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Let’s live in the moment

So when things do get back to normal, do you think we will go back to the same rut race.

March brings images of spring, flowers and sunshine. But did we know that last March would bring a complete lockdown and make the entire world come to a halt because of a deadly virus. Strangely it was on 1st March 2003 that a virus sent me into a deep coma. So, March does have a lot of significance for me. It also means, in its literal sense, to march on. They say define life in three words, “it goes on.”

Schools, colleges and office stopped, but the work carried on remotely. Governments united as never before, because suddenly there was just one enemy and one cause. To describe this year as challenging would be a huge understatement, but let’s look for the silver lining of the pandemic.

IT departments were the definite stars, who made the transition from physical to virtual possible. They trained the not so savvy and got us all on track. The air definitely got cleaner. We had more time (or rather) all the time for family, health, fitness and the forgotten stuff. We saw our wedding tapes, birthday videos and brushed the dust off the family albums.

We became more compassionate and covered for our colleagues who were not well. We saluted our healthcare workers. We rejoiced at the discovery of the vaccine. We were obedient or rather sensible to understand the dangers of the virus and respected the rules of social distancing, wearing masks and sanitising. We traded fancy restaurants for home cooking and the order ins became a treat. Netflix became our partner in crime in the late evening, almost putting us off to sleep. We have read books we had no time for earlier, we have called up long lost friends and relatives we haven’t spoken for in 20 years. Mental health issues that have existed for so many years have been brought to the forefront and discussed with so much openness and maturity. We have become more humble because we saw so many people lose their lives to a virus. Our egos have definitely learnt a lesson, making us less self-centred and more caring for others. We have sent food for our neighbours who were sick, leaving the tiffin outside their door. May be we don’t even know their full names, but the heart does not need any logic to care.

So when things do get back to normal, do you think we will go back to the same rut race. I think not. I feel we have discovered so many beautiful things, that we would not want to ignore them. We have had time to smell the roses, enjoy some me time as well as the closeness of loved ones. We have also realised that many things can be done remotely and the time spent on commute can be used for better things.

I have been seeing so many movies and serials; one of them was of a hospital. One scene that resonated with me was the one where the doctors give electric shock (defibrillator) to revive the patient. In many ways, I think this virus was the electric shock that woke us up. We would have carried on in the same way, having no time for our parents (besides wishing them on Mother’s day and Father’s day), having a burn out in office in climbing the illusionary corporate ladder and hardly spending any time hearing or telling stories to our children.

Our to do lists seem to have become a thing of the past, simply because many of the tasks were just not possible. The realisation has come that we don’t always have to become something, because that means task accomplished. We are better off in the state of being like work in progress, being happy, healthy, peaceful and compassionate. That is living in the now and savouring every moment of it.

Yesterday is gone and tomorrow is not promised. Today is a gift and that’s why it’s called the present. When we concentrate our energies on something, we magnify it. So instead of constantly thinking of the virus and its dangerous consequences, we can focus our energies on surviving the virus, revival and renewal.

Let us live in the moment. Let us just BE.

Mahatma Gandhi said something so simple yet so wise — Look at the sparrows; they do not know what they will do in the next moment. Let us literally live from moment to moment.

Shilpa Bhasin Mehra is a legal consultant based in Dubai and the founder of Legal Connect