The sky is not falling

The possibility of the grass being greener on the other side is real if you want it to be. That glass can be half full if you take the right viewpoint.

And, yes, we can draw several positives from this mentally draining and physically debilitating and deadly Covid-19 pandemic should we choose a different angle.

After all, there are two sides to every story. And we’ve focused plenty on the negative aspects for the past nine months, not that we should be cavalier to the fact lives have been lost and others changed forever.

But there is hope that our lives may have been positively impacted by this pandemic.

Here are a few examples:

• We’ve all been so busy or distracted that many of us have lost the genuine moments we have with our family and friends.

Now, the Covid-19 situation has positively impacted the way we maintain relationships. We get to spend more quality time with our family for movie nights or play board games.

As life slowed down, we have found ways to stay connected with people, even if it’s a virtual happy hour or FaceTime coffee chats.

• It may sound ironic, but we have more time to dedicate to maintaining or improving our health. Too busy to exercise or in too much of a rush to prepare healthy meals don’t carry any legitimacy these days.

Plus, with the pre-winter weather co-operating, we’ve had ample opportunity to get out of the house for a change of scenery and fresh air.

Being hygienic is no longer just a good habit, but the very skill we need for survival.

Times have changed and people are now aware of how important it is to adopt good hygiene habits. We’re going to remember to cover our mouths when we cough and to wash and sanitize our hands after touching anything.

• We’re paying more attention to the needs of seniors and the elderly. In-person visitation to senior care homes has been restricted or banned, which presents challenges for staying in touch with those inside the care homes.

Families have responded to this by hosting drive-by birthday parties and sending their love from the parking lots or from the other side of the window.

Pandemic-related panic buying is especially hard on older people, some of whom are less able to get to the shops regularly.

Malls, banks and grocery stores offer specific time slots for seniors to make sure they don’t miss out on essentials.

• For many of us, our professional lives have been altered as we’ve been safely working from home. This mean that staff meetings have become virtual. That’s not a bad thing.

Whether it’s kids or pets that are popping up onscreen during our Teams or Zoom calls, remote work has caused a relaxation in the traditional rules of professional presentation. It proves that a virtual workplace is not only more flexible, but also more humane.

Working from home offers a view into the personal lives of our colleagues and clients and provides more of a human element to the business world.

• Because of the shift to more at-home working and learning, we’ve likely been introduced to a new wave of technology.

Teams, Zoom, FaceTime all have been used to some extent while we do our business remotely. With no one around to look over our shoulders, working from home hopefully has helped employees and teachers and students better trust each other to do the work that is being assigned.