Surfing the Crisis

To say that this pandemic and the ensuing stay-at-home period took us all by surprise is trite at this point.

In order to make sense of it, many of us scoured the news for updates on the pandemic. We wanted to better understand the virus, how it was spreading and what the latest figures were in our countries. I know that I wasn’t the only one checking Worldometer daily or even hourly to see what the infection numbers in Nigeria were.

When I found out that the index case had been discovered I was horrified. I watched with increasing terror as the numbers moved from the single digits into the double digits. Now, as the number of active cases is in five digits, I haven’t checked Worldometer in weeks. Neither do I religiously follow the Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC) Twitter handle as I used to.

I realised what I should have weeks ago: that the infection rate was out of my control. Sure, I can practise all the guidelines that have been laid out by the experts and ensure that the members of my household do the same. I can pass along verified bits of information to family and friends. But the behaviour of people outside of my circle of influence (and there are many) is out of my control.

The constant deluge of news was starting to stress me out.

This is coupled by the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it economic instability. Countless companies were forced to work from home and adapt the delivery of their services to the online space. For those who were unable to do this, it meant indefinite closure and for some, sadly, going out of business.

By mid April or so, I discovered that I needed to be intentional about the news and the rate at which I took it in. I needed to be intentional about how I spend my time.

I have heard it said that “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste.”

It certainly is. It’s a good time to review your business and make important decisions that will help you not just survive but take advantage of the new living and working conditions in ways that enable you flourish.

From a personal point of view, it is a wonderful time to catch-up with friends and family who you haven’t seen or spoken to in ages (we all know how daily life can be a race from the moment your eyelids flutter open).

I sent the WhatsApp messages that I’m sure we have all received by now: “Hi. I’m just checking in that you and your family are fine.”

I have called people I haven’t spoken to in absolutely ages (some in years!!!) and it has been wonderful.

And although I haven’t blogged quite as regularly as I planned, I did blog more than usual. I completed 3 online coursed (I said COMPLETED not just started. A phenomenal feat for me!!!).

One of the courses was on writing fiction and so I started writing stories for the first time since early secondary school. It has been both a nostalgic and exciting exercise, but one which has required me to put aside any self-consciousness that I feel when crafting and writing my stories.

It will be probably be a while before I have anything of note to share publicly, but then I also started podcasting. I will write more about this later. But one thing I think I had forgotten was the feeling of starting a new project and have it consume you totally (in a good way). It was exhilarating and I feel like a baby in many ways, exploring and seeing the world with new eyes.

I feel we should all start new projects from time to time. We should all learn something new that totally and maybe unexpectedly takes our breath away, as we struggle to be good at it but relishing the experience all the same.