Originally posted in Medium.
Who would have thought that humanity will experience a global pandemic in the year 2020? Makes you wonder if the science fiction writers were in fact visionaries and if the conspiracy theorists — the Alan Krumwiede’s of our times — were not smoking joints while spawning out their end-of-the-world scenarios. Because the way we are having to stock up and hunker down in our homes fearing real-world human contact sure seems like they saw it coming.
Photo by Jose Antonio Gallego Vázquez on Unsplash
The end of the fu**ing world.
Since the announcement by the WHO that this is a global pandemic event our world as we know it has changed.
Countries and cities have locked down with restrictions in effect for international and domestic travel essentially separating us from our family and friends worldwide.
My immediate family and relatives are spread across 3 continents. I have friends who are permanent residents in various other countries and some who are on job assignments with no option but to stay put indefinitely. With no signs of the situation improving it will not be an overreaction to wonder if I would be able to meet them anytime in the near future.
Then we tune in to the news and we see more stories of daily lives disrupted to an apocalyptic level minus the zombies.
Panic buying to empty supermarket shelves, lay-offs to unemployment, a small business with record low sales to the possibility of shutdowns, price gouging to cyber crimes, market crashes to recessions, social distancing to isolation — the world has changed almost overnight and it is quickly becoming our new norm.
A new world of opportunities.
Our primal instinct is kicking in and we are beginning to adjust to the uncertainties. As humanity is being forced to adapt to a new world, we have the opportunity to redefine how we move forward with our lives.
With work-from-home mandates, families who are stuck under one roof every single day have the opportunity to attain work-life balance in new ways previously thought impossible.
Taking a break to destress from the array of virtual team meetings and emails can now be planned together as a family. Having home-cooked meals with at-home lunch hours will not only lead to healthier lifestyles but provides a unique opportunity to share and connect with our loved ones as our workday unfolds.
With social distancing mandates, businesses that are unable to maintain average daily sales to stay operational have the opportunity to embrace online strategies to sell products and build mobile-first operational models.
Yes, we need bustling coffee shops and shopping malls, and crowded events to fill a certain social void in our lives. God forbid, we would ever have to give that up. But the more this situation drags out, our society which is mesmerized by the lure of social media will begin to long for physical social interaction that we have been taking for granted. Here is an opportunity for us to slow down and reevaluate what human connection and social acceptance mean to us, and what we are willing to give up for it.
A return to normalcy may be weeks or even months away but the opportunity to reset our lives is now.