Calibrating Normalcy in The New Normal

This month marks the first anniversary of the impacts of COVID-19 on our livelihoods. Looking back at March 2020 is like looking at a time capsule. This past year has transformed nearly every aspect of our world, seemingly overnight. It has fundamentally changed a lot of things be it working, schooling, traveling, shopping, or getting around. Breathing through a global pandemic has driven histrionic vicissitudes in our jobs, schools, social circle, and even our collective sense of time. In short, COVID-19 has affected “The Life” as a whole.

Here, I am putting in my feeble attempt to address a few ways by which we could try making these challenging times a bit less challenging for us.

Recognize & Model Feelings: Positive feelings always come from belonging to a family that accepts you with your shortcomings and caters to your needs. Our feelings/emotions play a pivotal role in how we behave and think in a day-to-day manner. They compel us towards taking certain actions and influence the decisions we make about our lives, both big and small. Our feelings help us survive and thrive. Recognize each other’s feelings and model how to manage them practically, efficiently, effectively, and most importantly, patiently.

Praise Successes & Efforts: Admiration and approval from a loved one are the purest vibrations existing in the world today. Acknowledge the efforts of your family in whatever way they are projecting help and instead of finding flaws, praise and admire them. Celebrate each other’s milestones and achievements.

Offer Supplementary Appreciation: What sunshine is to flowers; appreciation is to humans. In times where everyone’s mental sanity is challenged, appreciation is that pleasant melody the mind wants. Appreciate your toddler for that last piece of cookie offered. Appreciate your spouse for that simply cooked meal with a bowl of lush green salad, or that simple cup of tea with that favorite madeleine of yours. Supplement your appreciation without going into the triviality of the action.

Explaining Clear Expectations: In practical life, some areas are addressed in black and white, and articulation of one’s expectations is one of those areas. There is no harm in explaining what you expect from a certain person at a certain period. Either it’s a division of duties or behavioral matters, the expectations should get explained properly and the lines be drawn firmly (with exceptions handled).

Address Fears: Address your physical and emotional fears, don’t shy away, it’s your family, tell yours and hear theirs. Talk to your children. These little ones have fears of their own too. Forward a feeling that as a family you are bonded and cared for.

Know When ‘NOT’ To Respond: The words that do the trick are the words not sailed when the wind is not in their favor. Many a time you can save the situation by keeping your response/argument to yourself, only to be expressed later when the sea is calm. It’s worth that bitter of a sip to take.

Don’t Downplay Yourself: Things do become tougher at times, you might land into an unwanted argument or a bout. Instead of downplaying yourself, resonate with the goodness in you. Trust me! you are doing AHmazing.

Celebrate, Don’t Hold: Don’t halt your celebrations for the promising times to come, instead celebrate today. Celebrate your special occasions on time and make everlasting memories with your family. Decorate, pass gifts, cut the cake, get your friends and extended family on video calls (if you want), and celebrate, for every day is a gift to be celebrated.

Structure Your Day: Structuring and planning your tasks and timelines aids in time management and spares you a lot of hassle. Plot the parameters of your schedule. Plan your week’s menu, it’s easy to prepare a meal when your pantry is well-stocked for the whole week and you are not running uncalled errands. Sort out your laundry days, your cleaning days, your grocery days, your outing days, etc. Likewise, structuring your daily routine for the following day before sleeping also helps a lot in managing your time with kids, spouse, and of course, yourself.

Family Time: Sit and spend quality time together. Play games, watch movies, read together, indulge in discussions, go on drives, bake together, and so on. Share the load by making it fun. Fold laundry, unload the dishwasher, set the table with your kids while lending an ear to their sweet stories.

Keep In Touch: Where social isolation has questioned our mental wellbeing, it has posed at the same time, challenges to our existential existence. Society is changing right in front of our eyes. It’s impossible to have relations the same way they were before. The least we can do is to stay in contact with our loved ones. Make better use of technology, take time out and stay connected. Amidst all your busy routines schedule your days/time for phone/video calls. Call out for help if needed, explain your altered lifestyle, your busy schedule to them – expect less, express more.

Maintain Healthy Routine: Maintain a healthy lifestyle by staying healthy, physically and mentally. Eat healthy, breathe healthy. Exercise! Read! Contemplate! Rebuilt your relation with nature. Renew your ways of practicing gratitude. Just suit yourself!

Look Forward: The beauty of time is that it never stays the same. And these times are also not going to last forever, it’s just a phase and soon it will be history. Keep your spirits and morale high. Stay positive and maintain a belief that the bridge between hardship and ease is not very long.

Joy and pain are two arteries of the one heart. Take hold of a good minute and appreciate what is already in your basket. Don’t let your troubles override the joy in your life that you no longer feel joy. Sometimes it takes a global pandemic to get us to appreciate our backyard. Remember! Even the darkest of the clouds have a silver lining. I can see that, can you?

~ QuratulAin Hamza