Accepting the Possible
I am writing this piece, the day after me and my family tested negative for COVID. It has been a tough two weeks for us.
During this time, I realised something. Until and unless something affects us personally, we do not realise the intensity and more importantly, the possibility of it.
In times of adversity, many of us tend to think, “why is this happening with us?” or maybe “is it possible that this can happen/is happening, to us?”
For some reason, till we are personally affected by misfortune, we tend to think of ourselves as someone who lie outside the spectrum of normalcy.
I will take myself for example. Before COVID struck, I kept myself away from the news and only concentrated on my professional work and personal projects (for which I even wandered outside with precautions). Although I knew I was surrounded by a virus which was plaguing the whole world, I had this unreasonable sense of security that it will not affect me or my family.
This “security” was broken to bits, when last week, I was struggling to find a hospital bed for my grandfather whose oxygen level suddenly dropped due to the virus.
I saw my grandmother panicking, while my parents — who were hospitalised themselves — were trying to make sense of the situation over the phone.
At that very moment, I realised, the sheer possibility of anything and everything.
I understood that we can only try to be safe, maybe from a virus, or while walking through an empty alleyway at night and it’s a possibility we can get affected and attacked respectively. We can try to be strong, but it is possible that we can become vulnerable.
However, I also understood that, if we can accept the “possibility” of any situation, it also makes us better equipped to deal with it.
For example, post our COVID skirmish, I am tracking every bit of news about the virus to stay on top of things and take the necessary precautions. More so, I have also begun to share important information through social media while lending an ear to near and dear ones who are afflicted. Again, all this is stemming from my personal tribulations.
This acceptance of the possible, is not only limited to the pandemic, but can work in every facet of life.
My only regret in the COVID case of me and my family is that, my acceptance came reactively and not proactively. Maybe I could have been better prepared?
But I am looking onwards and upwards as the harshest of moments can provide the most significant lessons.
