What made me write this blog is that I was asked:

“How would you approach the coronavirus pandemic, ATTITUDE WISE, if you had to go through it all over AGAIN?”

Now there’s a horrible thought for you!

So, lets set the scene: Bear with me on this, there is a point.

A wicked witch whispers in your ear when you are just falling off to sleep:

“This life you are living and have lived it, you will have to live it ONCE MORE and there will be nothing new in it, every pain and every joy, every sigh and sadness, everything small of great in your life will return to you, all in the same succession and sequence.

In other words, the hourglass of your life will be turned over AGAIN!

So the events stay the same.

The ONLY thing you could CHANGE would be your ATTITUDE toward them.You could change the way you thought or felt about something.”

“What is the purpose of this, I asked.”

“It is a THOUGHT EXPERIMENT to test your relationship to your life.”

Consider these questions:

Do you celebrate being ALIVE?

Do you savour your moments, even the painful or challenging ones?

Would it be wonderful to savour them AGAIN? Why?

If you feel horrified by this experiment, this suggests that you are NOT making the most of your time on this earth.

But if you wouldn’t mind going through it all again, that means you LOVE your fate and you accepted it OR you are content with the meaning you have created in your life.

There are some memories a person has that they wish they didn’t have to re-live.

On the other hand, it would be great to re-live memories of family and friends.

So there would probably be an INTENSIFICATION of one’s feelings, both good or bad about the past.

The knowledge that you would have to live all past events over again, would change the way you feel about them and regard them. So, your attitude toward them would change even though the events themselves are NOT changing.

Looking back over your life would you have a more positive attitude towards events, good or bad?

Yes, because if you have to live them over again, your good attitude would help you go through the bad ones and it would help you to REALLY enjoy the good ones.

Something to think about in the Present!

Living your life over again with no changes but attitude would probably make you attend to your experiences more and live a more vivid life.

Can you think of all the times in your past that would have been better if your attitude at the time was more positive?

So, by changing your ATTITUDE towards events in your life, you make sure it’s a life worth reliving and one you could love.

So here’s the trick: It makes sense to have a positive attitude towards your life, one that is worth loving, even if it only happens ONCE!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT!

Now back to the original question:

If I had to go through the pandemic all over again how would I change my attitude toward it?

At the beginning of the lockdown I was fearful and at the same time, angry that my life was being severely restricted. Fearful of the uncertainty and the impending dufficulty of obtaining food supplies. I was fearful for my future and my wife’s since we were elderly and this lockdown would take a CHUNK OF TIME OUT OF OUR LIVES.

But now I’ve decided to approach it with a more positive and upbeat attitude.

Eventually we will be able to meet family and friends and maybe, just maybe, things might change for the better after it’s over.

The world might be better prepared for the next pandemic and maybe people will value their present moments more and enjoy them.

People might think about what’s really important in life such as, enjoying your family and friends more and being more content in your life. And maybe, there’s a lot of maybes, a more unified world would emerge.

So, if I had to live it all over again, I would try NOT to be so fearful and angry at the first and to think how it could be better when it’s over.

So, this story of living your life over again, gives you a good reason, attitude wise, to make the rest of your life a life worth living OR does it simply make everything meaningless?

In conclusion, I believe we have to find our OWN meaning in our lives.