New Year, new challenges… that is what we thought when 2021 began. Three months into the year and we realized nothing is changing anytime soon. We are in another year for sure but the challenges remain the same. The pandemic tamed our minds last year but this year it is here to kick us in our gut. The second wave as many like to call it; was sudden, mutated and if that wasn’t enough, deadlier than before. Governments are at a loss in terms of the course of action hereon. Economies are struggling, people are being laid off, young kids are succumbing to depression; it is a choke block situation. Though the things do not look very promising, here’s a thought – all great comedies come out of tragedies.

The concept of humour arises from an incident/situation gone completely wrong. Humour is not independent of loss but is coping mechanism towards acceptance. When things do not pan out as planned every individual has two choices: 1. to mull over the situation, stress about it and wait for things to get better or 2. Understand that this is beyond my control, make fun of it and think about the next step. The second wave of pandemic puts us exactly in this premise, where we have two choices; either we give up or simply watch it as a spectator and understand that there is only this much we can control. Hence, the first step to survive the second wave of the pandemic is to understand that this situation is greater than us. So don’t forget to laugh a little louder!
All of us go through highs and lows in life. Some days are great and the others not so much; but the amazing part is – nothing is permanent. No feeling or emotion lasts forever. It is easy to give up on a situation and feel sorry for yourself but it takes immense courage to stand tall in an adverse situation and fight it. Though things may not look up right now, they soon will.

Remember: Hope is a good thing, maybe best of the things and no good thing ever dies. – Andy Dufresne (The Shawshank Redemption).
Last but not the least, let us strive to be better human beings and learn the art of gratitude. When a calamity occurs on a large scale like the Covid-19, it is often to teach humanity a thing or two. Though we are the most gifted species on the planet, there is no end to our greed and to satisfy it we disrupt nature by our actions. Times like these are here to remind us to count our blessings and be grateful for everything that we took for granted so far. Let’s stop cussing and sulking about things that we don’t have!

Lastly: ‘Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.’ – Rainer Maria Rilke