What a bizarre year 2020 it has been to say the least. Pandemonium, absolute
pandemonium is what we have witnessed this year. Events we never thought in our wildest
dreams to become possible are happening as we speak. Human life as we knew it till 2019
has been obliterated on an unprecedented scale.
A little-known virus allegedly from China has changed the very fabric of human existence on
the planet today. Lives are lost, businesses have been shut down, employees have been laid
off, world travel is banned, events have been canceled. Most importantly more than half of
the world’s population was put under a strict lockdown. Well, worldwide pandemics was
stuff we saw in Hollywood films taking it as thrilling entertainment and wondering what
would happen if such events creeps up into our reality. As they say ” Be careful what you
wish for” this worldwide pandemic is an international reality and we are in the thick of it.
When the whole world being upside down there are bound to be some profound effects on
humanity as a whole. Effects that in some cases are irreversible. Come along as we take you
through the seen and some unseen effects of this worldwide pandemic and what we have
learned or some positive take away’s from this whole ordeal.
The Financial Meltdown
While the whole world came to a halt there are bound to be some effects on the economic
system. The wheels of the economic system met a sudden stop due to the pandemic. People
laid off from work, manufacturing disruptions, global trade, and logistics restrictions,
reduced demands for goods and services, the aftermaths are just too many to count plus
one thing led too another and as we sit today US alone as seen a massive drop of 8% in its
total GDP. The US stock market too experienced massive fluctuations and a market crash on
February 20, 2020, famously called the coronavirus crash where the market saw a drop of
8000 points on the DJIA index bigger than the wall street crash of 1929. The Financial
environment has taken a turn for a worse has become highly unpredictable much like the
coronavirus situation.
But where do we stand in the current situation? One thing is for sure
we sure have a limited bandwidth of financial opportunity to play with since the pandemic
as the work trends change. Workforce lay off has been happening on a large scale as
unemployment hits new highs. April 2020 saw the worst hit with a figure of 14.7% on the US
unemployment rate scale. Compare that to the Nov 2019 figure of 3.5% we can clearly see
the propensity of the after-effects caused by Covid-19. Not only that the people have still
have their jobs have taken massive pay cuts as the employers are having to work with
reduced revenues and major swings in the business patterns.
But it’s the small scale
businesses and independent entreprenuer that have undergone an irreversible change. The
global lockdown and reduced demands have bought many business operations to less than
crawling pace to the point where economic variability and survival of any small scale.
Business model is just about impossible as they don’t have the leverage of surplus funds as
most large scale business. There have been inevitable cuts on our incomes in one way or
another for both the working class and the small entrepreneurs. As a result the lifestyle we
used to enjoy and our affordability too has taken a dive. It might seem all negative and yes
the facts say it all as we enter into a world of limited financial opportunity. Plus the current
financial implications faced by our society as a whole has the potential of driving fear into
the imaginations of aspiring business owners making them think twice before they start a
new business venture as they are bound to remember the covid-19 situations as an event
that can happen again even when things do improve in the future.
As bleak as the situation might be the Covid-19 situation as left as with some constructive
take away’s. The sudden covid 19 situations did reveal the collective short-term financial
approach we have in our society today as within the first month or the lockdown or the job
layoffs a financial panic struck inside most of us. This pandemic certainly inspired for a
longer-term financial approach for the future in the form of regular savings and the
importance of being financially independent. Another pattern noticed in the pandemic
situation was the importance of multiple channels of income that need to be thought after
and executed for long term financial security.
Relying on a single income source does create
a dependency certainly something we don’t want in a situation like a global pandemic.
Another factor that’s indispensable in the concept of financial freedom is the importance of
owning a house. The additional liability of house rent exerts a further burden on any
individual that’s already wrestling with a layoff or a pay cut scenario that’s going to be ever
prevalent in such a worldwide calamity. Suffered financially we might have from the
financial meltdown but the covid 19 pandemic has paved the path for future financial
precautions that we should all subscribe to.
The Health and Lives Lost
Much like the pandemics in the last 100 years, Covid 19 too has possessed a reach of
unprecedented levels. The Spanish flu of 1918 comes to mind with its worldwide reach and
the obliteration of human lives it did. Covid 19 much like the Spanish flue of 1918 has
spread on a global level but it’s the speed of spread that baggers belief. Covid 19 pandemic
thrived on the much-advanced travel facilities and the liberal travel formalities we have in
the current world of 2020. As of date, we have 78604532 people globally affected by covid
19 in 222 countries. The current death toll stands at 1744235. Which when we take into
account the first reported case was no longer than a year ago is concerning to say the least.
Such devastation of the human life on earth at this rate speaks volumes and the extent of
the situation especially considering there is actually more to come with new cases coming
up every day.
The devastation we have witnessed in the past year is a sad reality that is here to stay until
an effective vaccine can be formulated. But the pandemic revealed an aspect about of lives
that at large we take for granted our health. For the majority of individuals, physical health
remains of little significance with much of us largely surfing from lifestyle induced health
problems. Reports suggest a healthy individual with a strong immune system is less likely to
be affected and more likely to recover faster from the Covid 19 virus. Eating immunity-
boosting foods and regular exercise to keep one’s cardiovascular health in check will go a
long way in helping us to counter the damage our bodies might take from the covid 19 virus.
Being healthy and giving thought to our immune system is paramount to the change we all
need to make in times like these but also for the future. if there is one takeaway for health
that this pandemic has granted us is “better being safe than sorry”. We don’t know what’s
lurking in the shadows for the future but we can be prepared to take it as it comes and
come out the other side unharmed.
The Physiological Shift – The Unseen Effects of Social Distancing
Humans, we are social animals, we interact, we are sensitive to one another, we need each
other to exist. All these things might be true but the coronavirus pandemic has had an
unseen effect on our collective physiology and the way we see social interaction. Social
distancing is a global phenomenon today with we being regularly advised to stay away from
and maintain distance between each other. A medical precaution to avoid further spread of
the virus and mitigate the highly contagious nature of the virus. But it’s not as simple as it
seems social distancing is changing we very nature of humans on which they have evolved
for thousands of years which is us losing touch with each other.
Just to put things in perspective imagine your social lives in the year 2019 and what it has come to in 2020. Social gatherings are limited by numbers, work has shifted to home, education institutes are conducting online classes, the national and international travel has come to a sudden halt.
All these events referring to the same thing the loss of true human touch and social
interactions are activities that bring us together. Even a single act of regard like a handshake
is avoided and is abolished.
The effects of the lost human touch and interaction is showing a
profound effect on people just in a year’s time. Reports and surveys were done in April-June
2020 suggest a clear deterioration of individuals’ mental health with an increase in
substance abuse, depression, and anxiety disorder all stemming from the drastic change in
the way we operate are as a social being. Like if the effects of the health and financial
complications were not enough social distancing has taken away the very structure of repair
and relief we had in social interaction and human touch.
On a positive note, the pandemic has been a blessing in disguise. The importance of some
things is only highlighted and bought to notice when we don’t have it. The pandemic has
shown the power of collective human consciousness and how much we need each other not
only to survive but also thrive. The importance of being together, feeding off from each
other works on a deeper level for human physiology than we in our lifetimes ever realized.
We should see this as an opportunity to evolve mentally as humans being mindful about our
social needs and taking care of our mental health. Rather than being emotionally invested in
the prevalent negativity that is going around right now we must find ways to keep our social
dialogue alive in a safe manner.
A Blessing in Disguise
2020 will always be the year we wished never happened. We live in interesting times today,
with a paradigm shift touching every aspect of our life. We all are tested in a different way
and forced to meet some hard truths of life. Uncertainty being the chief amount them. The
pandemic did do one thing it brought the best and the worst out of the whole human race.
We saw ego-centric doggy dog behavior showing an everyone for themselves mentality of
people and at the same time, we witnessed people ready to render a helping hand even if
they have to put their lives in danger in the process. But there is no denying it the challenge
is out there shrinking financial opportunities, the soaring threat of the virus infection, and
the ever present possibility of succumbing to the mental torment caused by the new world
order.
It’s all not negative but actually far from it, all we need to widen our gaze and look
into the blessings given to us in disguise from this worldwide pandemic. It has reminded us
of the importance of being financially independent and stable. It also has reminded us to
take care of our physical and mental health. Most importantly it was revealed the fact that
somethings can not go on forever and we need to value what we have while we have it as it
can be taken away from us in a moment’s time. We as a human race have been put under
enormous pressure in this pandemic but pressure reveals true character and it’s about time
we all rise up the moment for a positive change.
It’s about time to reform, time to restructure and mold ourselves to the new reality. It will take a while to recover from the damage caused by this pandemic in which the loss of life might be irreplaceable but the opportunity to rebuild is present. The state of our reality has changed same needs to happen on our lifestyle front. A lifestyle change is paramount to the whole scenario. A
lifestyle where we are more aware of our current reality and prepared for a the future.The
world was and will always will be an uncertain place it’s upon us how we react to the
change. This pandemic truly has the seed of growth in it and its upon us to take this
opportunity with both hands and progress ourselves to a evolved human race.
Refrances –
- U.S. unemployment rate: seasonally adjusted November 2020, Published by Erin Duffin,
Dec 9, 2020 - Baldwin, R and B Weder di Mauro (2020), Economics in the Time of COVID-19, a
VoxEU.org eBook, CEPR Press. - Economic consequences of Covid-19: A counterfactual multi-country analysis, Alexander
Chudik, Kamiar Mohaddes, M. Hashem Pesaran, Mehdi Raissi, Alessandro Rebucci 19
October 2020 - CDC, National Center for Health Statistics. Indicators of anxiety or depression based on
reported frequency of symptoms during the last 7 days. Household Pulse Survey. Atlanta,
GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, CDC, National Center for Health
Statistics; 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/mental-health.htm - Czeisler MÉ, Tynan MA, Howard ME, et al. Public attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs related
to COVID-19, stay-at-home orders, nonessential business closures, and public health
guidance—United States, New York City, and Los Angeles, May 5–12, 2020. MMWR Morb
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