Archives for April 2020

Become a better person

If you are not in the frontline fighting COVID 19, consider yourself lucky to be given this deep pocket of time even if it is enforced on you. 

Nobody likes to be confined. Freedom is the ultimate goal, even more than love and even life, it is said. But for the sake of overcoming this highly contagious virus, we have to bite the bullet and ensure that the world is safe again.

We have been too caught up in activity every day,  living our lives and chasing our goals continuously that we never really took a step back to reflect.

I think this has been a worldwide phenomenon until the COVID-19 crisis causes us to pull the brakes on what we are pursuing and literally on everything else.

However, humans will eventually triumph. History has shown time and again, in many disasters unimaginable, we can overcome and progress on

Meanwhile, it benefits us to utilize this time fruitfully, whether it is to advance our career, make up for lost time with loved ones, search our religion for answers and assurance, or to look for something interesting to focus on. Now is the time.

When the economy gets rebooted, we will get caught up again in the never-ending pursuit of goals and information as the world would certainly not stop, not when human beings are so innovative and progressive.

The lockdown makes me realise the following:

1 I need to develop more skills. Though I love my career, one needs versatility and even survival skills so to speak in case a calamity of this nature happens again.  

We cannot depend on one trade or one skill. Putting all your eggs in one basket,  traditionally put.

If I cannot do A, I can do B. For this reason, I am glad that I took up a course in website building which I felt was very important. 

Many businesses have gone out of the brick and mortar model to online presence. During this period, I found time to spruce up my website which was not satisfactorily done from the lack of time.

2 I finally went into business with my e-commerce site which I have learned the year before but did not find time to make it work.  Now, it is operational and I needed to look for suitable products.

I discovered that there are many generous people online who were willing to share their knowledge on almost any skill.  Through YOUTUBE, I was able to make my e-commerce site fully functional. 

Information is unlimited in cyberspace that it may even be better than attending a workshop but we need passion and persistence.  

There was time to think about relevant products. It dawned on me that my domestic helper is an amazing cook, so I documented her cooking in detail including the use of photography.

During this time, I was able to learn about the creation of ebooks so I set up her cooking ebook which made her very happy.  I believe that it would lead to a passive income. 

This would be a good idea to share with other people who would like to work from home, free from the constraints of the corporate world.

There is more time to ponder and read, to work on articles for Medium. There are many great books waiting to be read.  My interest in reading has been rekindled in the course of finding activities to pass the days.

There is so much to learn to keep up with the changes- zoom and webinar are currently hot subjects and have proved indispensable to running meetings, education, and business.

Most important, don’t gripe. I see this happen every day around me and on social media. It is better to volunteer your help in any way- raise funds, give your services or offer words if encouraging to others. 

Complaining is a waste of time- against the government, the people, the system, etc. Things do not change anyway when we make noises.  

Humans are rational enough to come up with options and rescue plans though the waiting process has been painful all over the world.

It is also futile to fret as it serves no purpose. 

The least we could do is change ourselves for the better. Take this time to excavate your potential and develop to the fullest. Or look for a highly effective person and emulate his ways.

Crisis either causes regress or progress depending on the will of the people.”
― Abhijit Naskar

Time is precious. Don’t gripe.

I looked around me and discovered how absorbed people have become with the COVID-19 crisis. There was a torrent of information. Numbers, fatalities, economic costs swarmed us every day.

Naturally, we want to stay informed so that we can do our part to alleviate this crisis and resolve it. But fear turned to panic for some as well as paranoia resulting in mistrusts among human interaction.

Before one realizes it, we are well into April and Spring has sprung. Stricter measures have been implemented and the virus is still wrecking lives. However, we also note the improvements brought about by recent measures such as social distancing. Ongoing findings of the possible effectiveness of Remdesivir showed some promise. Companies ramped up equipment manufacturing and delivery is in progress.

People just need to trust that the authorities are doing their utmost and we do our part by wearing masks, washing hands correctly, social distancing and staying at home as recommended. Eventually, the infection will pass.

Meanwhile, each of us needs to live our life fruitfully during this major disruption. Let us not wallow in self-pity or frustration.

Time has come to a standstill. We have much time on our hands so make good use of it. Being confined at home for the sake of not spreading the COVID-19 virus can be an advantage. It is hard but you can capitalize on it.

1 Reading is probably the most neglected activity since my graduation. Other than keeping up with technological and digital changes, there is a lot of information that is relevant to today’s world.

It is meaningful to embark on other interests and disciplines. Philosophy, history, biographies, travel, cuisine, culture, art, music, etc. It never occurred to me to explore, being swept by the daily routine. Now, new interests are sparked and knowledge really enriches one’s life.

Make it a point to read a few articles a day. Choose from authors who have a huge following and those who are specialists in their fields. By reading the postings of top writers in medium, I have acquired the valuable tips that I try to apply to my writing.

2 Sprucing up.

I am sure there is a lot of catching up to do. Things are changing so fast. Last year when I learned to create my own website and e-commerce site, I found out that there was a ruling regarding GDPR compliance which requires all website owners to protect EU users about their data privacy. Since this was not taught in the class, I finally used this time to do some reading and make my websites GDPR compliant.

At the office, we went through all the files and threw out the antiquated documents and were very pleased with the spaces freed up. It happens at home too. One can get so busy with work and travel that all these unnecessary ‘hoarding’ was unconscious. Make your home and office more pristine. This will counter the negative effects of being cooped up at home!

3 Do it now. If one does not pick up a new skill, learn an interesting hobby, get fit or fitter, imbibe more knowledge, it is not due to the lack of time. It is due to the lack of discipline! Challenge yourself and become a better, improved person. Wow yourself and be an inspiration to others. This enforced free time may not happen again.

With today’s technology and the presence of youtube, one can learn almost anything and start a second career. Everything you want to know such as yoga, cooking a certain cuisine, creating a website, designing ebooks and so on are all accessible.

This was an opportunity to watch my helper in action as she cooks. She is a very good cook and I have documented her dishes. This is better than signing up for a cooking class. I have created an e-book on her cuisine and this could be a side hustle.

Experiment with new technology such as zoom to communicate with family and friends as it is not just for the corporate world. Empower yourself with online courses and find your niche.

4 Get Creative. Because of the COVID-19 crisis, I noticed the adage of “ Invention is the mother of necessity” is true. Some people posted a quick way to make a face shield under one minute, some shared more life hacks that are so practical. Yes, it is time to stimulate the right side of the brain which has to do with creativity.

Staying at home, we managed to get productive in other ways. Like doing some gardening. Now we have our own organic sprouts, lime, dill, basil leaves, and other herbs.

5 Be a volunteer.

Manpower is always needed. If one wants to be out there during a lockdown, there are roles that they can sign up and contribute their valuable services. Here, we need supervisory roles to help advise people who are not doing social distancing to do so. There are charitable organizations that need people who are tech-savvy to crowdfund on social media.

In summary, during this lockdown which we address as a circuit breaker, a creative way of putting it, it would bode well to challenge yourself, get fitter, learn a new skill, gain fresh knowledge, become useful and productive in many ways and emerge a better person for it.

If you fail to do so, you never lacked time but you lacked discipline and ideas.

A good respite for the mind in a hectic city

COVID-19 has resulted in an all too familiar scenario- closed shops, empty benches, smooth low traffic, reticent people. A general malaise has descended on the masses.

Under daily normal circumstances, I would be working then home to family and pets and travel for a couple of days in a month. I would spend a lot of time with my elderly siblings.

But now that work is almost at a standstill, I took the opportunity to explore. I checked out the shops at the city train stop which I have not been to eons.

The facades have changed. New eateries, nice showcases, new products entice one to buy. Some people still milled around but followed the guidelines of social distancing and other preventive measures of spreading the virus.

For the most part, people are heading homes as nightspots, bars, cinemas, etc are off-limits.

Still, it is nice to seek out a cafe with soothing music and a cappuccino at a designated seat. I wanted to contribute to the business no matter how small. My frothy cappuccino beckons with its aroma and the texture left a lingering smoothness in my mouth.

I have never really savored coffee this way. Most times, even the most expensive coffee is frittered away while talking over coffee. Most times I forgot what the cake actually tasted like when too engaged in conversation.

This morning, I noticed the cherry blossom like a tree blooming in my neighbor’s garden. I also became aware of the beautiful morning glory vines with the electric blue flowers glistening in the sun. COVID-19 has slowed me down and I think I need to. Where am I heading, rushing here and there every day?

With the mandatory social distancing, I have taken to walking around the estate looking at the neighbors’ houses. Many are ‘growing’ their houses skywards up to the maximum limit of four levels in our land-scarce country.

COVID-19 has changed lives as well as destroyed lives. But we all must remain hopeful, positive and prevail. Do what we can, give away some of your excess groceries to those who need them, help a neighbor purchase something online if they are unable to and give words of encouragement to those who are feeling down.

It is not the time to shower blame. It is time to alleviate the situation and help each other. It is time to listen to the authorities and experts to contain the situation.

It is time to reflect on what we have been doing. A second job may pull us through. Look at your strengths. A friend who lost his day job turned tuition teacher. Another friend who was forced to take no pay leave looked to retail to tough it out. There will be jobs available.

Having experienced retrenchment in the mid-80s, I can empathize with those who were given the pink slips in recent months. But stay strong and work at it. Back in the eighties when the internet was not popular, we had to go job hunting, even knocking on doors. Now with job websites, it is not impossible to find something to do meanwhile.

Hopefully, the authorities may amend the rules for the time being to allow moonlighting as long as there is no conflict of interest.

Trust that the authorities are doing all that they can. People are resourceful and this will pass. The havoc wrought is felt deeply.

Human beings wake up to the realization and reminder that life is indeed unpredictable. By learning from this disaster, future ones would be more effectively managed. Hopefully, we would learn the causation of this virus and emerge much wiser.

In any case, we must not lose our fighting spirit. When you lose your courage, the battle is lost as ideas dry up and loss of persistence give way to nonchalance and apathy. We are not made that way. From time immemorial, crises came and went. Each time, the human species became more united and unified and emerged victorious in the end.

I would be very busy making full use of this time.

It is unthinkable for me to become a homebody. I am busy as a bee so the prospect of staying at home if the authorities announce a stay at home order or lockdown is a dread to me.

I have never been able to stay at home the whole day. I need a breather even if it is just to go to the supermarket and look for an item to buy. That would be a relief to get out of my house.

In this unusual situation of COVID-19 infection, more and more countries are using lockdown, partial or total to resolve the spread. It began with China that had a complete restriction in Wuhan city and other Chinese cities. It seemed to have worked and soon other countries followed suit.

During this imposition, we have observed how people responded to this “incarceration”. The now-famous balcony singing by Italians was a beautiful gesture of solidarity and strength in these crucial times.

Many countries followed with their versions of Balcony singing in Germany, Wales, Israel, Malaysia, etc but the Italians are the clear winners.

Being cooped up 24 hours for two weeks at home can be very challenging.

However, one has to deal with it. I looked up some stories of famous prisoners and see what they did when they were confined. Of course, it is preposterous to compare home confinement to people who are put away for long periods and under very harsh conditions. However, there is something to learn from the latter.

After all, in lockdown, there is plenty of time for contemplation and with the internet, I would choose to read up about the strong minds of those survivors in adversities.

We could draw inspiration from prominent figures in history. Nelson Mandela was one of the longest political prisoners in South Africa. He spent 27 years, imprisoned in three locations, the longest being Robben island.

I visited Robben Island in 2018 and saw his small cell without bed or plumbing and learned about his remarkable fight for the rights of those who were racially segregated by the apartheid government.

Despite poor conditions and hard labor, he continued to be the symbolic leader of the anti-apartheid movement while under arrest. He taught his inmates and continued to show his leadership.

How did he survive this long and maintained his sanity? He kept to his principles and continued to engage his mind. He influenced others into a positive mindset. He turned Robben prison into a place where intellectual debate could take place and there were intense discussions about politics, culture, and sport. In fact, Robben island came to be known as the University of Robben. There, many future leaders were groomed.

Nelson Mandela’s life was about persistence, integrity, diligence, composure, tolerance, forgiveness, intellect, leadership, wits and humor. He was an interesting man to interact with, bringing humor to others in an inimitable manner.

Despite such long incarceration, some of his eminent quotes were valuable for posterity. I have selected just five to internalize.

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can change the world.

If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.

Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.

I never lose. I either win or learn.

What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.

When Mandela was released in 1990, he walked out tall and dignified, unexpected of a man who had been imprisoned for 27 years.

He and de Klerk combined efforts to end apartheid and later Mandela became the 1st black President of South Africa until 1999. As an elderly statesman, he continued to serve his country through his charitable foundation until his death in 2013.

In the process of reading and writing about Mandela, I have already felt a great sense of motivation and encouragement to overcome any adversities that would come my way.

I hope to share the cultivation of our courageous human spirit with my friends who have been worried about what to do during quarantine or lockdown.

What are our peeves about life when some people have it a thousand times tougher? I would not allow myself to gripe about anything. Time can always be gainfully used.

If there is a protracted lockdown, I would use this time to read more about great men, their histories and their thinking to improve my mind. There are so many heroes and heroines in history that we can read about. Even if I can apply just one aspect, I would be a winner.

Indeed, most of us are so swept away by a daily routine that we sometimes need to reorganize our lives. Reading and writing would be an excellent activity to imbibe some wisdom and improve our lives during this period of confinement.