The world is sailing on uncharted waters thriving against the storms of uncertainty, pulling down the anchors of sanity. 2020 was one heck of a rollercoaster looking back and Covid 19 was just adding fuel to fire. An occurrence that never crossed the vastness of the human mind was embodied into plain reality and now seeing the world recover from its tremors only made me recall how this whole situation affected me as a person. Much has been said and will be said but what I find the most fascinating is the drastic lifestyle changes that have been inflicted on us irrespective of our caste, creed, status, wealth, gender, race and any other boundary that humans designed. The pause button was pushed and the hustle bustle culture tumbled down. We were all shoved into our houses caged between the four walls and restricted from our everyday lifestyle. We adapted in such a way that the schools that never allowed carrying phones were now in fact conducted in those phones. It's crazy how everything turned upside down in a few days and it definitely had a toll on my life in both a positive way as well as in a negative way.

Honestly, at first this whole situation seemed disorienting. We were barred from doing everyday activities like going for a walk or shopping, even the normalcy like attending school and church. Our line of sight was restrained and the world seemed to be closing in on us. This although was a period of redefining our perspectives on the norms set by the society on how certain things must be done. For instance, I never imagined how feasible campaigning speeches could be given on zoom and elections take place online and even investiture conducted at our own respective houses. What earlier used to require months of practice and efforts now could be done in days. And this is what I define as ‘change’.

In many aspects this change was quite welcome in my life. It imposed a long break after a tedious period of writing boards. It gave time to let off the steam and served doses of mindfulness and stillness and definitely brought down the pace of life. Now the whole family that used to rush out early in the morning and then come late at night after school, work, sports practices and tutions were stuck together for an entirety of multiple months playing cards and ball games on the terrace watching the sun sinking low below the horizon. Cooking and painting, laughing and talking, every moment was etched into memory.

However as high the peaks go, so must the lows deepen. Reading only horrifying news daily is just the start. Seeing the numbers increase day by day tolled us mentally beyond help and at one point we all became numb to the numbers. The flicker of humanity in our eyes dimmed and we stopped being affected. We realised all that is going on out there was beyond us. Honestly even today I find it difficult to wear masks that fog up my glasses every time I exhale and gloves that sweat my hands like crazy. Not even being able to meet up with friends and family and the only face you see regularly apart from your family being the dentist sure gets tiring.

In the end this situation was most definitely an eye opener as to how limited we humans are that even a micro virus was able to shatter the global economy and how powerless we were. It patently threw light on the importance of one’s health more than anything else. Although, it's quite entrancing how we humans were able to adapt this well and this is an apt example of how unstoppable humanity can be if determined. This virus made an impact not just in my life but in yours as well as the entire human race. After all is said and done, stay home and stay safe.