Mental health during COVID19
According to Plato, there exist ideals from a higher reality for every human being to arrive at the truth. In Idealism, The truth is absolute.
Move beyond that and modern day existentialism claims that humans ascribe some sort of purpose to their lives while agreeing that their existence is too minuscule to have meaning in this infinite cosmos.
There are times when we tie purpose to our lives and move towards achieving a sense of fulfilment, flow or ‘ikigai’ as the Japanese say – a reason for being. And there are trying times where we keep hitting roadblocks all along the way, only to spiral down.
Enter the pandemic era, 2020, where people across the globe are being tested about what their “real” purpose is.
How well is your mind? To allow you to be in complete freedom, while in reality having no taste of it. People living through this crisis have either experienced complete shock with life upturned, or have succumbed to the virus.
So we have isolated ourselves. The unfortunate millions in India, stranded across on their way home have somehow walked their way to villages. In a few days time, life had gone from scrambling to work on the metro, to washing your hands every time you touch your own doors.
While governments across the world break their heads to control the crisis, the commoners, the workers, the migrants, the bank employee, the gym instructor and even you, reading this – want purpose. Purpose is essential. But in a time where, everywhere you turn, all you hear is death and sickness, mental health should be spoken about in depth, on par with the viral fever itself.
In this time of a pandemic, with the recent trends of positive thinking, it is obvious we would resort to being upbeat about the situation. But to acknowledge this crisis as a part of reality, accept it and deal with it consciously, is what real positivity is. If you choose to ignore the present state and keep focusing on things that could’ve been, without giving much importance to your thoughts that linger on in your mind, you are in turn creating a shadow of yourself, hiding in the darkness of your mind. A YouTube channel, Einzelgänger, in which there is a video about the shadow of toxic positivity, explains in detail on the shadow self. While it is essential to remain hopeful of things to come, one should focus on the pause button over the whole globe and the events shaping history as days go by.
David Eagleman, in his book, Incognito, speaks of the human mind as the ‘umwelt’ – a German word for “..the world as experienced by a particular living being..”, in contrast to ‘umgebung’ – the actual surroundings of the organism.
We all have our own internal worlds, with plans, aims and goals. We often fail to realise that we are only a part of a vast umgebung, our Earth, where change is the only constant. This sudden pause on human activity on earth has not stopped our minds from racing. We still want to achieve that goal, go to that meeting or return to our routine as soon as possible. But what about the hundred thousand who have already died? The millions infected? Talking about mental health, Indian homes face discrimination just because they recently travelled abroad. As reported by BBC, the families of quarantined residents are being treated like outcasts. The repercussions of these events, will only be felt deeply by those affected.
Isn’t it time to reflect inward for a change? To understand to go back to our roots, to realise much greater truths? While the whole world burns, it is important to have our inner sanctum unaffected. Look at how you view the world and how “you” treat yourself. If you find yourself hating on someone, or cursing this situation – realise that it is only Yourself. Literally, you haven’t been influenced by anyone else, at least in the past one month. You shape up your reality, as each day goes by. You are more than the money you make, the things you do or the words you speak. You are the Universe, in turn looking back at itself. Learn to appreciate philosophical truths in a time where even Mother Earth is looking inward through a microscopic living being. Come out with the truth about living in a world where a virus has taken over everyday routine life. Talk to your kin about the dream that you temporarily postponed. And most importantly, Love, because that’s the only thing that wouldn’t hurt anybody.
There are more than 400,000 people who have recovered from the illness as of date. There is always light, at the end of the tunnel.
