In one of my more recent articles, I discussed the negatives of the pandemic. Unfortunately, there were many things I saw that caused me to lose faith in humanity.

However, despite many making the times even worst, there were some triumphant stories of COVID-19. Many achieved things they always wanted to do, and some finished the pandemic stronger than they started.

Even I was able to achieve some of the things I wanted. Due to having time off work, I was able to complete my book and improve my writing. With every disappointment and hardship, there is a small silver lining. We can always take the positives away and think about how it can prepare us for the future.

Looking back at the horror of COVID-19, I have found how the best used the pandemic to their advantage. By being resilient and optimistic, they were able to navigate the harsh realities of COVID-19.

You may not have been able to use some of these lessons to your advantage in the pandemic, but they are still usable now. So, here are the three things you may have missed from COVID-19 that helped the best become better.

They Rebuilt Their Valuable Relationships

Not sure about you, but it was easy to feel overwhelmed with the amount of time you had available. For those who were furloughed or started working from home, you may have found yourself with more time than usual.

I remember having tonnes of conversations with my friends who were struggling to find things to do. For the first week, it was fun being off from work and not doing anything. However, after a while, it made people feel lazy and lost.

For some, they learned how lonely they were. Having days not communicating with anyone and stuck in your four walls was overwhelming. They found that the time they had was something they did not want. Instead, they would rather be busy because it made them feel less alone.

Even though I am introverted, I can admit that the COVID-19 lockdown was even a bit too much for me. If I did not have my housemate to keep me company from time to time, I may have begun hating the spare time I had too.

For those who came out triumphant, they understood that it is the constraints of time that bring about meaning. Having a lot of time is nice, but having a little reminds us that what we do is important.

So, with the increased time they had, they sought to value their time more rather than less. They took the time to call loved ones they had not spoken to and built old relationships again. They used the extra time they had in the pandemic to construct good and healthy relationships after it.

Time is short. And this is often our experience with it. However, in the pandemic, time was long. So, in some sense, time was on our side, and the best understood this. They used it to their advantage to regain the things they lost as they became busier with the priorities of life. Even I found myself calling old school friends and regularly connecting with family.

As your time begins to shrink again, think about how you can build the strong relationships that took you through the pandemic. The good thing about time is that we can also make time for the things we find important.

In the pandemic, I am sure some habits and relationships got you through it. So, continue to use them to grow.

They Created Something for Themselves

We tend to forget how much time we spend creating things for others. At work, we are creating reports, spreadsheets, or lessons. At home, we may be cooking for the family or making sure the house is clean.

We spend so much time using our energy for others that we hardly use any for ourselves. When we finally get time, we often use it to take a break and do something that was created for us. These things include watching TV and scrolling through Instagram.

Our creative energy is essential to our happiness because it allows us to feel useful. However, we hardly get the time to make ourselves feel useful by using it on ourselves.

In the pandemic, I found the happiest individuals were using their creative energy to please themselves. They were cooking new meals they wanted or writing in their journal. People became creators for themselves and saw the value in doing so.

Yes, our talents and skills should be shared with others, but there is also much joy in using them for ourselves. So, start thinking about how you can use your skills to create for yourself. By doing this, you learn to appreciate yourself more.

They Saw the Value of Life

It was sad that COVID-19 took so many lives away from us. It was even worst that every day each life was simply reduced to a statistic. Our global leaders would come out and tell us the number of deaths and those who had the disease as if there was not a person behind each one.

You do not have to believe in a God to understand the sacredness of life. It is both rare and beautiful, and our opportunity to experience it is glorious. COVID-19 left many in fear of death, and others became immune to feeling anything about it.

However, those who came out better empathized with humanity. They felt the pain of each family and cried with those who were crying. They embraced the difficult time and, as a result, learned to value their own life more.

We often undervalue our life because of other people’s expectations or standards we hold ourselves to. But truly, we are more than just the sum of our actions or what people want us to be. We are living beings experiencing this once-in-a-lifetime experience called life.

Every day we wake up, we must acknowledge that it is an opportunity. Some went to sleep with plans for the next day and unfortunately did not wake up to see them. Yet still, we are here, with the opportunity to live our lives to the fullest.

In the pandemic, those who came out stronger saw the value in life, but specifically in their own. They no longer took their life for granted and started treating it as the miracle it is. When we begin to value our own lives more, we can appreciate the lives of others around us.

So, begin to take time out to appreciate your own life. Begin to smile in the mirror before you leave in the morning. Start to see your life as a treasure and begin to act as though you can bring much value to the world. When we value our own lives and understand the miracle we are, we are one step closer to fulfillment