Times have indeed changed upon us and we find ourselves in a situation that we did not anticipate just under two months ago. I mean we had heard about some strange disease in China but as usual we laughed it off or were just bothered about relatives living in China because we all thought this was going to be a “China thing” and it would be over in no time. Wrong! We all got it wrong, including the powers that could have helped China contain the situation. World politicking got those we think of as our leaders to play baseless politics with this situation, thinking that this was something that could disgrace China and slow down the pace at which they were garnering world power. Little did they consider that all of us were going to be affected in ways we couldn’t fathom. Just a little something to get you thinking; perhaps those we claim to be fantastic leaders just because they lived in so-called developed countries, are not all that after all. Bad leadership is not an African thing…but I digress.
What some are now calling quarantine is literally what has been my way of doing things most of my adult life.
Y’all welcome to the life of willful solitude. Perhaps I could share some useful insights on how we can spend these “alone” times in a manner that will be beneficial to ourselves, to those dear to us and indeed to the rest of the world.
Though this situation is challenging, it is also an opportunity. Apart from some health workers, we all have some extra time on our hands. Even if you’re working from home, you’ve now gained your travel time. If you love sports like I do, you now definitely have some extra time on your hands as nothing is happening at the moment. Yeah, it sucks but we’ve got to make it count. This is an opportunity which may never come again, considering how busy some of our schedules are.
How to spend your time during this quarantine season.
There are many things we can do with this newfound time, e.g. the 3Rs:
Reading, Researching, wRiting (the “w” is silent :))
We can use this time to read, research, meditate, write, explore our creativity etc. Let’s not allow this time to pass us by, because by the time things return to normal, there’ll be loads of work to do in order to recover and get things back to where we all want them to be. Let us therefore make sure we come out of this more knowledgeable about ourselves, our faith, work, children, spouses (some of y’all ladies are coming out pregnant…lol) etc.
We can make good use of free online courses to position us as better employees, entrepreneurs, teachers etc.
We can also think carefully about goods and/or services that will be in high demand once doors get reopened and we are trying to recover from this major disruption.
There will be loads of money to be made and so the time for innovation is now! You may be a Computer Science student in a country where your services will be much needed. What applications could you develop to help shift education online without having to overly invest in big servers and intense use of data?
What other challenges has this situation exposed that we could take advantage of? Let’s start thinking of solutions and put together Business plans and proposals now. This situation may be a challenge but with it comes endless opportunities.
Let’s start thinking and discussing; very soon, it’ll be time to act.
God bless us all.
Written by:
Mr Emanuel Sawyerr, a part time Lecturer and student.
connect with him on Instagram: @Tomsea77
Thank you so much Sawyerr this insightful post.
Till next time,
Afiya.