Four Positive Things Covid-19 Has Brought

Today we’re going to chat about Four Positive Things Covid-19 Has Brought. I planned on posting this sooner, but I have been struggling with actually finding the silver lining from this pandemic. 🌈

Having said that, there are some positives that came out from the coronavirus pandemic. These relate to the impact the pandemic and lockdown have had to the environment, to human relationships, to jobs and so on.

There are a lot of negatives and so much that was lost because of this pandemic, that I feel it’s vital we recognise the silver linings. In this post, we will explore some only four positive things Covid-19 has brought.

Now is as important as ever, to be grateful for the lessons learned from Covid, and to look into what we can do better when the pandemic ends. ✌🏽

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1.We learned who our true friends are and got rid of superficial friendships

Very early in this pandemic I found out who my true friends are and who needs out of my life. To be honest, the last couple of years I’ve been in this self-appreciation trip, where I cleared up fake friends and fake people in general from my life. I’ve applied this to all relationships, including work.

Around the 27-28 year old mark, something shifted inside me. I reached a point where I decided to stop caring about what people think or expect of me. Instead, I began focusing on myself, on what I want my life to look like, and what makes me happy (or unhappy). I started making changes that would have a positive impact on my wellbeing.

The coronavirus pandemic was just the cherry on top of the cake, in regards to this. I have heard other people mentioning this, too. How, as soon as the pandemic hit, people started falling out of your life like flies. Only the true ones stayed put. And that is not a bad thing, actually.

Very few people took the time to text or call to ask if I was okay or to empathise with how our day to day life has changed.

From my personal experience, very few people took the time to text or call to ask if I was okay (I work in healthcare) or to empathise with how our day to day life has changed. And the silence of those who didn’t was very loud and very clear.

In fact, this is what made me wake up one day in July, and just start deleting Facebook and Instagram “friends”. Next, I went through my “contacts” and only kept people who I’ve spoken with the last year -everyone else took the boot. 👋🏽

2. Air pollution was reduced because of the lockdowns and the pandemic is silently saving the planet

I have read many scientific articles and watched numerous videos that talk about how lockdown had a positive impact on air pollution and the environment in general.

The fact that everything stopped moving all of a sudden, including commuting to work and travelling with airplanes, meant CO₂ emissions drastically reduced.

That had a direct impact on all the environmental damage we have done all these years. For the first time in a long time, the world slowed down. It felt as if the Earth managed to take a big breath in.

Personally, I feel this was so huge, and part of me wonders if Covid was the nature’s way of telling us to stop and take a step back.

The 3-minute video below, sums up the reasons I feel Covid was perhaps needed, in a way, to show us the damage we have done. It pinpoints the importance of being vegan and cruelty-free, too.

The video is in Greek, but it has English subtitles.

Also, this short BBC video explains how Covid might be saving our planet. This is why I strongly believe we need to start being kinder to Mother Nature. Talk about positive things from Covid-19!

3. Most companies were forced to embrace working from home, which reduced employee stress levels and positively affected work/life balance

Another positive thing Covid-19 has brought is that most companies were forced to adapt and allow their employees to work from home. Obviously, that was not the case for healthcare and retail workers and for people who were fired or furloughed.

Having said that, I have seen a lot of happy videos from people who, for the first time ever, began WFH. They all mention how their work/life balance has improved.

For many of them, commuting stopped being a thing. Plus, they potentially escaped toxic office environments. (IMO most office jobs have toxic environments, but that is a different topic for a different blog post 🙈).

Also, they were able to spent more time with their families and/or pets, because they were at home more. A lot of them don’t want to go back to the office, seeing their stress levels have reduced. In fact, certain companies, like Twitter, decided to support this.

This is an incredible victory for employees! Especially because some companies, prior to Covid, claimed it was impossible for staff to work from home permanently.

RELATED: How To Protect Your Mental Wellbeing

4. The loss of jobs led people to take the leap and start their own shops or small businesses

It is very true that many small businesses suffered and still suffer from the hit of the pandemic. However, I have seen many people, who decided to take a leap of faith and launch the Etsy Shop/ online business they’ve dreamed of for years and years during lockdown. And they did so exactly because they lost their job and had no real alternative with everything being shut.

This is quite amazing, and I am so proud of everyone that has taken this step -regardless of whether they succeeded or not.

It takes such guts to pour money, hard work and tears to a business, especially during the uncertain financial world of coronavirus.

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So, there you have it! The Four Positive Things Covid-19 Has Brought as best I could find them.

I will not lie, as I mentioned earlier, this post was quite the struggle. For every positive I found, my mind was like “But this happened, and this person died” and so on, you get the picture.

Constantly so many negatives popped up, and I tried really hard to not be a Karen about it all!

I hope you enjoyed reading this! Let me know in the comments, what are some positive changes YOU noticed in your life because of the coronavirus pandemic???

Ly all and stay safe! 😷

M. x