5 Bright Stories to Light Up Your Life in the Pandemic
#1
Sarah is a 24-year-young Instagram influencer who’s quite busy in living up to the expectations of her followers that she hardly gets time for herself. All the money she earned from her tough job goes in maintaining her social circle. She does all this because she wants to be famous and known as people’s person. But her activities halt when the pandemic hits Pakistan. Now, she works from home, don’t dine out and spend most of her time with her family. And since she’s not roaming around, she no longer has travel and sugar-coated stories to share with people. She blogs about the life in the pandemic and the artistic soul she has found in herself. Her stories have taken a 360-degree shift and the free time has helped her to live more for herself rather than people. Thanks to the pandemic she’s a satisfied soul now.
#2
Neha is a 25-year young job professional who’s stuck in her toxic job and find no ways to escape it. It’s not easy to quit her job because she’s the breadwinner of the family. She’s tired of her boss who looks reasons to discourage her writings and always appreciate others over her. Now, when she’s working from home after the pandemic, she’s finally relaxed because she wouldn’t be meeting her boss in person. But with the work from home, the micro-management has also increased. Her boss calls her thrice a day to check the status of the project and when she’s not on the seat, she had to bear a salary deduction without warning. All this had taken a mental toll on Sarah’s health and provoked her enough to quit her job. But before she quit, she created her freelancing profile on Upwork and started working for 18 hours a day. With the job, she managed her freelancing work and after two months of continuous working, she has been able to quit her toxic job. Now, Neha is a happy person who’s her own boss and successfully cope up with her mental health. She works in her PJs on her freelancing projects and no longer misses her 9 to 5 toxic days.
#3
Maryam is a 34-year young housewife who’s worried because her husband has been fired from the job and have a little saving to survive in the pandemic. She has cancelled her children schools admission and now coping with the little she’s left with. She runs her online art gallery but with the pressure of coping with the financial issues she has started focusing more on her side business. Her husband has become the rider to deliver the parcels while she stays at home and makes all the art. With the digital transformation during the pandemic, people are gradually noticing her business and she has successfully able to run her home amidst the situation.
#4
Malik Shaheer, father of three young daughters who had spent all his life thinking about the grand weddings of her daughters and the expenses he had to bear to manage a wedding which can fit into the ‘Log Kiya Kahenge” frame. And now when the wedding time comes, the halls have been closed, the relatives have refused to attend the wedding and in-laws no longer demands a dowry. He has successfully wedded his one of three daughters in a minimal budget and a low-key event. He’s happy because he won’t be giving any wedding dues later.
#5
A maid who lives next to my door is happy and want this pandemic to stay because this is the only period when she’s receiving free food regularly sometimes from the government and sometimes from the neighbours and sometimes from the NGOs in Pakistan. She quoted this is a golden period for her because it’s the first time her family can sleep with a full appetite which had never happened before.
The Lesson
For the majority, the pandemic is a dark period because of the suffering, depression and financial crisis. But if you see the other side of the pandemic, you’ll see stories of hope, love and courage. These people choose not to quit their lives to the crisis but instead, they adopted it as a new normal and learn to live with it.
Nobody knows when this virus will end and if it stayed forever, COVID19 will be the new normal. So, instead of letting this virus take your life, learn to cope with it, adopt SOPs and keep progressing.
“What is the difference between an obstacle and an opportunity? Our attitude toward it. Every opportunity has a difficult, and every difficulty has an opportunity.”– J. Sidlow Baxter
I prefer books and diaries more than phones and Facebook. Soulfully connected to Pakistan. And I passionately believe that I can change the world through blogging.
