Thinking beyond Covid-19.

Contributed by

Ms Aaliya Masoodi

An epidemic is not just a medical happening; it involves individuals and nations and causes turmoil, uncertainty, pressure, stigma etc. Social distancing, isolation and closure of academic institutes, departments, and entertainment platforms consigned people to stay in their homes to help stop the line of transmission. However, these measures certainly have influenced the social and mental health of individuals from across the board. 

Individuals staying at home can have many doubts about the pandemic and they look toward their loved ones to get an explanation. Not all individuals react to pressure exactly. Youngsters, people with disability and the elderly could encounter more difficulty, discomfort, social isolation, and a harsh climate that can either have short or extended-term outcomes on their mental temperament.  

Common indications of individuals that experience anxiety and distress which needs to be taken concern of:   

•Excessive hopelessness and annoying attitude.  

• being super impulsive and reactive towards the small stimulus. 

•Increased sorrow, pessimism, or getting anxious. 

•Complications with attention.  

•Changes in moods or averting activities that they appreciated previously. 

• Sudden headaches and body pain throughout their bodies. 

• Pinpoint fault lines only.  

•Changes in eating patterns.  

•Yelling behaviour. 

•Shifts in their sleeping. 

•Emotional outbursts.   

How to resist these emotions and looking at the bright side? 

•Spending time with family members including children and elderly people. 

• showing a zest in various healthy exercises and sports activities. 

• following a schedule/routine.

• Taking a break from conventional and social media. 

•Introspecting oneself. 

•using your intrinsic abilities to overpower the extrinsic factors that may be destructive. 

We must believe all colours of life are beautiful. When a dark cloud bursts it can at times give rise to a beautiful rainbow, A Symbol Of Hope. While the outburst of dark clouds creates fear at one place, it saturates a vast area of dry land and brings relief to the pained people because of the long dry spell.   

Undoubtedly, Covid has brought us a lot of pain and sorrow around. Every country has undergone. All have been hit hard and struggled to rise to the challenge of this pandemic, but it has taught us many lessons which no book or any school could have taught us.  

The point I am trying to make is that we as individuals, countries and groups had grown like dinosaurs, never thinking that one of the reasons behind the extinction of these species was they grew too large. Yes, they could not perhaps get the big meal and vanished.  

Readers, whosoever survives, let the post corona pandemic world be humbled now. A world respecting the dignity and honour of the weaker sections and countries of the world. As termed by Khalil Gibran, Let us look at and focus on our “shadows at noon”, And Say to God “Oh Lord of the universe I am a microcosm in your Macrocosm. Help me to coexist alongside other men, and kill that devouring instinct in me, which till now, I had thought is the only way for survival.”