The alarm goes off in the morning, only it is not the alarm clock but the alarm on your phone. You switch it off and check all your notifications first thing, with your eyes half-open, from friends who stayed up later than you did and spoke on group chats, from people who “liked, commented and shared” your content on social media, about everything that isn’t necessary to see the first thing as you wake up. Then most of us rush to get dressed, eat and leave for work, on the way we check more of what’s on our phone, at work we switch on another screen on our laptops & computers. To take a break from it we check our phones again, we come home to relax and watch some TV. Life in the 21st century has been mostly about looking into different screens, for working, for entertainment, or for maintaining relationships. While it has all been very useful and made our lives easier, it also comes with a price we pay with our health. Psychological issues like stress, anxiety, & depression have become common words today.
The capitalist culture hardly cares about these issues, it is only about making a profit and somehow profits are also made by giving solutions to these issues. Happiness is measured by how much one owns, which car, how big is the house, how many servants work for them, seem to be the answers to if their life is good. Our phones are continuously buzzing, notifications on our screens grabs more of our attention than an actual person trying to connect with us face to face.
It has taken us a pandemic to slow ourselves down and look around, to think where have we come to. It is mother nature's way of saying that we CAN live a simpler life. She is reminding us of her beauty, of clean rivers and blue skies, of the many birds and animals we share this earth with. That trip that you wanted to make to Europe or New Zealand because you saw someone post kickass photos on social media, you can live happily without it. People have indulged back into their old hobbies. Recipes are being shared, neighbours are interacting, families are eating together. It has brought back the simpler times.
Today’s blog is about pondering if there is any other way to live. If we can survive without the fast pace that we have been believed in being the only way to survive. Yes, we need cars to go around, but do we need the most expensive ones? Houses were meant to give ourselves shelter, and yes, a little luxury never killed anyone but killing yourself over luxury is the biggest irony. The lockdowns and quarantines are proof that another way of life is possible. A life where we need only certain “essentials”. A life where we savour the food we cooked all evening trying a new recipe then savour conversations with our families while eating the food. Savour the time we have got for the yoga or workout sessions. Being more mindful about how we are spending our time, what are the things that actually bring us joy and not just money. And there can be ways to incorporate these things into our lives while we also make some money. A life where we are more mindful about our mental and physical healths. We hope after the pandemic, people don’t resume the old ways of living and try to bring some aspects of this slowness into their otherwise fast-paced lives. We hope to see a tomorrow where stress, anxiety, and depression are words that fade away into banana breads, headstands and dalgona coffees.
So true! This lockdown has left some good impacts too. It was nice to have lunch together with family. Even got to taste mom's new recipes which is always amazing. Never really thought my dad has hobbies other than scanning newspaper but he does. Simpler times- the blog is connected to each and every one of us. Beautifully inked!