An Optimistic Perspective on the COVID-19 Pandemic
If you’re reading this, you’ve likely already read many articles about the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of those articles were probably depressing in some way. After all, we’re in the middle of one of those history-changing events that will have its own chapter in future history textbooks, but so far there isn’t much to be positive about: event cancellations, school closures, supply shortages, short-term and long term economic hardships, opportunity loss, and most unfortunate, people are dying. This also might be the just tip of the iceberg. Sounds pessimistic.
But I’m usually optimistic and during this time, I want to remain optimistic. In fact, I’m going to write about nothing but some of the good things that might come from this pandemic. I want to drink the lemonade we can make from this large helping of lemons we are all being served.
There are some potentially positive consequences that could arise from all this. So, I’m going to speculate about a few of those. However, accurate forecasting is near a statistical impossibility, so I will most definitely be wrong on many (or all), but reminding ourselves of these possibilities might just help keep our mind off the negative and keep us going strong during these times of boredom, sickness, or physical and emotional challenges.
The first potential benefit might be to the environment. You’ve likely read about this impact. I was recently moved when seeing imagery of a pollution-free sky over China while everyone in the area was in quarantine. Likewise, seeing some clear water in Venice, Italy which is usually polluted was equally surprising. Shutting down factories and driving less for a few weeks or months, might not make much of a difference in the long run but perhaps if our habits change enough, we can reduce some of the future damage to the environment. Whether or not you think climate change is manmade, we should still do what’s in our power to keep our planet livable for our children. In essence, for every car ride you and I don’t take in the next few weeks or months due to quarantining ourselves, think of the slightly fresher air we can breathe tomorrow. Where I live in Utah, due to weather inversions, emissions and particulates can quickly accumulate in the air and become dangerous to our health. If the new norm was less driving in general after this is over, perhaps the new norm will be cleaner air too.
If cleaner air isn’t enough to make a big difference, what about more exercising? Many people are stuck at home with a lot more time on their hands. A common excuse before March 2020 was, “we didn’t have time to exercise”. We now have those 30 more minutes every day, (and maybe more than that) to get our heart rates up and burn some calories. If we all developed a habit of more exercise and a more active lifestyle, we could offset the deleterious effects of other diseases which we aren’t reading about right now but we will care about when we are older. The research is pretty solid on exercise and it’s rare to find a person who doesn’t agree with that research. But many of us don’t do what we know is good for us. This might be the time to change our habits and use the time to make our lives better. Perhaps we’ll all get tired of Netflix, Disney+, and Hulu in the coming weeks and replace those hours with exercise. If we play it right, a better, longer life might just be the gift COVID-19 is offering some of us, along with a smaller waistline.
Speaking of waistlines, the trend of obesity has a chance of reversing directions. What if, from all the worry of food shortages, we started consuming fewer calories and found that we do just fine? And then after this disease has blown over, we keep up a more reasonable caloric intake? I would guess that some of us could lose weight, take some pressure off our backs and knees and start enjoying life a lot more. It sounds weird but will COVID-19 eventually make us enjoy life more? Further, since people cannot go to restaurants, they’re making their own meals, which are usually healthier. People are learning to cook for themselves, and finding it a better option. When restaurants do open back up, perhaps the menu options will be a little more sustainable, with smaller portions, and healthier choices. People will always be excited to eat out again (myself included) but the memory of COVID might encourage them to not go back to the old ways of binging and eating that third piece of pie. Also, the restaurants might have to compete with people that can cook for themselves with healthier and cheaper options. I think that could be a good thing all around. Obesity itself has been called a slow-moving epidemic, but it doesn’t get the media attention that COVID-19 does. Maybe it will.
I suppose I should continue with the other health benefit, sleep. We aren’t staying up late at the movie theaters anymore, we aren’t watching late-night sports games, and we aren’t at clubs, bars, or restaurants in the middle of the night. Sure, we’re talking to loved ones virtually on our computers and smartphones, and maybe playing computer games late into the night, but at least now we have the opportunity to sleep more. The lack of sleep has been proven many times over to have major negative effects on our lives. Perhaps now, we can overcome that bad habit as a nation and as a world. Let’s go to sleep! We already tell each other to stay away from each other for health reasons. What if a future social norm was established telling each other to go to bed, again, for health reasons? That is a positive change I could embrace personally. Can COVID-19 help me sleep better? I don’t know, but I hope so.
What about beneficial hobbies that help ourselves and others? I finally found time to learn how to prune my fruit trees. I’ve been the owner of these poor fruit trees for five years and my dear wife was the one to always prune. Since one of my academic conferences was canceled I found a little more time one week to work in my backyard. An experienced neighbor came over and taught us the right way. COVID taught me how to prune. That’s a weird sentence but kind of true. What other things can I learn that will help my family, my community, my country, and my world? This is perhaps a once in a lifetime opportunity to sharpen my saw and become a better friend, father, husband, and citizen. Am I taking advantage of it? Why don’t I learn how to install that light? Why don’t I learn how to code in that programming language? Why don’t I pick up that guitar? Write that book? Sketch that drawing? Cook that meal? Try that sport? And build that go-kart for my son? An unintended consequence of the COVID-19 quarantine may be more capable and prepared individuals across the world to be better contributors to each other's lives. I applaud all the organizations who are opening up their online courses for free and sharing educational materials to anyone who wants it. If someone was giving you a thousand dollars and the only stipulation was that you had to use the full amount to develop a hobby or talent, would you take it? Probably yes, and that’s the offer right now from all these companies. Take the thousand dollars (and in a way even more) and invest in your future self. You, your family, and your community will benefit from the increased skills, expertise, and knowledge you’ll gain.
The spill-over lessons to other domains will also be beneficial. COVID-19 is, hopefully, a short-term disaster and has sadly already taken lives we did not want to lose. Unfortunately, hundreds and thousands also die each day in car accidents, acts of violence, drug abuse, and other diseases. I’m hopeful that the collective effort and momentum we’ve developed in dealing with coronavirus will extend to tackling these other issues in the future. The lessons we learn now could apply to other slower-moving disasters. For example, perhaps billions of dollars should be spent in developing self-driving cars so that humans can be removed from behind the steering wheel and so that tens of thousands of people do not die from human fatigue, distraction, or intoxication each year. Self-driving cars do not suffer from any of those and we would save countless lives. The human capital it would save seems on par with the lives we can save during the COVID-19 outbreak. Take this really serious global response to coronavirus and apply it to the next set of issues and we have a wonderful future ahead of us.
All right. I don’t know if you’re feeling any more optimistic after reading the above set of speculations, but I’ll end with my rapid-fire list of positive outcomes that could (eventually) come from this terrible ordeal we are facing. Also, I won’t expand on these future projections like I did above, but consider talking about these with your loved ones instead of all the negative stuff that hits our inboxes hourly.
In the future, we hold more dinners at home with the full family in attendance (or with all of our roommates or with all of our friends)
In the future, traffic congestion is reduced after people realize they don’t have to go out as often or can work from home one or more day per week
In the future, everybody washes their hands more often and longer reducing the spread of other diseases that are passed in the same way
In the future, we appreciate our grandparents and the elderly more and visit with them remotely and virtually more frequently
In the future, we waste less food, toilet paper, and money remembering how much we had to go without during the weeks or months of 2020
In the future, we don’t complain quite so much about the small things in life that are mere annoyances
In the future, we share and help each other more as we had to during the first part of 2020.
In the future, we won’t take for granted the resources we have, the time we have, and the luxuries we enjoy in this modern world
In the future, we’ll be more balanced focusing on both long-term and short-term aspects of our lives
In the future, we’ll be a little more prepared for dealing with pandemics and other types of disasters
Although these are nothing more than my personal projections, I really don’t know what the future holds. But some good things can come from bad times. Yes, I’m not about to ever raise my glass to COVID-19 but I am optimistic we can come out on the other side better in some major ways.
Please follow the recommended procedures to stay safe and stay healthy! And (eventually) have a great day!
