WHAT the pandemic has taught me

These are the five powerful truths the pandemic has taught me about life

Last year, I never thought I would ever write a blog post about a pandemic. But here we are. I wanted to share what the pandemic has taught me about life. There are four months left in the year and I’ve learned a lot in the last eight months. In this blog post I will talk about 5 powerful truths the pandemic has taught me. These powerful truths have shaped my life. They have also made me question a few things about life. A lot has happened this year. That shook us. From the forest fires in Australia to Kobe Bryant and his daughter dying in a helicopter crash. That was only the beginning.

A month later, a virus broke out in Wuhan. We all believed we were safe. Then it trickled to the other countries. We expected it to pass by. But that didn’t happen. The world has forever changed as countries scrabbled to find a cure. The rich weren’t safe either. We were told young people were safe until that shifted and we questioned everything. This year has been a roller coaster of emotions and events that have transpired. Still, many of us have learned a lot about life.

Here are five powerful truths the pandemic has taught me

Life is precious

We all know life is short. Some of us use it as a mantra, but how many of us realize life is precious. We all think we have enough time to do all the things we want. But if this year has shown, we don’t. Many of us don’t take full advantage of what life has to offer. There are things I thought I had time to do, and then this year happened.

I started questioning all the things I wanted to do but never did. This pandemic has shown me you can’t take life for granted, and many of us do. Many of us take the smallest things for granted. The air we breathe. Even the simplest things were eating at a restaurant, spending time with friends and exploring the world. But this year has shown us that for a minute all those things can disappear without you realizing it.

It’s a powerful truth that I’ve learned this year. It has shaped the way I look at the world and myself. No longer am I willing to wait for the opportune time to do something. Because there are no guarantees in life.

Waiting is not an option

Even though many of us believe that we have to wait it out. Waiting is no longer an option. I had set plans in motion this year, many of those plans were unfilled. Winding down the year, I have realized how much time I spent on waiting. Waiting to write a new book. Waiting to publish it. Waiting to grow my Facebook group. it’s almost as if I was waiting for something else to come along.

I now understand that waiting isn’t an option. There’s no such thing as the right time because they will never be a right time. This is a powerful truth the pandemic taught me and many of us. Often, we lean on too much of certainty, but what happens when that’s gone. I had to realize that. Let it sink in for me to understand it.

Waiting for the chance to start your life doesn’t work out. Waiting for you to create a legacy is playing with fate. What happens when fate has another plan? That’s a question many of us had to ask ourselves this year. We had to question whether we should have done more with what we had. It’s a powerful truth that will stay with me even after the pandemic has ended. You can’t wait for your life to start.

You can’t run away from failure

Many of us do whatever it takes to run from failure. We choose not to do anything that requires us to fail. This year, as I failed, I realized failure happens. I couldn’t run away from it. One blessing this year provided was time. Many of us thought about things we never thought about. We started questioning whether running away from failure was the best decision.

This powerful truth revealed by the pandemic made me realize I was afraid of life. I was afraid to fail. I hated the thought of rejection. I won’t lie, that stung, but there was the truth. It terrified me that those I looked up to would reject me and I wouldn’t achieve anything. It has taken me everything I possess to understand that failure is inevitable.

Regardless of how we try to avoid it, we can’t do that forever. That’s a truth, many of us need to learn.

Also Related: 10 Healthy ways to cope with failure

Move away from negative people

Our mindset is a fickle thing. It is so easy to go from positivity to negativity at the drop of a hat. That is why you need to be careful who is in your inner circle. He or she might help to elevate you. You should be able to elevate your friends and we can say the same for them. If you are bringing each other down that is a toxic friendship.

When I was younger, I was so desperate for friends I used to be friends with anyone who would have me. I felt unworthy to have great friends, so I had ones who would bring me down. They weren’t bad people; they were just negative. Some would say that it’s just being realistic, but we can attach even realism to negativity. I know it seems unbelievable. Realists don’t believe they can achieve anything. They don’t believe they can live in a different country knowing no one. They don’t believe they can pick up an instrument and learn it.

They never move past their circumstances and stay forever in the same situation. You can be a realist and still be positive. But many people can’t separate the two. This is a powerful truth the pandemic taught me. Here’s an example of an extreme realist and a cautious one. An extreme realist will point out that since they never learned how to play an instrument when they were kids, trying now would be a waste of time. A cautious realist would point out they had to take their time to learn an instrument, but within a year they might play it.

Being a realist isn’t bad. But being an extreme realist can stop you from going after what you want.

Accept change

Powerful truth number five is that we all have to accept change. This pandemic has taught us a lot of things, but the number one thing it has taught us is change is inevitable. You can’t run away from it. You can’t escape it. That leaves one other option on the table. You got to embrace it. Embrace the fact that everything changes.

Just like a caterpillar eventually becomes a butterfly, we all have to develop. It is then that we understand what it takes to get to the next level. That’s why many people don’t like change. We see it as a threat to our survival, as if change will create this shift in our lives. We also are afraid of the unknown, but we can’t escape uncertainty. This entire year was a pile of uncertainty, and it still is. Yes, it created a shift for many of us.

A lot of tragic things happened this year. And we had no say or control. That is a powerful truth. You can’t control everything. I’ve learned that there are things beyond my capabilities and trusting God takes care of the burden of doing it by myself. Accepting change doesn’t mean you are relinquishing the power you have. It just means that you understand that change is inevitable. This powerful truth will set you free.

What has the pandemic taught you about life and yourself? Comment below.

Keep Pushing

Vanessa