The world is in a state of chaos, a global pandemic. People are hoarding toilet paper, cities and states are on lockdown, and most people are forced to quarantine themselves in their homes. It seems like madness all around us and many people are panicking, and I’m not saying they are wrong for being concerned. I know that this is a crisis, and I’m not making the case that coronavirus is a good thing.

However, I am a strong believer in polarizing to the positive and in using my willpower to bring a positive perspective to any situation. Try to see some good in the bad. Sure, the world is in a tough spot, and I think it has been for a while, but coronavirus has really made people wake up to what’s important to them.

I’m currently under quarantine. I’m not putting in the hours I usually do at my job and my financials are definitely being threaten by this pandemic. Somehow, even though I know times are rough and bound to become worse, I do my best to practice gratitude. Its better to focus on what you do have then to focus on what you don’t have.

This situation is a reminder of how important health is, and I am grateful that I am healthy, my family is healthy and nobody I know has been affected by this tragedy yet and hopefully not ever. I’m not the only one thinking about health. In fact, that’s what everyone is thinking about right now and I’ve seen a distinct shift in the mindsets of people around me, especially on social media. People now have the time to focus on their health and I’ve seen many people doing push-up challenges and an increase of various other exercise and health-related posts since the beginning of this crisis.

People who are unhealthy now have stronger motivation to invest more effort into self-maintenance and more people are reevaluating how they live and whether or not they should change the way that they’re living.

With a virus going around and the health-care system being in danger of becoming over-burdened, taking care of one’s health has probably never seemed more important to people all across the globe.

Yes, I am in fear of what will happen to our economy, but despite whatever happens, I have witnessed a huge change in the way people view money, employment and their financial futures, myself included.

We are realizing the importance of what we are putting our money towards, and I believe that impulsive and nonessential spending will soon be a thing of the past for the majority of people simply out of necessity.

All of a sudden, buying toilet paper and food has become a concern that nobody could’ve predicted. Now buying a new pair of shoes just because their cool has become an afterthought to buying things that we need to survive. Suddenly, people are concerned with their next meal and not the next technological toy they wanted to purchase just because they could.

We are starting to place more value in where they are investing their finances, and I can only see this as a positive change to the American, consumer mindset that has been so prevalent in recent years.

Maintaining, instead of consuming, has become the trend.

This morning I worked in my yard, cleaning up random items of trash and pulling up the forest of weeds that shot up in my backyard and took the whole yard by force at a rate that I couldn’t keep up with. Now that my roommate and I have time off from our usual responsibilities that would normally keep us from doing our housework, we’ve been doing some major home-improvement.

It wasn’t very fun.

We had allowed the weeds to overtake our yard and there was a lot of work to do. However, I realized the importance of what we were doing as we went about our laboring and a teaching from my time at church as a kid came back to me. It was about how God had appointed the human race to be gardeners of the Earth, or something like that, responsible for its keeping and maintenance.

“And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” -Genesis 2:15

I felt a connection to the Earth. I was clearing up that which I found unfit to continue growing so that other plant life could grow in its place, plant life that would benefit me. I realized my power to control and shape my environment. My efforts invested into maintaining my yard and house are directly reflected in my general well-being.

The weeds gave me and other people around me allergies, and by removing those weeds, I gave my immune system less to deal with. Taking care of my yard was a way to take care of myself. There was a mutual benefit involved, and in exchange for my labor, the Earth gave me health. I got fresh air, exercise, and I prevented further abuse of my immune system from allergies.

Keeping everything tidy and clean decreased my mental stress and gave me the impression of having control over my life. Usually, seeing all of those ugly weeds in my yard staring at me like I owed them rent would cause me stress, but no more.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we all experienced a taste of the reward of maintaining, and we thought of what we could do for the Earth so that it would reward us instead of the taking without giving mentality that the human race seems to have towards the Earth now?

If we are the gardeners of the Earth, shouldn’t we be taking our responsibly more seriously? Sadly, it usually takes a dramatic tragedy to inspire dramatic change, and I think that coronavirus could be that negative force that is necessary for a positive change in the way we view how we take care of ourselves and this planet.

We are beginning to see how fragile it all is. Mujo. You could lose your job. You can lose your health. The important questions to ask now is what is important to you and what are you willing to do to have those things? Bless you all and be safe in these mad times!

Send comments, questions and thoughts to pmelton317@gmail.com

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