22-Mar-2020.
Unprecedented times. The entire country is shut down. Almost every
country is fighting against an invisible enemy. My heart sinks whenever I read
about the death count across the world. Stopped seeing twitter, it's too depressing. If you had asked anyone, no one would have predicted such a
scenario a few months back. Since the only thing to do is to self-quarantine
and help control the spread, I was just sitting at my home, eating the delicious Pongal my cook prepared for breakfast and wondering how
it's all going to end; What implications it will have on the economy, my organization, my
professional and personal life and so on. I was talking to my friends and some of
them are already losing their minds (we have been working from home for the last 4 days now). I hear words like “I can't
take it anymore”.
Then suddenly I was reminded of a famous stoic saying. It goes like
this:
“Focus on What You Control: This is the most prominent principle in Stoicism. The Stoics realized that
there are things we control, and things we don't control. To get to the good
life, we should focus on the things we control, and accept the
rest as it happens”
Then I realized, it's always the choice we make at such
times, which makes all the difference. We have no control over how the pandemic is going to end, but we can self-quarantine and use all our free time effectively.
If you are healthy now it’s a gift. You can waste that gift
by continuing to wonder what’s going to happen, binge-watch Netflix or choose
to use that gift by figuring out how you are going to use this productively. So
when everything comes to normalcy, you would be a better version of yourself.
The book which you always wanted to read, but never got time
to read - now is the time to read it.
You wanted to learn yoga, but never got time to join a
class. Now is the time to learn it online.
You wanted to learn cooking but never got the time or had the patience
to learn. Now is the time to pick up those culinary skills
How are we using our Gifts? Are we using them to improve our
life or destroy it? Are we taking pride in our gifts or pride in our choices?
Will inertia be your guide, or will you follow your
passions?
When it’s tough, will you give up, or will you be
relentless?
Be bold and courageous in your choices and choose well.
Because when you look back at your life, you will regret the things you didn’t
do more than the ones you did.
P.S - I have decided to use my time productively and created my first blog post. :)
