The PPE we need in COVID19 and beyond

ppe

technically stands for personal

protective equipment

a term that has been widely used since

the beginning of the corona virus

pandemic

an acronym that we have been constantly

hearing as we have come to learn

that it is what protects healthcare

workers frontliners

and any other individual from getting

infected

but regardless of being a healthcare

worker can the acronym ppe

also hold elements that would carry us

through in living our lives

in march of last year i can vividly

recall the moment when schools and

universities started to close

its doors in fact prior to that

i along with some council members have

been discussing and thoroughly planning

for this

big cultural day event at the university

only to have it unexpectedly cancelled a

week after

and i’m pretty sure that just like that

event countless other plants everywhere

were halted and what was regarded as a

one to two week off

brought us to more weeks and months

and until a year of just facing our

screens

wondering when we could ever go back to

normal

years ago no one even saw this coming

maybe except for bill gates who at 2015

gave

a tedx talk of how we must prepare for

the next global outbreak

and true enough here we are

for many of us this whole situation has

been a challenge to digest

i see people expressing their sentiments

all over social media about how months

of staying at home has made

most of us feel like prisoners creating

immense feelings of isolation

and about how online classes and work

from homes can be as mentally draining

and about how the pandemic just left us

feeling lost and confronted us with this

ruined timeline of plans

and beyond that it was also a drastic

360 degree turnaround for me

losing my dad to covid which was

an unfortunate thing to live with

who would have thought that it could

have been that bad

exactly a year ago all i could do was

continue with my online classes and

decide as i

curl up into my sheets and dealt with

such traumatic loss

i felt like i was stuck in a void it

seemingly had no light

at the end of it but it was also amidst

a series of struggles that i found

the first p i found purpose

and this purpose is what keeps you

grounded when all else fails

and because of this purpose i find

myself here today

sharing with you a gift through this

talk that could

hopefully in one way or another

cultivate this refined perspective

in each one of us however this purpose

wasn’t a passive discovery

it didn’t unfold the moment i felt grief

or melancholy

or the moment i woke up in the morning

feeling empty and lost

seeking and finding one’s purpose

requires active

self-reflection and that is exactly what

i’ve done

as defined active self-reflection is

when we make a deliberate effort to

dig deep into our core to regularly

examine link and develop meaning from

our experiences

and it does take time to build up

from that heartbreaking loss i had

endless questions of why

of what the purpose is for it to

transpire in that way

and what is in it for me to experience

such gravity

these thoughts kept lingering in my head

and the only way to find peace within

myself

was to find answers and find answers

i had to step back i had to acknowledge

my emotions

and i had to reflect

and there are many ways to engage in

reflection

if you happen to be someone with this

tight spiritual background you can do it

through prayer

or through a religious ritual that you

firmly believe in

you can also grab a book to read whether

it is a holy book

a self-improvement book or a fiction

novel

in 2010 a study was conducted on a group

of 26 000 teenagers throughout wales and

england

and they learned that those who read the

bible appear to have

built the stronger sense of purpose

while a survey of empirical studies from

raymond marr and his colleagues revealed

that a relationship

between reading poetry and fiction and a

sense of purpose

among adolescents were existent

so reading is a silent yet powerful

activity that connects us to

ideas of people that we may never even

know

but research suggests that diving

ourselves into

these kinds of insightful narratives

opens our minds to establish

this sense of meaning because purpose

after

all can also be considered as an

intellectual pursuit

so find books that matter to you and

this might help you cope up

and realize what truly matters in your

own life

and as much as reading can help so does

reflective writing

it is important to list the things that

you have in your mind to alleviate the

overflowing thoughts and questioning

from there you can release all the

tension in your head

organize it linking every idea to build

something clear and meaningful

it may be in the form of a mind map a

diary

a journal or a story

you don’t have to construct something of

perfect words

grammar or structure just freely express

everything you are thinking and feeling

in paper

or you can also opt to speak and record

yourself if you think that would be more

effective for you

otherwise it is truly tough to draw

conclusions

and realizations when our mind is

overwhelmed

so writing all these down is just

similar to how we jot down notes and

lectures

every time we get overwhelmed with

information and every time we

spot something of notable importance

and the moment we go back to it to

review these notes may even be jumbled

up

and disorganized but having a record of

it in the first place

allows us to reorganize everything

understand how ideas connect with each

other

and later on realize the gist and the

general purpose behind this particular

topic

so never underestimate the power of

writing

document all these thoughts and feelings

to help you see things

and a bigger picture and to give you a

record that you can always go back to

because we never know how useful it can

be

in the long run and apart from

these two ways one also cannot erase the

fact that

we human beings are social beings

so you can also choose to reach out and

have a conversation with a trusted

friend

a family member a colleague or

a mentor to help you unravel unspoken

and inexplicable thoughts and

eventually dissect meaning reflection

may be done more effectively when you’re

not all alone

when you have someone else by your side

who actually helps you

build up your thoughts who helps you

identify the things that

you have failed to acknowledge by

yourself and who just shares this

different perspective

on the table at the end of the day

all these ways boil down to that active

seeking of purpose

because i realized that my purpose

wouldn’t just descend in time while

wandering inside a void that i was stuck

in

and that the only way out was for me to

find my way and constant

search for a positive meaning out of my

circumstances

shifting my questions from why me

into what is in it for me

and upon having clarity of purpose day

by day i was able to find a beam of

light

in that void a light that is far away in

an

outstretched empty space and i realized

that as i go in small

steps further the light seems to be a

little more visible

but in order to fully grasp that light

i had to be willing to endure the second

p

the process the process involves a

series of actions that leads us to a

certain goal at the end

and some of the things that we must

really keep in mind about the process is

that

it is never instantaneous never smooth

sailing

and never really conforming to

repetitive actions from beginning to end

in my case the grieving process wasn’t a

staircase to the goal

because it wasn’t always progressive in

a way that

places me each step higher in time

it was more of an even process full of

twists and turns

days when i would feel better for a

while and then afterwards i would once

again

find myself sulking up in the reality

that my dad is no longer around

and i would feel worse again

whenever i would have some urgent iran’s

outside during those early times

i remember how it felt so new to me not

just because i’ve been stuck at home for

months

but mainly because of the idea that my

dad is no longer there

and i would shed a couple of tears in

the car as we pass through the streets

of the city

because i’d remember that it was him who

actually brought us here

so it was tough to ease that kind of

pain and longing

because almost every place and every

moment

reminded me of him

but just like any other process the

coping actions being done at the

beginning

shall not remain as it is throughout the

entire process

i remember during father’s day last year

i decided not to open any of my social

media accounts

at all because it would terribly hurt me

to see

father’s day greetings with the fresh

and the current situation that i was

going through

each one of us has different ways of

coping up

and so through trial and errors one must

be able to

dynamically adjust and see which coping

mechanisms worked

and what new ways can be done to handle

it better than before

this process complexity develops that

renewed perspective

resilience and character that leads us

to the final

element e

which stands for end goal

the end goal of the process the light

in that void this is the destination

that reinforces

your purpose it is the destination where

you

desire to see yourself after prevailing

the highest and lows

of the process and this

end goal for me was complete healing

and now finally having the courage to

open it up

and share it without breaking down

although the pain never really goes away

before i used to think of my dad then

i’d cry

but now i’m able to think of my dad and

still find joy

and gratitude and that has always been

what i wanted to achieve

i never thought that i would have to

experience firsthand some of those

unimaginable moments but it brings me

this

great sense of fulfillment to finally be

out of that void

and have gained a much higher level of

strength and wisdom that

i am able to share and uphold for myself

as i head on to the next process and to

the many

other processes that i would have to

face later on

friends this doesn’t solely apply to the

context of the grieving process

or to the context of the pandemic it is

essentially applicable in life

we may be familiar with these three

terms because it’s simple

and widely discussed in books and

articles

but oftentimes we tend to overlook them

collectively

because we only consider and pay

attention on an individual part

of these three elements and that is

where we fall short

we may have a process without having a

clear goal

or we may be undergoing a process

without having a purpose to go back to

when the process gets confusing and

rough

or perhaps we may have a certain goal

but we are not ready to fully commit to

the time

challenge and complexity of the process

all these three elements must always be

glued together

so whenever you were in a crisis or in a

tragedy

or simply in a position of wanting to

move forward in life

ask yourself three basic questions

first what are you working towards too

that is your end goal second

why are you doing it that is your

purpose

and third how will you get there

that is your process link them into a

powerful foundation that you would live

by every day

friends ppe technically stands

for personal protective equipment but it

may also mean

purpose process and

end goal three inseparable elements that

would carry us

covid19 and beyond

brace yourself by harnessing your ppe

thank you