Recipe for surviving a pandemic

Khushboo Wadhwani

Sharing this recipe on a personal level on how I am surviving during this pandemic. Of course I am no expert but here are just a few fun facts and tips. Enjoy!

Key Ingredients

Acceptance Productivity Gratitude Appreciation and Positivity

Method

Step 1: Acceptance 23rd March 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announces that the UK will be put under lockdown. People across the country (myself included) went straight into panic mode. “Three whole weeks of not really my house, chilling with friends or going into work... how will I ever survive”. The first step for me was to accept that this was going to be the new ‘normal’. More than three weeks later, and I am pleased so say that I have survived, actually enjoyed every minute of it and completely okay with the new normal.

Step 2: Productivity I feel that we all used to get lost in our very busy day to day lives and end up using the infamous phrase “oh I’ll do that tomorrow” (I know I am definitely guilty of this). However, now I have absolutely no excuse or reason not to do it TODAY*. I have more ‘free time’ to do, practice and learn things that I never did before. For example, my first ever love was Art (so much that I dedicated 6 years of my life to study and practice this). Sketching and drawing was always something that I enjoyed thoroughly, but unfortunately gave this hobby up as going out and socialising became more important. Taking this up again has reminded me of how therapeutic and rewarding it used to feel. I also believe that having a goal is super important. I have always wanted to practice Yoga. This is something I am trying to learn over the weeks and the goal is to touch my toes... (seriously I am literally that inflexible). I just think that putting your mind and focusing on something can be really useful during these times even if it is just as simple as being able to touch you toes. *New phrase “Today is the new tomorrow”

Step 3: Gratitude This is where the internet and social media platforms have been one of the greatest blessing for me. I have connected and reconnected with family and friends from all over of the world. Saturday night dinner and drinks, have now turned into group video chats and virtual pub quizzes (side note, my general knowledge has really improved). I have also had conversations with people who I haven’t seen or spoken to in forever, which is awesome! People who I have previously crossed paths with have been checking in to see how myself and the family are keeping, which makes me feel super grateful and cared for. I feel especially thankful that I have both my mother and sister with me during lockdown. I am spending quality time and bonding with the both of them like I have never before. For this I will be eternally grateful. My favourite part of the day is ending it with a lovely home cooked meal by yours truly (my incredible mother) and a classic Bollywood film (PS. Mum if your reading this, you can’t say that I don’t spend enough time with you now).

Step 4: Appreciation and Positivity I have a huge appreciation for society and front liners looking after everyone during these dark times. It is actually really amazing to see countries and communities coming together to fight this and doing absolutely anything they can to help and contribute. This will for sure go down in history. To be honest, I am actually glad that I have been able to whiteness this as it is extremely rare you see people from all around the WORLD, no matter what age, gender or race, uniting as one, all with the same purpose and goal in mind. We literally are all in this together. Even better, I feel and truly believe that we are all going to come out of this better people, with more positivity, gratitude and a completely different outlook on life.

This is definitely a story to tell the kids.

Keep safe and stay positive :)