“Somewhere between work and hunger we have misplaced ourselves from living our lives.”
This sums up and is in most sense a perfect generalization of our lives increasingly becoming linearly monotonous until something or someone brings a forced halt to it. And when that happens, there is a general intellectual vacuum until we get bored and fish for some newer habits. And then it again becomes monotonous after a certain point. This cycle continues.
The world is experiencing a war, a war against an unknown enemy, against uncertainty, against a force that’s going to change our lives in a way we are yet to comprehend. While there is a collective fight being put up through various measures of treatments, isolations, quarantines, social distancing, economic packages, the biggest battle is to be fought internally. Internalizing how our lives would change and how we want to lead our lives.
This pandemic has again given us a chance to radically change almost everything we do: how we work, energize, socialize, spend, save, manage our health, learn, take care of family and loved ones.
The truth is,” Albert Camus wrote in The Plague, “everyone is bored, and devotes himself to cultivating habits.”
Until industrial revolution, humans were aligned with the pace of nature. And then suddenly we desired to outdo it. Modernization improved our quality of life but reduced our quality of living. You can see this from the fact how difficult it is for people to stay still at homes, stay at peace with less action, know a life beyond restlessness. Once in a while nature has its way to make us align ourselves to its pace. (am not saying coronavirus is a natural disaster).
Many are saying nothing has changed or will change due to this pandemic. Many think this is an overreaction. Statistically, proving this is as bad as anything else. Yet, we know it’s not the same:
Our work patterns are changing and we are uncomfortable
Our movements are reducing and we are uncomfortable
Our lifestyle is changing and we are uncomfortable
Our timetables are changing and we are uncomfortable
Our way of doing things is changing and we are uncomfortable
Our habits are changing and we are uncomfortable
We are creatures of our habits but have forgotten living consciously. We are at most times on auto-pilot.
I’m not trying to be preachy or trying to rub it in. Just pushing you to introspect on dealing with changes and living more consciously.
Ask yourself:
When was the last time you learnt something new
When was the last time you did something for the first time
Do you enjoy your company or like being by yourself
We all wish to take a break but ever thought what you’d want to do when you get one
Read something new
And most importantly Amor Fati – is a Latin phrase that may be translated as “love of fate” or “love of one’s fate”.
The goal is to make the best of what happened.
Storms will come and storms will go. But if you are able to tame the storm inside you, no storm can create chaos.
