Living the ‘new normal’ miles away from home

kuwait – The News Mill

To stay more than 4,000-kilometre away from your home is not always an easy decision to make. And in a crisis period, it’s even more difficult. To have a kid to look after adds up your responsibility. And on top of that, the constant concern for an aging mother at home definitely doesn’t make things easier.

I have been staying in Kuwait City since 2014 with my husband. Over the years the place has become close to my heart. The people around us, most of whom I didn’t know before coming here have become more than a family.

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed all of us to the walls. With the uncertainty and lockdown, I almost broke down. Many of us have gone through the same terrible time. Thousands of people have lost their jobs and they don’t know when they will be able to work again.

A horrible perception of unreal and uncertainty

Going through lockdown and spending every day by watching news, thinking and wondering what we knew was just a trailer and when the actual scenario started and actually happened, it feels unreal. The most uncertainty is that no one knows also when this pandemic will earth up and we can breathe freely and back to normal life. We can just guess and go with the flow with precautions.

Peeping into youngster’s mental health

The emotional wellbeing and introducing the outside world to children is just as important as their physical health. And in this lockdown, children will definitely be exhausting staying all time inside and becoming moody some time. My 3-year old shows her tantrums, sulking, whining, pouting to communicate her frustration, anger, displeasure with some situation out of anxiety because 24/7 she is inside and not getting fresh air and that is very much understandable.

Thankfully, we have a terrace to roam a bit but again staying in desert country it’s next to impossible to stay outside and open windows in the summer days.

These behaviours are not just limited to young children; either-teens do it because they haven’t always learned the skills to express their frustration in an appropriate way. It’s important to home a safe place to express different views instead of just blaming or accusing them.

How did I overcome depression?

I won’t lie, even I was in a severe depression in the first two months of lockdown due to many family-related sudden changes in this global lockdown. But I buckled up myself and kick started into my passion for photography.

And it worked wonders for me. It gave me the much-needed change and I could rediscover myself in the intoxicating sound of the shutter and images it created.

This is not about showcasing my talent but rescuing me from deep depression. I wait for my daughter to sleep all day till night and when she sleeps, I jump into my creative works and sometimes even I fall asleep with her out of tiredness and seriously I am feeling great now by exploring a little amount of myself into photography. I thank each and everybody whole heartedly who supported me to explore more in photography and boosted me up.

Silver linings of lockdown

We have genuinely embraced a couple of positive silver linings in the past few months of lockdown. A few of them are:

  • It was a must-needed rest for mother earth
  • Reducing pollution worldwide
  • Cleaner indoor and outdoor
  • We are realizing that we can replace fast foods at home in a healthy way
  • The gift of time that no one has earlier
  • Cooking from scratch like utilizing even pumpkin peel, raw papaya peel etc. for new recipes
  • Abundant family time
  • Blooming out everybody’s hidden talent
  • We are dialing many untouched numbers of our friends and relatives and social media also playing a big role in that to connect the world virtually.
  • Yes, the pandemic has taught us many lessons. How powerful one may be…but at the end of the day all the equal. All can fall prey to it.
The hope of things getting normal

With months of uncertainty, things are getting gradually normal. Certain things are becoming the new normal. With the phase wise, life has begun to normalize here and also in India. I hope we will be able to see a new dawn in the next several weeks once the vaccine is available.

Subscribe to our Newsletter


Avatar photo
About Dipika Sarma

-

Dipika Sarma is a computer science and engineering graduate. She is presently working with Global English Indian School, Kuwait as an ICT and mentor. Photography is her hobby