Why It’s Important To Reinvent Yourself During This Pandemic
You may never get another chance after this
When the entire world was put on lockdown just about a year ago, we were all unsure of what the future might bring. Fast forward a year later and although most countries are still on lockdown (or at least partially), we have a better picture of how the immediate future will be like.
Many are still working from home (yours truly included) and having to adjust to the new normal that is wearing face masks whenever we go out, keeping our distance when around others and always keep our hands clean by sanitizing it as regularly.
Even after buying groceries or just shop items, I always make sure to sanitize each and every single one of them before putting them away or before using them. It may seem like I’m being paranoid but with over 100 million cases the world over and close to 2.3 million deaths, you can never be too careful.
I don’t care if there are people who still think that the COVID-19 virus is a conspiracy theory, that’s their problem.
The reality of things is that it has changed the entire world and turned it upside down in just under 12 months.
Life as we all know it is never going to be the same again, even with a vaccine — at least not for the nearest future. And that’s why, I feel like, after a year of living life with this virus around us, we need to start to reinvent ourselves and adjust/adapt to how things are right now.
Work-life balance at home
Working from home is probably going to be more common from here on. While the move to push employees to work from home was due to the pandemic and many offices had to be closed down for the sanitization process, etc., it also showed that working from home is possible for a lot of companies.
It also saves companies a lot of money as they won’t need to use electricity for air-conditioning or heating. Employees also save money in terms of transportation (and save time too) and having to eat out during lunch.
But where there are pros, there are bound to be cons as well. Working from home has really disrupted the work-life balance for a lot of people.
Where you could just shut off yourself from the office the moment you close your laptop and leave the office, it’s harder now with many reporting being disturbed with work stuff way after office hours.
I, too, have been receiving work emails and requests well into the night. I understand that it’s probably harder to draw the line because we’re at home already but a line still needs to be drawn.
Have a discussion with your bosses. I’ve strictly told my boss that my working hours from home are 9 am to 6 pm, with my lunch break coming in at 12.30 pm to 1.30 pm. During that time, I am working and you can bug me with as many work requests as you want but after 6 pm, I’m silencing my phone and I’m switching off my laptop. Unless it’s really urgent, I will not entertain any work-related emails or calls.
It’s good to have that open dialogue with your superiors so that you create boundaries from the very beginning.
And once you turn off that laptop, you switch off from work. Focus on other things. Read a book, play with your children, spend time with your spouse, anything but work.
Working from home is not easy, especially in terms of finding that work-life balance so do your best in making sure you’re not working all the time.
Prioritize your health
Without a doubt, the lockdown has affected my health in a bad way and it has affected the health of many others in a bad way too. Due to the fact that we are forced to stay at home, we are now spending more time either just sitting down on our computer chair working or lazing around on our sofas watching TV. As gyms are also closed, it’s harder to put in a workout.
Or is it?
While the first few months were really bad in terms of fitness, I decided that I couldn’t continue living in a way where my health was getting worse. So, I decided to do something about it.
I started going for walks around my neighborhood. That soon changed to slow jogs and finally to runs. I started to eat better and paid more attention to the things that I was doing which were bad for my health like sleeping late and not drinking enough water.
It’s easy to neglect your health when you feel stuck in a moment and being stuck at home definitely makes you feel that way.
But you have got to prioritize your health as much as you can. Your future self will thank you.
Start doing what you’ve always wanted to do
To me, this was the biggest pro to all the cons of the blood pandemic and lockdown — having a bit more time to do what I want to do.
If you’ve always had a side hustle that you wanted to do but never got about it, this is the perfect time to do so. The lockdown that the pandemic has brought has in a way given us a bit more time to reflect on things and more importantly, give us a bit more time to start doing things that we would have otherwise put off from doing.
If you can balance out your work-life balance, you will find that you have a lot more time on your hands now and that gives you the perfect opportunity to start working on your side hustle or projects that you’ve wanted to do.
I honestly feel the pandemic has reminded me that life is short, it’s unpredictable and there really isn’t such a thing as the perfect timing to do anything. So, if there is something that you’ve been wanting to do, just do it. Don’t wait until it’s too late and you lose your chance to do so.
For all we know, the world may never go back to how it used to be, or even if it does, it may be years or even decades before that happens. What used to be normal may, for the time being, be a distant memory. What used to be weird (like constantly wearing face masks or face shields in public) may now be the new normal.
We have to reinvent ourselves so that we can adapt to the changes that the pandemic has brought upon us, we may not have the chance to do so again.
