How did the pandemic changed our lives?
The war changed people’s lives, and so did the 1918 pandemic. So this is no different. Many of us used to make some resolutions with fireworks in the back of our selfies at the end of the year. But did the pandemic change that habit, like many others? Instead of resolutions this year, we’ll go over the shifts that took place in us and around us. Did the pandemic altered the economy? Did the pandemic change mentality and the notion of “distance”? Did the pandemic enabled in us aspects we would not consider outside an extreme context like this year?
Extremes grew in people
Whether solidarity or skepticism, lack of trust in the government or religious affiliation, they all boomed. Everyone got their inner salvation from the extreme of their beliefs.
There’s some explanation behind everything, except maybe a clear explanation for the COVID-19 virus itself. That leaves room for insecurity. Day by day, new discoveries are made in the medical and social field related to how it spreads, what the symptoms are or are not. Then, there’s also the lack of security at the workplace, and it’s bigger maybe than before. So, people need certainty to balance threat / danger. And we go to what we know or what we believe can give us that certainty. And that’s not always the science… but mainly what we value and what motivates us generally speaking.
The combination of uncertainty and danger is a recipe for severe angst. It feeds an intense desire for certainty, better known to psychologists as the need for cognitive closure. (3 Ways the pandemic is changing who we are, Arie Kruglanski, psichologicalscience.org)
Creativity saved the day
There have been several experiments in history about the effects of isolation on our brain chemistry, personality and behavior. And they all proved that creative activities keep us sane. Hey, but who was interested in them before all the pandemic came into real life?
Photo credits: Carlos Coronado on Unsplash.com
So, going through many social media channels of private people, as well as public figures, we can see many took up creative activities like gardening, cooking, tailoring, dancing, painting and so on. Online creative courses got more and more popular thanks to the time and increasing interest.
On the other hand, we all had more time for it, when going out fell off the list of wants or coulds.
Kindness re-entered the routine
Did the pandemic took us by surprise? Yes. There has been a lot of talk about it, measures have been considered for long and movies shot on the theme, but calendar was not clear. So, with medical, social and economical systems taken by surprise somehow, the lack of resources became huge. It was the moment when we could all witness a huge input from the civil society and NGO’s. Small donations raised bug funds. The solidarity movement during the pandemic was (and still is) revolutionary. We believed it showed how human we can be and how unprepared are the authorities.
We could also see the joy of joining hands in the MobileRecharge community to support Kiva people through a collective donation on November 10, World Top Up Day. Well done everyone. Oh, and the regular offers to get you support to also support your folks with mobile credit…
We’ll never forget that. And it continues.
Suspicion is as popular as washing hands
Well, did the pandemic made us suspicious and untrustworthy? Kind of. Especially when the famous virus is labeled as “not showing symptoms” in some people. Then any apparently healthy being can be a threat. Not cool at all. You can see that in people’s eyes, and you can feel it in your look. Are we proud of it? Nobody is…
And yes, suspicion became as popular as washing hands. Not that hygiene was a big problem, especially in countries where there’s the infrastructure to support good habits, but we became aware now of the limitations of our immunity system. So, suspicion number 2 goes for our own immune system. Whooooo are yooooou?
Traveling is like driving a UFO
Traveling entered the desire kingdom on a dreamy level. Did the pandemic affect that? Majorly, as we all know. Something that was so normal, became so strange and limited, to the point that if it’s “allowed” you take a big risk. A totally different story than the one we used to be.
Adaptation scoring is really high
To quote a psychology book, adaptation is the manifestation of intelligence. Which means we’ve all must have gained some IQ power in the last year. The struggling were on the adaptation dose of power already. But many others who might have been trapped in the laziness of routine might have awaken on a new day routine. Adaptation to a new job, or to looking for one, learning new skills to get a job, or learning something new to come out of the boredom-land. Or getting the horror movie and panic out of the system, to keep on going smoothly with life. Many had kids as if “war would have been worse than this”. Well, you know better stories probably. If you do, please leave your comment to share your thoughts with us. Will you?
We took a different budget treatment
Or at least that’s what we think. Due to the fear of the unknown, we changed purchased habits. But also because of the lockdown conditions. For examples we started to look for home items more than heel shoes. A change in priorities was justified.
Photo credits: Mick Haupt on Unsplash.com
Did the pandemic affect the economy? Of course it did. A lot. Look around and ask entrepreneur. Or maybe you’re one of them and you could share your experience in a comment below. We won’t get into details, there are plenty of specialists out there commenting on that, like the recent report from BBC.
Check BBC report on world economy and how did the pandemic affect it >>
As a wrap up, as many businesses went down (e.g. certain manufacturing, tourism, offline entertainment etc) due to lockdown and change in purchase priorities, that has created some gaps in our more or less organic societies. The equilibrium will take a while to reset, meanwhile there are many individual dramas that need to heal.
Online became popular in institutions too
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Not only for purchases, watching movies and communication, but also when it comes to services that were otherwise offline. Many countries worldwide developed an internet system for tax collect and document issue for example, but not only. These are just 2 modest examples to make a point.
P.S. Talking about online purchases, remember you can count on us for online mobile top ups, of course. Check PROMOS of the day >>
Online schooling is ON, and it made a point
Even the harshest reform could not have convinced anyone to move the educational system in the online environment. But did the pandemic do that? Yep. What it proves, if you go over a small slice of world opinion on that, is that it is not the solution of the future. Just as many pedagogues have been saying for years. Our social brains needs connection, touch and raelia as we say in the education system. We need hands on, within a physical context, where all our cognitive senses get involved.
Another aspect was a huge boom. Many people do not have smartphones, tables or laptops to even fulfil the condition to join the classes. Hellooooooooo, world!
Work from home is possible
What many business people feared is that productivity would fail if working from home. Of course, we’re not going to talk about those who believed their employees at home equal savings.
Photo credits: Standsome Worklifestyle on Unsplash.com
Circling back on the work from home, the world experiment was a success. The highly extroverts and some parents found it hard to do their job properly, but otherwise, a lot of good impressions. Which proves how much we need the private space.
We understood how precious life is
Maybe that’s the most important thing we had to face. The importance of being alive. Something we sometimes used to overlook, among the diamonds of a good living. Did the pandemic take people earlier? yes! Many lost their close ones or friends in the pandemic killing machine. Those who had some health problems that could have made it some more years maybe without the intervention of the virus. That’s life, unpredictable. Let’s give it some credit, folks!
Have a 2021 with nice surprises and keep adapting. It’s called life and it has no recipe, as we can see.
Photo credits: Matthew Smith on Unsplash.com
