Be positive during the time of Lockdown due to Covid-19

India has been under lockdown for the last 5 days. Mental stability and keeping a cool head during a crisis is very important. These are difficult times, more so because we have never been through a crisis of this magnitude during our lifetimes. Some of us might have heard stories about World War II and other epidemics decades back but we never faced them. So its quite normal for human beings to get frustrated in the current scenario. Social media and 24/7 news is not good. Too much of negative news wreck havoc with your mental balance. So its better to keep away from such negative thoughts.
In the last 2 decades of my corporate life and specially in the last 10 years, I have heard multiple people say that they are compromising their family life for a great future for their children. Its also true that our daily commute from office to work and vice versa takes a lot of time. COVID-19 is a precarious situation for the mankind and for a country like India where there is no social security, its a big economic disruption for lakhs of people in this country. But, this current lockdown has multiple positives as well if we stop thinking too much ahead of time.
First things first, its important to stay positive. Don’t look or think far ahead and neither start a countdown to 14th April because the lockdown period can invariably increase if new COVID-19 positive cases doesn’t stop. Hence, treat it as a problem which we all will overcome one day but don’t keep a target date because otherwise frustration will increase. Treat each day as a new day and go ahead with your daily activities. I would like to talk a little bit here about Stockdale Paradox which I read in the book called, Good to Great by Jim Collins. You can read more about James Stockdale, on whom Jim Collins based his theory, here. James Stockdale was a Prisoner of War between 1965 to 1973 in Vietnam. James Stockdale and his wife later wrote a book, called, In Love and War. After reading this book and understanding the level of distress and torture that Admiral James Stockdale went through during his period as a POW, Jim Collins met him and here is a small snippet of their discussion:
“If it feels depressing for me, how on earth did you deal with it when you were actually there and did not know the end of the story?” – Jim asked.
“I never lost faith in the end of the story,” he said, “I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade.
“Who didn’t make it out?”
“Oh, that’s easy,” he said. “The optimists.”
“The optimists? I don’t understand,” I said, now completely confused, given what he’d said a hundred meters earlier.
“The optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say, ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart.”
This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end – which you can never afford to lose – with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.
So in a nutshell. Stockdale Paradox means, “you must retain faith that you will prevail in the end and you must also confront the most brutal facts of your current reality.”
Naturally with lockdown in place, one can’t go out of home other than purchasing essential items which might be once in 3 days. So, its important to break up your day in parts and start doing things which you were unable to do in your busy schedules.

1. Exercise Daily
2. Chat incessantly with your family
3. Play with your kids
4. Read Books or participate in webinars
5. Pick up new skills.
6. Help out your spouse in the kitchen or other daily chores.
7. Put some extra effort in your work because you are working from home.
8. Listening to songs or watching movies.
9. Call your friends and talk with them.
10. Start a new hobby or restart a hobby which you had as a child.

For me on a normal working day, I used to spend about 4 hours on the road (to and fro office). This current lockdown has turned out to be a huge time saver. Getting an extra 4 hours everyday is a blessing and it gives me immense pleasure to spend time with my kids. Walking and exercising with my son on the terrace in the mornings and playing ludo with my daughter in the evenings are specific highs for me in this lock down period. Seeing my kids excited to have breakfast, lunch and dinner with me everyday gives me a lot of happiness. I personally like to read a lot and this period is allowing me to do that. Similarly I love to write and I am having enough time to think and write on various topics.
So friends, lets realise that we are locked down for a significant amount of time. We all have a lot of problems in life but right now we are fighting against an unknown enemy and whats most important is to win this battle first. Each and everyone will have difficulties in this lockdown, some less and some more but all are in some or the other kind of difficulty. As our honourable PM, Mr. Narendra Modi said, “Jaan hai toh Jahaan hai”, hence lets stay inside and utilise this time to the best of our abilities.
I will appreciate if you give me any ideas that you think I missed out of this post. Lets try and make this as interactive as possible!

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