If you have watched the sky just minutes before sunset, then we can agree without a doubt that it is the epitome of beauty. Being in the presence of one of nature’s masterpieces, has helped in calming my anxious mind. I can’t stop but admire the beautiful mix of colours lighting up the sky.

I’ve always enjoyed simply sitting back and observing, people going about their lives, animals doing their thing, birds flying ever so high with not a care in the world and the glorious sunset. Ahh! miss those good old days.

Gradually it became difficult to find time for my favorite pastime. Life just got busy, and I didn’t even realize it. Traveling to and fro from university would be the only time I was free, but traveling in crowded bus didn’t really help.

This pandemic struck the world out of the blue and just like that there was so much uncertainty everywhere. I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen next and let’s just say my anxiety went from bad to worse. Having  dealt with anxiety on a daily basis, I realized that it really helps to have a proper plan about anything and everything.
But now those plans have become impractical. All of a sudden I have too much free time and not much to do.

That’s when I rediscovered my favorite old hobby. Every evening I would go onto the terrace and watch how the sky would explode into beautiful shades of colours just minutes before the sunset, birds flying back to their nests, few people walking their dogs, roads being almost deserted, trees casually swaying with the wind and and above all there was this alluring silence. Something I haven’t felt in ages, silence. We live in a world that is constantly in motion. So naturally I  became accustomed to the constant chaos around me. All this definitely took a toll on my mental health and unkowningly I left it unchecked all this while. Ultimately it lead to a burnout.

One good thing that came out of this quarantine is that I learnt my lesson, it’s very important to take a break from this busy lives that we lead, recharge our mental as well as emotional health, because at the end of the day we are humans and not robots. The irony is that it took a pandemic for me to focus on my mental health.