Positive impact of Corona outbreak & how to use quarantine time gainfully: A lawyer's view

Everyone in the world is in self-quarantine and the self-isolation is seemingly going longer day by day. In the world where people are used to having a busy and hectic schedule, no one thought they would suddenly get so much spare time in isolation.  This time can be effectually used to take a step back and reflect upon our lives as to what we always wanted to accomplish, how far we have come and how further do we have to go.

We often complained that we could not get enough time from our daily routine for ourselves, now it’s time to grab it before it slips like sand from our hands. The time is tough to pass because we have to spend the time by keeping alive the hope, that soon this deadly virus outbreak will be eradicated and we all will be back to our normal regimes. However, until then ensuring proper utilization of this time will not only help in passing the time without stress but also will be beneficial for our future selves. 

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As we know, during the pandemic, life right now has almost become ‘online’. Physical social connection has turned into a virtual social connection. This can be used as an advantage to build the bridge by reviving old connections with people. Moreover, there are several other ways to utilize the online platform to be active, healthy and connected to the Earth. Self-care is something we conveniently avoided being coiled up in our busy work schedules, during the quarantine we can actually ameliorate ourselves by practicing activities for self-improvement. Various online classes for physical workout and yoga have been introduced which can be availed for physical fitness.

Talking about physical fitness, paying close attention and cultivating good mental health and mindfulness whether crisis looms or not is also crucial. Now’s a great time to dive in practicing meditation that can effectively help with the anxiety of the moment. Apart from fitness, taking care of good food habits is also imperative, for which fundamental cooking techniques can be learnt with the help of the Internet and skills can be enhanced too. In order to feel good, it is also very important to look good, hence, taking care of appearance plays a pivotal role in self-reformation. By the use of technology and the Internet, various skills can be picked up by the ones having different hobbies. 

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Talking about the environment, we can clearly see that all kinds of pollution levels have fallen across the world; after years we can actually witness blue and clear sky in Delhi, and apart from this, animals like elephants have been seen drinking water in the Ganges, rare bird species seems to have come out of their homes and are able to breathe properly, dolphins were seen in the canals again and moving around freely. At home we have learned that we are able to maintain the cleanliness in the absence of our domestic help, we can handle all the household activities on our own, the belongingness and emotional connection among the family members has increased, on the very positive side, we are able to spend quality time with our family members and have learned to take care of them and we know about their likes and dislikes. We have realized that lockdown can be liberating, and we don’t need too many things in life to feel alive.

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In the world of iPhones, iPads iWatches, somewhere we had forgotten ‘I’. When our lives are materialistically saturated, we lose the essence of human emotions or looking beyond into the other spectrum of life which is empathy, compassion, harmony, love, humanity, righteousness, human connection etc. Sometimes the voice of hearts gets lost in the white noise of materialism. As the nature is detoxifying, let us take a pledge to listen to our heart, listen to nature or the birds chirping, take a barefoot walk on the grass, dust off the old contacts, pick up the phone and call all those forgotten contacts, doing these small things can alleviate our spirits, our mind, our body and our complete self and help develop the much needed positive aura around us, which will soon start reflecting in our personality as a human being. 

I would request everyone to slow down for a while, reflect on your life, see how valuable it is and create a brand new and beautiful future ahead.

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The author of this article, Vikas Singh, is a senior advocate of the Supreme Court of India, having even served as the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, and also as an Additional Solicitor General of India.

(The views and opinions expressed within the article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing do not reflect the views of Republic TV/ Republic World/ ARG Outlier Media Pvt. Ltd.)