ARTWORK: Maddy Brown
A Pandemic’s Guide to Navigating the Symposium of Life By Satara Uthayakumaran No doubt over the past few months, you have been bombarded with self-help lessons from 2020; by experts, politicians, leaders and doctors alike. This is unsurprising, given that the events of the past year collectively gathered to become a wise tutor. Ironically, they taught me more than what was mandatorily prescribed for my impending final exams as a Year 12 student. Here are five life lessons— ones which I hope you might have picked up yourself, or perhaps new ideas which I will gladly bestow upon you in this strange but personal manual of life. One. Do not just “appreciate” but exhibit a tenderness and warmth to those around you. We have been told time and time again that the pandemic has emphasised the true fragility of life and has shown us the intrinsic gift of human connection. Throughout this period, I was able to appreciate the small nuances of my family, which I otherwise did not observe. My father’s affiliation for black pilot pens, finally learning what mother did in her lab and understanding my sister’s newfound passion
for dramatic theatre. When restrictions were lifted, I visited many of my friends and aunts who were elderly, and was able to sit down, listen and interact with them in ways I had not before. Hear their stories, cook with them and see life from a new perspective. Snail mail suddenly became trendy again, and I discovered a newfound joy in pasting stamps on small envelopes and placing them in the red Australia Post bin to travel to distant suburbs and reach familiar faces. Two. Enjoy saying “no”. The commonplace “take a risk”, “push yourself” kinds of phrases are typical things we hear, particularly as students. These phrases were turned on their heads when the pandemic hit, and suddenly, taking risks and pushing ourselves took on a different meaning. Whenever I see someone stand on the outskirts of an activity, and simply refuse to do something because they are not comfortable, I mentally applaud them. We often feel that in order to fit in, there is an expectation that we are confident in ignoring our senses and leaping into unknown pockets of life.
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