Motivational Speaker Shiv Khera shares pearls of wisdom to navigate life in Post-COVID-19 world | Expert Speak

Extracts from the Interview!

Don’t Overrate The Crisis

People should not to overrate the COVID-19 crisis and the threat that it poses; and at the same time, he also asks us not to under-rate our strength to fight it and emerge victorious. Since March 2020, the COVID-19 crisis has gone from one city to another, eventually taking over the complete world. It is important for us to realize that crisis is real and the challenges it has brought along, be it over-crowded hospitals, shortage of supplies, lockdowns, factories closing, job losses, are here to stay. This has caused a lot of uncertainty among the people as no one knows when the crisis will end or where the finish line lies. In such a situation, it is natural for people to feel insecure, which leads to stress and other challenges. But, like any other stressful situation, instead of worrying about the problems, it is more important to look for solutions.

Overcoming Chronic Stress

One of the major problems that people have faced during the COVID-19 crisis is stress. With this, people all over the world are feeling insecure and that insecurity is leading to stress, anxiety, frustration, depression and even anger. However, not all stress is bad stress. It is important to understand and accept that ‘stress is natural and normal’. In fact, most of the stress that we face in our daily life is helpful and aids in improving our performance. Take the example of an Olympic athlete who faces tremendous pressure and stress every time he decides to enter the field, but it is this stress that also helps him push his boundaries and perform better to create more records. Humankind can attribute many of its achievements to the stress and pressure that it has faced.

While stress is natural and normal; chronic stress is not. When stress becomes chronic that is the time we start breaking down! What we need to understand is that how do we address this stress. In fact, the majority of complaints that people have about stress, are related to chronic stress and how it adversely impacts their mental state and ability to perform. During COVID-19, stress has become a new normal as it has deeply impacted our livelihood and lifestyle in a major manner.

Challenge of Livelihood

COVID-19 crisis has affected our livelihoods in a major way. It has not only impacted the way we work and earn our living, but also challenged the global economic model that drives it. The COVID-19 crisis has led to job cuts and salary cuts, closure of businesses; even governments are going bankrupt because they're not collecting any taxes. Everyone is impacted by COVID crisis. However, the group of people that the crisis has affected the most are the service class and the daily-wage earners.

While the crisis has caused a lot of chaos and disarray among the people, it has also taught people an important lesson about the economic management of their lives. Thanks to the COVID-19 crisis; people have realized the worth of savings and the importance of emergency funds. Be it for a person or for organizations; it is very important for people to have enough monetary back-up to help them survive at least one year in crisis.

On similar lines, the COVID crisis has also helped people learn the difference between active income and passive income and the role it plays in the long term economic planning. Active income is the one that one makes by doing the work now; while passive income is the one that you earn on your investments or without having to work for it. Passive incomes support people in times of crisis such as job loss or pay cuts. Due to financial constraints enforced by COVID, people are now more inclined towards creating more sources for passive incomes to secure their financial future.

Challenge of Lifestyle

Another way in which the COVID-19 crisis has deeply affected our lives is by bringing drastic changes in our lifestyle. Be it a millionaire, or a daily wage earner; Coronavirus crisis and the ensuing lockdown has deeply impacted the way we live our lives. Prior to COVID-19, we were used to a fast-paced lifestyle, wherein we were always in a rush. Before the pandemic, people were merely running; some of them didn't even know for what and towards which goal; but we all were in the rush. COVID crisis has helped us put a break on this mad rush.

Earlier, despite having the maximum number of time-saving devices at our disposal; people never had time to do important things as they were always dealing with urgent matters. But, interestingly, important things, if ignored for a long time, tend to become urgent. For instance, health is important but is often ignored by most of us as it is not urgent. But if ignored consistently, health becomes urgent wherein you might need medical attention.

COVID-19 crisis has given people an opportunity to get their priorities right and help identify and demarcate the important and urgent aspects of our lives. During the lockdown, people have taken a step back to re-evaluate and understand what is really important and urgent in their life and re-prioritize their goals.

Another important lifestyle change that has come in the lives of people is that they have now realized the cost of consumerism. The COVID-19 crisis and the financial difficulties that accompanied it, have made people realize that ‘Cash is still the King’ and that in times of crisis, it is cash and valuables that will come to their aid rather than things that are bought out of greed. For instance, many service class people realized during the COVID-19 crisis that it is important to have more cash in the bank account rather than have 100 shirts and blazers in the wardrobe. This is another important change in terms of the lifestyle that has been triggered by the COVID-19 crisis.