Kristiyana Damyanova, Shvishtov

What are the lessons the coronavirus “taught” me?

Once someone had told me that life is a labyrinth and that each of us chooses the direction we will take. This direction very often confronts us with various obstacles that we have to overcome, and they put us to test or force us to make sacrifices in order to continue on our way forward. Ordeals are not accidental they exist to give us valuable lessons, strengthening our will, helping us to answer a number of important life questions and to understand that the truth is in the small, tiny things that we usually do not notice.

Hurrying through our daily routines, we do not appreciate LIFE – the most important and the most precious thing we have. So then, when something happens that threatens it, we understand.

Suddenly everything changed for me, for my family, for the people in my city, in my country, in Europe, in the world… Something very small that we cannot even see with the naked eye turned the life of the whole planet upside down – the coronavirus. It brought confusion, fear, panic … death. In order to survive, to stay healthy, we had to impose our will and stay at home.

Like most young people, I was angry because I wasn’t allowed to see my friends or to go for a walk in the park. Instead of going to school we were staying home “talking” remotely to teachers and classmates, and were overwhelmed with homework and many lessons.

One day, while I was surfing the Net, I read the following sentence: “If it rains in your life, focus on the flowers that will bloom because of it.” At first, I didn’t think about what the sentence said.

But on the next day I read a story about a misfortune that befell a ruler and what a lesson he was learning. Then I realized that the pandemic had given me some important lessons about life and about my outlook on it.

The first lesson is that health is the most important thing in the life of any living creature. It does not have a price tag, like most things in our daily existence. Sometimes we irresponsibly let him go. We probably cling too much to trivial and insignificant things in our life and remain blind to what is truly valuable. In a hurry to grab everything from the world, we turn our backs on what we are losing. We are not here only to take what we can from life, but to give it what we can. I realized that coming into this world is a great privilege that I should not waste lightly.

The time, which I spent at home, was also devoted to activities that give me pleasure such as painting. I do not deal with it professionally, but I do it for pleasure. I like to see flowers blooming on a white sheet, mountains rising, rivers meandering.

Another activity filled my time too – reading. I like reading books on different topics because through them I experience other people’s fortunes, rejoice and grieve with them and learn different life lessons.

The time which I spent isolated has taught me to look at and to appreciate things I have passed by or underestimated before. The restrictions imposed by the pandemic made me more responsible to my homework chores – I helped with the housework and took more care of my room, even making some changes to make it more pleasant and cozy. Yet the most valuable to me was that I spent more time with my family – we talked, we had fun playing various family games, we laughed. Because everyone was in a hurry somewhere until now, I haven’t felt so tangible the love between us, the need to be wanted and to be useful to someone. This was the other lesson – LOVE BETWEEN PEOPLE. This is the feeling that gives you sensibility of happiness. It makes you feel needed, makes your life meaningful and makes you feel alive!

The third lesson that the coronavirus “taught” me is that we should not take anything for granted. Before it appeared in my life, and not only in mine, my daily life seemed to be scheduled, – at school, at home, meeting friends. Suddenly everything changed. The school went on in a way I never before imagined existed – remotely. At the beginning, it was quite difficult for me because I missed the contact with my classmates, the presence of the teacher. I did not like the fact that we study this way, but I decided that it was another challenge to overcome, and it gives me a chance to improve my grades and I think I succeeded. I became more disciplined and responsible and realized that experience strengthen the spirit and gives power to the mind.

I learned that life is a series of lessons, which to be understood must be experienced. I realized that I need to value and respect people and how transient life is. Instead of arguing and upsetting, we need to understand and help each other and thus set an example.

And as one ancient philosopher had said: “Only the strongest can overcome Great ordeals.”