WHAT TO DO DURING LOCKDOWN ?..QUARANTINE BLOG..

The world is going through tough times. Citizens of many countries are under lockdown for months now. The graphs for the infections are showing spikes and the time ahead does not seem promising. But there is a good side to all these too. In today's blog we will discuss one of the positive impact that this lockdown has on us.

The most important thing that we lacked during our normal work days was time. But now we have abundance of time. All the things we wanted to incorporate in our lives but we could not because we were too busy with our lives can now be brought in and easily adopted. One of them is beneficial habits.

One's need for a habit can be wide ranging. This need depends on one's lifestyle, future aspirations and personal mindset. Some want to adopt to-do list for better organising each day. Some others want to start eating healthy or doing exercise. All these habits can be easily incorporated during this time when we are in the safety of our homes and are having abundant time in our hands.

The need for time has been sorted. Now the next important thing is action. We need to take steps so that all the habits we want can be achieved. Once we have started, almost 90% of our work has been done. Because start is the most important phase of anything.

The small actions that we take now needs to stick and get incorporated into our daily routine as a task. We all know that it takes about 21 days to build a new habit. Thus, our path is clear. We just have to keep taking actions regularly so that it fuses into our daily routine. Once the task just happens on its own and we don't have to push ourselves into doing that, we have successfully made a new habit.

All this can be very overwhelming. But my advice to you all is to take on the things slowly. Everything can not be achieved simultaneously. We have to focus on creating one habit at a time. Once we have successfully built one habit we can shift our focus to the next one.

It's an obligation for us to use this time to our benefit. Start learning new skills, build new habits etc. Once this lockdown is over, we should be able to present to the world a transformed form of ourself. One of which we are proud of. Because you never know whom you might be inspiring.   

Here are some blogs for you to read next.....

https://archishmansardar.blogspot.com/2020/04/a-lesson-learned.html

https://archishmansardar.blogspot.com/2020/04/blessing-in-disguise.html

BLESSING IN DISGUISE..

Human mind is mysterious and human aspirations are boundless. We work for our dreams and then pray that our actions bring fruit or the desired result. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. We have placed our faith on a supreme power and we believe that it is by the wish of that supreme power our aspirations are turned into reality. Well humans have still not been able to understand many phenomenons and hence the above is the go to conclusion in those many cases.

We all have regrets. Some of them are linked to our wants and aspirations. The more practical minded among us would regret of having not worked hard enough. While the majority blame their failure ,on the supreme power because they believe it was all destiny. And what is destiny? It is a preplanned course of life designed by the supreme power himself for each and every one of the living beings. We being on the developed side understand that.

As we study and gain deeper understanding of the abstract world, simultaneously we gain insight into our existence. We look back and gauge each and every life changing decisions we have ever taken. We begin to realize that many decisions did not result in the planned outcome. And yet here we are. This is true wisdom. This is what life teaches us. "Uncertainty".

For the unsatisfied souls, this learning can be life changing. Because enjoying this life and the ability to take decisions that comes with it is a privilege. For those who had well written destiny, this wisdom serves as a reminder of volatile nature of human life.

Whatever might be our mindset at the end, one thing we can clearly support, i.e not achieving somethings that our heart desired back then was indeed a blessing in disguise. Call it destiny written by the supreme powers or call it the uncertainty of life, those unfulfilled wishes made us what we are today, brought us where we are today and gave us people we hold dear today. Not every unfulfilled wish is a curse. Life is what it is and we are what we are. If you haven't retraced your life yet, you are missing the opportunity to let go of all regrets and bring in fulfillment and happiness into your life.. 

TAKING IT SLOWLY..

We are surrounded with events and things that demand our attention. With the development of time this pressure has manifolded many times. The result ? Hypertension among youths. Heart attacks occurring to 10 year olds. Among many others.

It is basic human tendency to seek action. But human minds have limitations as well. There have been numerous studies that show that multitasking is a myth and that it has its toll on the work and health as well. All these things that seek one's attention are usually overwhelming and forces one to take it all in one go. This propels multi tasking and results into neglect and faults in the outcome.

Our education system has been designed to make all entities function equally. It does not take into account that each individual is different. The pace at which each person responds to tasks varies. As a result people are mostly lacking life skills. They almost never know the trick to handle tasks and pressure generated due to task loads. Thus, we can assume that the general masses are mostly incapable to cope with the trends that this new era brings with it. The evidences in support of this are evident.

This is not something that is not discussed often. There are awareness programmes being conducted in educational institutions. The common thing among these programs is that they treat this as a disease and try to heal the one suffering through counselling. A change in ideology is needed to bring visible changes. The youth should be made to acknowledge the changing scenario and provided with the skills to handle the same.

The demand for our attention is not going to decrease, rather the opposite of this is eminent. The secret is to Take It Slowly. Let the reality seek in. Give time to plan and prioritise the tasks at hand and then proceed. Never should we try to multi task because it is never fruitful.

Some tasks can be overwhelming but a mind well trained to contain these feelings is the one that can make it through. A well trained mind will find ways to better manipulate time and ways to automate tasks taking away unnecessary time. Time is the most valuable asset and it should be spent wisely.


Taking things slowly can solve half the problems by itself and the rest is just our action which can do the ultimate justice. Take the days one at a time and tasks too in the same way. This ancient wisdom is a life lesson and learning it is a life skill which we all need. Things are gonna get more complex. Ideal surrounding is soon going to vanish. It is high time to gain as much skills and wisdom as we can. There are many such skills and indeed this is an important one. Learn it and adopt it as a life style and never forget to take it all slowly in the process.. 

IMPROVISING..

Improvise simply means to act in the flow. ACT being the center of this thought. We achieve the greater success in life not by avoiding the hurdles but by struggling through them and improvising at each and every point. Yes it is important to have a plan but we all know life is uncertain. It rarely goes according to our thoughts. Things often fall in the right places. In such a scenario, improvising becomes crucial. But there are limits to it too. Those limits can only be known with experience.

Our life becomes meaningful only when we fix an aim. This gives direction to our efforts. Without aim we can only flow with life. In such case improvising becomes impossible. Life is uncertain and it is never a one door/ direction phenomenon. It is filled with opportunities of growth and success. These opportunities are disguised and hence a mind which can improvise each scenario can recognise it and act on it. Without such a mindset we will struggle and make the journey hard.

Allow me to use a famous line from the movie series named harry porter. It goes as "There are always two choices, one is easy and the other is right" . Improvising in a situation never means to leave the morality and gulp the chance available. Life has a bad habit of testing peoples characters. The ones who truly shine are the ones who have chosen the right. Such wisdom to choose the right comes from experience.

In every situation the first thing that needs to be done is analysing the situation with a calm mind. This will let us screen out the opportunities. After this, an impartial analysis should be done. This will make us avoid getting into traps and doing the thing that is right. Finally the most important thing is to act. Without this final step we cannot move ahead. Thus improvising is easy to hear but in reality it involves many crucial elements. When we look back on our lives we can easily make out the linkages. These linkages are based on our decisions which are related to our skills of improvising. Practising slow living can really help with this. As per every skill, improvising can also improve with practise and experience. Thus keep living and keep improvising.. 

DEDICATION..

Dedication can be towards many aspects of life. But according to me dedication towards our goal is a characteristic which we all should develop in our self. The life becomes meaningless if we are not dedicated towards living it. We are on this Earth for a limited period of time and hence it is not wise to waste living life without being dedicated towards the dreams we aspire to make true.

Our world today is full of distractions. We have to play multiple roles and please many around us because that is what our society wants us to do as a social responsibility. This social responsibility does not help us in any way other than making us social. Thus it's wise to limit such distractions. Yes we should do our responsibility towards the society we live in but not at the cost of our aims and aspirations. The only person we should be conscious about is us.  

It may sound selfish to many but in the long run it proves to be true. Our life has been divided into phases. We can distinctly mark each phase apart. These phases are new beginnings where everything around us changes along with our responsibilities. This is a unique phenomenon because in some years time all the things we did right or wrong will not matter any more. But the progress we have made towards our dream goal will matter and be with us till the end. Failure in doing this will result in a great regret for the remainder of life.

Etching out time from all the things we are supposed to do is important to accomplish the things we are supposed to accomplish. It does not harm any one in any way, rather it ensures that we are available for ourselves. This dedication is an absolute necessity if we want to accomplish anything in our life. Everything we dream of can be achieved. It is upto us whether we want to work for it or dream about it only. The second thing that is an absolute necessity to inculcate dedication is learning of art of saying NO. It is not being negative, rather it is a tool that enables us to keep our plate clean so as to add things that are more valuable to us. Sacrificing the present is not advisable. But we should learn the art to delay satisfaction for success in the long run. It is advisable to learn and evolve at every opportunity we have in hand. Our time is limited and hence we can not afford to spend it pleasing other people. Those who are destined to stay will stay. We on the other hand should give our dream the blood and sweat it needs. This dedication coupled with hard work is the only strategy for success known. Dive all in and work. Inculcating dedication in this world full of distractions is not a choice but a necessity for the long run. Believe it and it would be rewarding in ways unimaginable.. 

ME TIME..

All days are not the same. Our energy varies from day to day. The days we accomplish the most are the days when our energies are high. Then there are the sluggish days when we do not feel like doing anything and as a result we accomplish less on those days.

It is normal to have sluggish days in between days filled with hard work. These days are a welcome change to break the monotonous lifestyle which comprises of filling the hours with work to get more out of the 24 hours we have. It becomes an issue only when these days last longer than 24 hours.

To accomplish the goals set in life we need to work hard. There is no other known way to do this. Goals are the big tasks that need our dedication to become true. A small bit of work dedicated towards that goal every single day will ultimately lead to that final destination. These small things that we accomplish everyday have a great impact on our lives and keeps us faithful to the goal. The higher is the bar set for the goal, the more work it needs to be put into it. Thus the days with monotonous routines are valuable and ultimately lead us to our destination.

On the other hand the sluggish days have their own benefits. People often loose themselves in the process to make their dreams come true. Dedication towards one's dream is important but not at the cost of one's true nature. The off days help us to connect to our true selves. This connection is important because it keeps us aware of who we really are and how far we have come. These days are also important because they help us analyse our way of working and make necessary adjustments if needed. Off and sluggish days are the days that are crucial to drive those other days we call as busy days. Adding to that is the fact that life is about living as well as working hard. The part where we live are actually confined to the days that are sluggish. Those little delights that we enjoy and fill us with happiness like reading a book, cuddling in bed, cooking etc are important and keeping a day for relishing them is no fault. 

Enjoying the day and at the same time being sorry to have lived that way does more harm. It is no crime to have me time. In fact it is a crime not having me time because you are intentionally harming yourself. Relish such days when you can breathe and live life to the fullest. As earlier said life is not in living from one point to another rather it's actually these small happy moments that make up one's life and are truly the memories that they would relish later. After reaching at a destination and looking back, the days of struggle keeps us humble but these days of joy give the feeling of a life lived and not lost to the struggles..