5 Valuable Life Lessons From the COVID-19 Pandemic
Positive takeaways from a negative time in our lives.
There’s no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic was one of the most difficult times you’ll ever face.
The lonely isolation.
The annoying restrictions.
Or the heartbreaking loss of life.
But despite the mix of negative emotions, we can use the experience the pandemic has given us to our advantage.
That which does not kill us makes us stronger.
So, we can apply the lessons we’ve learned from the pandemic to make life more joyful, fulfilling, and intentional.
Here are five such lessons.
1. Life Will End (Eventually)
By now, many people have become robotic in their lifestyles.
That is, they wake up at the same time, drink the same coffee, and work the same 9–5 job.
As a result, life passes by quickly, and they don’t have time to stop and acknowledge the real value of life.
They get caught up so much in the frustrations of their job that they forget to appreciate the beautiful moments.
They forget that life is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
But, the pandemic involved a lot of death — virtually all media outlets droned on and on about the latest COVID mortality rates.
And so the pandemic serves as a wake-up call that you only live once.
So, it’s important to live life to the fullest potential — otherwise, you won’t notice it flying by.
When the end comes, you don’t want to regret the opportunities you haven’t taken.
Rather, you want to cherish those that you have taken.
2. Family is a Gift
It’s said that you don’t realize the importance of something until you lose it.
And the unfortunate reality is that during the pandemic, millions have lost families, either temporarily or permanently.
Young adults stuck studying thousands of miles away from their families.
Senior citizens locked away in residential homes for their safety.
Or the brightness of life slowly fading away in the hospital bed.
In every possible way, the family life you’ve always experienced vanished in the blink of an eye.
Consequently, many realized just how much love, compassion, and support family provides — something that had always been simply taken for granted.
People began feeling emotions they’d never felt before, like loneliness, frustration, and sadness.
It’s as if a chunk of the heart had suddenly been torn out.
So the pandemic serves as a reminder that families are a gift. It’s important to realize just how much you need this gift in your life.
(Spoiler alert: you need it a lot!)
Take time to appreciate the happy family moments in your life. Enjoy it while your loved ones are still around.
Love, support, unity.
That’s what families are for, after all.
3. Success is Just Around the Corner
Because of pandemic closures and unemployment, we saw a rapid increase in available online resources.
People turned to online learning, creating an online presence, and finding online jobs — because they had no other options.
As a result, many found a voice they never thought they had, and they discovered that they could succeed in fields they never dreamed of.
Sites like YouTube, TikTok, or Medium flourished with new, successful users.
Online seminars, courses, and online meetings became the new norm.
And with more time available to yourself, you could find an opportunity for lots of self-investment.
You suddenly had the time to build an exercise habit like you said you would two years ago.
You learned how to code and created an online business.
I, for example, spent my time studying for international science competitions and learning new languages.
Whichever the case, more time could be allocated for hobbies. With practice, you could grow successful in those hobbies.
And so the pandemic proves that with just a bit of effort, success in any field is possible.
You can always find the time to succeed in meaningful activities.
Remember: success is just around the corner, a few good steps away.
4. Make Your Own Decisions
The pandemic has drawn people closer to the media. People looked for their “most trusted news source”, searching for the latest COVID updates.
But consider CNN or Fox News — two completely opposing media outlets which share completely different takes on things.
And worst of all, they spend half of their time claiming the other one is manipulating its viewers.
For a moment, imagine that one night you watched both sources. How would you feel?
Confused, probably. Torn between the two sides of a heated debate.
One side tells you vaccine mandates save the world, the other claims vaccines are stupid misinformation.
One side claims Putin is causing worldwide inflation, the other ridicules Asia and their “China virus”.
With that conflict, your decision-making goes bonkers.
Thus, it’s essential not to rely on others, like a news presenter, to make your decision for you.
Don’t let their biases determine your fate.
Instead, focus on gathering information from both perspectives. Do your best to find the real facts and disprove the devious myths.
Then, combine the information you’ve gathered to create your own opinions.
Whether it be vaccines, voting, or whatever happens in the world, it’s up to you to make your decisions, regardless of what the media tries to convince you.
You do you, boo.
5. Be Ready to Adapt
There are a few things most people, like you and me, really don’t like. Taxes, bugs, nails on a chalkboard, or stinky breath, to name a few.
But there’s one thing people are always allergic to: big, dramatic change.
People like it things stay the same — it’s easy to learn to do the same things over and over again.
Without worrying about doing anything different.
It’s like setting up dominoes — everything goes smoothly until one of them falls.
When change comes, causing one domino to fall, the others fall as well.
So you have to start over. Reset the dominoes, learn new things, and adjust to new circumstances.
And that’s difficult.
Hard as hell.
The pandemic involved gigantic change. It’s the first time many experienced restrictions, isolation, and a completely different lifestyle.
For the first months, if not the first year, so many people struggled to adjust to that change.
They struggled because they weren’t prepared for change.
For the future, the pandemic has taught us that you have to be ready to adapt to any drastic changes that might happen in your life.
The loss of a loved one, change of job, or application rejection. Don’t let those negative changes devastate you for too long.
Life happens, and sometimes it sucks.
But you gotta keep moving forward.
