Slow down, savour this time to stand and stare
It seems God has pressed the pause button for the blue planet. No one, despite all the advancement in technology, knows how to resume play, at least for the time being. Who would’ve ever thought that World War III would be fought by all countries together against a common enemy that too an invisible one!
Today, we can’t agree more to the popular adage: Man proposes, God disposes. All plans of the so-called supreme human race have been washed away because of a mere microagent. But this downtime has its share of positives, too. God has given us time to introspect and reconsider our choices about the rat race we were so aimlessly running.
As a self-confessed people’s person, before the lockdown I had been stretching my garrulous self to the extent that it would leave me with no time for myself. It always felt that I could not live without interacting with people and definitely not amid the four walls of the house. But the big question is: Do we really need to run around the whole day for all our lives till the time we hit a breakdown?
Fortunately, I realised that I don’t need people around all the time, I could enjoy my own company and indeed solitude is a blissful state capable of filling the heart with meaning and the light of joy.
Undeniably, it is gloomy outside, especially for those whose small businesses have been shut, also for the vendors, daily-wage workers and so many others. The health workers, police personnel, sanitation workers and the other frontline workers are risking their lives for society as true soldiers. However, let us acknowledge we are the privileged ones who don’t have to worry about getting food to our table even during these times of uncertainty. Nevertheless, there are many valuable lessons learnt during this pandemic.
Apart from teaching us to slow down, this period has reinforced that the best things in life are free. We all have the rare opportunity and the leisure to listen to birds sing, to brush up our skills, inculcate new habits and hobbies, indulge in the most sought after ‘me time’, watch the sun go down, be mesmerised watching the starry night and to smell the blooms! Most importantly, we have our family by our side and are bonding with our loved ones. We are learning to do things on our own and are appreciating the work our helps did for us all day long without complaining.
It’s high time we returned to the simple pleasures of life, stopped exploiting Mother Nature and acknowledged that we are not the sole occupants of this planet. As the Punjabi proverb goes, “Att te khuda da vair hunda hain”. Thus, let us be grateful for all that we have and enjoy this slowdown, ditching that fast-paced lifestyle. As poet WH Davies aptly put it, “What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare.”
SOLITUDE IS A BLISSFUL STATE CAPABLE OF FILLING THE HEART WITH MEANING AND THE LIGHT OF JOY