To be patient or be a patient?
The only 2 possibilities of life in times of the Coronavirus.
“Patience is not the ability to wait
but how you act while you’re waiting”.
— Joyce Meyer
Patience gives you the calm to accept things that now have a different order. Easier said than done in such surreal times, right? From panic buying to living life in snippets, we are struggling to create a semblance of our new normal.
Sometimes, it doesn’t matter which side of the fence you get off on, what matters is you get off. Once you get off, that side is the chosen one and you can only make progress if you accept your fate.
Fortunately, most of us are on the side, which lets us be who we are. Although in constrained territories, we still can make small progress, make these times memorable and productive, and let creativity get the better of us.
If I try to analyze the current situation with my UXer’s hat on, I am looking at solutions and not the problem. If we belittle our fears of uncertainty, change, and tragedy, and look at this crisis with a fresh set of eyes; we might be able to see a silver lining to all of this.
Let’s try and understand the Who, What, Why, and How of our situation.
WHO
Who are the people involved and who do we need the Quarantine to work for?
For us. We have known this answer all along.
But let’s look at the WHO in us.
- The patients who are infected and doing their best to recover.
- All healthcare workers working round the clock risking their own lives to keep patients alive and others at bay from the deadly coronavirus.
- The shipping, packaging, and delivery men working exhausting shifts to ensure we get what we need within the safe walls of our home.
- The policemen and Government officials, who are setting protocols in place for our safety and making sure we get financial aid to move forward together.
- The bored to tears children, adults, and elderly, who are eagerly waiting for Coronavirus to complete its world tour so we can all move on with our lives.
WHAT
What is it we are doing?
This is a more important question.
Yes, we all react to the same situation differently and have different defense mechanisms to stay sane. It is the most beautiful aspect of being human, but it also defines how we are in this. Are we united?
- Are we ostracizing those contracting the virus or supporting them by words of comfort and getting them essentials?
- Are we breaking the law and putting hundreds at risk or are we ensuring the safety of ourselves and others?
- Are we playing the blame game or creating a world where we can rely on each other?
Most of us have splendid Linkedin profiles describing ourselves as creative problem-solvers and game-changers. This is our moment! Change the game in a way that each one of us has a unique Corona story to tell when we go back into the world, alive and kicking!
WHY
This is the question that answers our problem statement.
What tools do we need to succeed through these times? Why are we getting stuck and why is this a common place for everyone?
We weren’t leading a perfect life before Corona. Most of us wanted a better work-life balance. We wanted —
a little less stress,
a little more family time,
a slightly slower pace to make time for hobbies,
or just the opportunity to upskill our careers.
Now when life has given us time to pause and re-assess our options, we are letting fear take the better of us and are complaining our way back into the same life.
DISCLAIMER ALERT —
“Don’t get stuck here for this pause may never come back!
Take a pen and paper and write what you want from life and how you want to move forward.
HOW
“How” we move forward is the approach we choose to reach our Goal.
We often have a very good idea of how we want to go about accomplishing a task. Things may not always work as per plan but plans can be revised and better actions can be adopted. We cannot control the future, but we can control the present.
So, knowing ourselves is the first step.
Accepting is the second.
Planning and acting as per the plan is the third.
While hope and faith can turn anything into reality.
Thus, “to be patient” is any day a better alternative than “being a patient”, because standing on the other side of the fence means a blur of view of the world that may be possible if you survive the storm.
So let’s be patient, let’s be human, and show solidarity.
