Everything can flip in a matter of a moment

I was having a conversation with a teenager that I coach on life issues. He is back home after falling ill at school in order to get finer treatment and recuperate. I started working with him during the first lockdown. Oh, how the time has flown by.

In one of the conversations the other day, he mentioned how he works very well at home and this was because of the extended lockdown where he learnt how to manage his time and to study alone. He mastered the art of time management.

Then I thought about it, one year ago, as a country and as a people we were in a completely different space from where things are now. The new Omicron wave of Covid- 19 was ravaging the country and many children were down. Schools, which had been previously opened, were closed indefinitely yet again.

I was upset that time. My children were struggling with online learning and yet we were spending heavily on school fees, the internet expenses as well as having them home all the time. During that time, many people lost their lives. It was almost the norm that someone you knew personally was going to be pronounced dead on a daily basis. The death toll was rising and the cloud of death lay heavy upon us. It was dark. It was scary.

I remember the friends who were battling the disease. The medical bills were crazy and the general atmosphere was frightening. At that point, everyone wore a mask and hand washing was the norm.

One year later, we see another picture. The sun is coming up after the big storm that hit our world has passed. Life changed in many directions. In our streets of life, lay the debris from the destruction that came because of the storm. Sometimes it feels like there are broken trees and leaves all over our environment.

Regardless, the world is picking up the pieces. The children are back in school and there is an attempt at going back to what was normal, the new normal.

Times like these remind us to be grateful because there are many lessons from the experiences, however grave. They remind us not to take life for granted. Everything can flip and change in a matter of a moment.

What are you thankful for? They say, necessity brings innovation and creativity. We grow in the moments of adversity. We are sharpened. We create and in the end, we become better because we did not fall apart. Even in the falling apart, we get up and build better. I challenge you to be thankful. To see the forest instead of the tree. Because even in the night, growth happens and joy comes in the morning.