charles Dickens said — ‘It was the best of times, it was the  worst of times”.