One badge of pride I have been quietly wearing since 2020 is that I was never infected with Covid. Ever.
Not that the ones who were infected with it did something bad or attract it at will, still, I did used to marvel at my luck.
Except a few days back…when I tested positive for Covid.
Yasss, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, after coughing, feeling feverish, cold, headache, and basically not being able to function properly for a week, I tested positive for Covid.
I received a call from the hospital on couple of days back, advising me to get isolated immediately, and to not come to the hospital to collect my report.
I spent the second half of that day convincing my family that it’s best for me to not travel and risk the lives of others, on how I will order groceries, and how my food will be taken care of by friends, and basically, how I will be fine.
However, post that, I decided to turn it into the best Covid experience ever.
After all, how many times in your life do you get to be just by yourself, not see another human being, not step out, not have a bath, run your business, cook your food, clean your home, all at the same time without having a social life?
Never - unless you are isolated with Covid.
So why not make the best of this experience?
Hence, I decided to dance with it, instead of dancing to it. Here is how:
I smile at myself (with teeth) while looking into the mirror. Lets me know I appreciate the person in the mirror.
I stopped being critical of my looks - my face that hasn’t been washed, eyes that are red due to incessant coughing, nose that is red due to being scrubbed 100X a day, hair that haven’t been washed for more than a week now, lips that exude broken and dry skin - I stopped being critical of all of them, and started loving every part of me. No matter how much cold or hot it would get, I would never let myself come to this level of lack of hygiene - but for this season, we are being easy on ourselves :)
I keep repeating to myself: God is with me. I am God’s favourite child. I am getting healthier, stronger, fitter by the day. The truth is, my friend, eventually all of us recover from our diseases. But who we are in the process - cranky, ungrateful, crying on my fate - really? I do not want to be that person. I am very very grateful to have a place to be isolated, to have online facilities to serve me when I need them the most, family and friends who are doing anything and everything to help me out, and I choose not to be cranky at having what’s most important to me right now.
Here’s the secret, though:
It’s not easy to live with this positive mindset. Anyone can say “your life is good so go shine with your positivity. But my life has real problems, so I gotta be cranky.”
Everyone’s life has problems, my love.
Everyone’s.
Even the ones who are always smiling, shining, and appearing as if problems picked up everyone but them.
The wisest, however, choose to dance with the problems instead of dancing to the tune of problems.
They know that being sad won’t solve the problems (otherwise world’s saddest people would be with zero problems duh) rather they know that when they choose to be positive, they
Btw:
My work is not yet gotten in action for the entire 2024 so far, now
I have not made desired progress on my book project
I missed my Raw and Real edition of last week (hence, you see two emails today)
I have not been to my hometown (where I was supposed to be now, celebrating Holi and Makar Sankranti) for almost two months now
I haven’t responded to new client requests (and politely kept them on hold)
There is actually multitude of things that are not working out in my life right now. But guess what, you can whine or win. Both don’t share the same room.
And I truly hope for you, my friend, wherever you are in life, you choose to win.
Just because everyone whines, doesn’t mean it’s cool. A gentle reminder.
2 One-Liners:
We become what we repeatedly tell ourselves in the mirror.
We are suffering because we make ourselves the centre of everyone else’s universe.
3 Gratitudes:
The love of work to be able to work while being struck by Covid, a little badly.
The wonderful wonderful clients, and prospective clients who waited patiently for me to recover.
My parents who chose to be mentally strong and not lose their cool when they knew I couldn’t travel home.
On that note, I will see you as usual this Saturday, and hopefully every Saturday of this year.
Keep shining, rocking, and loving yourself (who else will love you if you won’t)?