The year 2020 has been one helluva year, and that is putting it mildly!
Lessons learned will certainly be stamped in many of our hearts and minds; some really hard lessons but mighty valuable ones that I hope we all remember!
In the beginning
The negatives around Covid19 had a ripple effect:
• The silence on the part of health officials for a full six weeks when the Coronavirus first reared its ugly head, as that is how the virus was spread to the rest of the world initially...
• Led to many unnecessary deaths not only from the virus, but from the high number of suicides following financial ruin, caused by...
• Mishandling by governments in many parts of the world, which led to world economies being destroyed!
Positive consequences of COVID19
Thankfully and surprisingly, despite what many believe, there are many positive consequences of Covid19, and that’s what I am sharing with you today as my response to @ecotrain’s
1. Cryptos are immune to COVID19
Our country’s draconian lockdown hit our little tourism business, a BnB, really hard; but it gave me time to take stock and change my marketing strategies as a big chunk of our reservations come from business bookings.
Having blogged on this platform for just over three years, my focus has always been on blogging, not so much on the fact that I could actually use my Hive and turn it into rands and cents.
When our income dried up for three months during our hard and draconian lockdown, Hive magically came to the rescue!
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2. Making do with what’s on hand - saving money and reducing wastage
During those three months of hard lockdown, only supermarkets and pharmacies were open and we kept our shopping expeditions to a minimum, as Mom Lily who will be 90 next year, would be at risk should any of us pick up the virus.
When it came to meal prepping, I learned to improvise and check the pantry and use what was hiding in the back of the cupboard, whereas in the past I would simply jump into the car and run to the food store, often buying unnecessary items.
Wastage was cut down as I decluttered and found stuff that I’d forgotten about; those items I’m ashamed to say would have been thrown out as they would have expired.
I started baking my own bread which is much healthier and tastier as well.
3. The importance of becoming self-sustainable
This was a very valuable lesson as I found it difficult finding some basic fresh produce on the shelves and we started spending more time on our veggie and herb garden.
During this time, I discovered that there already were things to be harvested in the garden; like pumpkin tendrils full of nutrition and really delicious cooked up with a potato and mashed up.
We already had rainwater harvesting tanks, and this is vital here in our country with water scarcity and many water services failing to deliver as the infrastructure is not maintained properly, nepotism is high with skilled and experienced people being replaced with buddies or family; a sad state of affairs indeed.
However, service levels went down even more during the Covid19 with skeleton staff, encouraging many home owners to have these tanks installed.
We also had time on our hands to do all those repair jobs around the house.
A number of people who became unemployed, took the bull by the horns and set up their own small businesses, finding gaps in a new world market and are finding themselves busier and more fulfilled than ever before.
4. Becoming more health conscious
The dangers and the unknowns around the Coronavirus, further spurred on by the media repeatedly showing footage of the horrors unfolding in Europe; really instilled fear into the hearts of many.
This however made us realise that we needed to take charge of our own well-being with immune boosters, vitamins, good old-fashioned hygiene practices, eating healthy and starting exercising regimes.
We further avoided running to the doctor for any little ailment and remembered all the old folk medicine, using herbs from the garden and the like. Certainly much better in the long term than popping antibiotics or other chemical substances which really only treats the symptoms but is not getting to the root of the problem.
We actually skipped the flu season and had no need for cough syrups, nasal decongestants and the like.
5. Quality Time with Family
We started creating our own entertainment at home – board games came out; old-fashioned puzzles were built; we started talking to one another about our deepest feelings for the first time in years as time stood still during hard lockdown; made popcorn and watched movies together.
This was a time to heal broken relationships in many homes, but also a time when real feelings came to the fore and some realised that they were living a lie and that it was time to move on in order to be true to themselves and stop pretending that things were ok.
My list continues
My list goes on and on and I'm going to mention just one more but will end it there.
The positives of desk-bound workers working from home and not having to work in a closed office space which often leads to sick building syndrome, causing all kinds of ailments; having online Zoom or Skype meetings or tuition; all of these reducing fuel emissions which makes for a cleaner environment, giving nature and all the creatures here on earth a chance to recover.
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Thank you so much for this post on the Question Of the Week! Coronavirus can be a heavy topic and it was so good to see such a great positive post on the topic. THANK YOU! Together we can get through this with a smile.
Your post has been featured in our weekly tie up post, you can see it here and check out some other people who posted:
https://peakd.com/hive-123046/@ecotrain/ecotrain-question-of-the-week-tie-up-post-26-name-5-positive-consequences-of-covid19
Thank you so much @ecotrain, I really enjoyed writing this post as it made me realise just how many blessings I still have;)
There are plenty of negatives and things to miss in 2020 but this is such a great reminder to focus on the positives, which still have been many! Most of all I hope people have been paying attention to how poorly this crisis was handled so they can give some of these politicians their walking papers. I hope you have a wonderful week!
I cannot agree more with you about the importance of who to vote for but sadly I've lost faith in all politicians and their parties as most of them are full of promises but no action.
We all need to take control of our own lives and try and make changes in our close environment, imagine what a different world it could be!
Have a wonderful week my friend:)
An excellent post here Lady Lizzie and a sure winner as far as I am concerned.
I really hope that many other Saffers will read this post.
On our side, we toughed the months out and simply continued with the feeding projects.
Many new unemployed adults also joined the queues, but by grace we managed to feed all.
Congrats on a great post here and Marian said that she will give it a go by mashing our large squash pumpkin leaves with potatoes.
Cheers and !BEER
Thank you my friend, I really admire how you continued with your feeding scheme through difficult times, but that's when it was needed most! Tell Marian to pick the young tips of the pumpkin plant & dice the leaves, stems and young pumpkins or flowers all up, add loads of butter and pepper, really is delicious and no bitter after taste like some spinach has.
Blessings to both of you:)
Thank you for the kind words here Lady Lizzie.
Marian puts the peels and the pips out in the garden for the Robins and the Thrushes to eat. Next thing that we know, is now we have a huge squash plant growing and carrots, beetroot and onions!
Have a look at nature's idea of a garden!
So now, the small area that I prepared at the back for a garden will be planted with broccoli, a few cauliflowers and some tomato plants.
All organic of course.
Blessings to you guys!
That's great my friend! Marian should try and find some of the young pumpkin tendrils, although this one seems intent on growing straight on. Mine had offshoots and that's where I usually pick it for cooking.
Good luck with the veggie garden, tastes so much better when it's fresh from the garden!
Thank you Lady Lizzie,
I see that there are some offshoots forming and we will be keeping an eye on them.
We will call it our Lizzie mix 😁
Blessings!
LOL, we had another small harvest of pumpkin tendrils to cook last night, it's so delicious! I think I'm going to grow me a big pumpkin patch just for them tendrils;);)
A good idea and we are also on the lookout for trendils now 🤣
We will gather them and keep them in the fridge until we have enough.
Blessings!
You have always struck me as a lady that looks at things with a glass-half-full attitude, and you sure seem to practice that.
This covid thing has been so hard on so many, and I feel so fortunate to have skirted many of the larger issues this pandemic has placed squarely on the backs of so many people around the world.
Your attitude is inspiring.
Thank you for those kind words @thebigsweed! You are so very right, this pandemic has certainly spread more damage worldwide than any war machine could have done and I really feel for the people who are still suffering, but am really blessed that we've managed to pull out of it and have learned to appreciate little things again.
You and your lovely @farm-mom are an inspiration to me as well!
I love that Hive was a refuge of sorts for you. That's nice. I was happy to have it as a place to go too.
Blogging here and communicating with people from all over, has certainly been a life-saver for me, kept me sane in an otherwise crazy world!
Thank you so much for stopping by @owasco:)
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BEER.Great post Lizelle - time for us to all focus on the positives.
For sure @edenmichelle, at least you could continue recording not so, but must be missing mom @pandamama;) There's a whole new world waiting for us!
Yes, and trusting God for better days for all of us. I miss my mom so much Lizelle.