Lifestyle coach Lavleen Kaur: Is there anything good about this lockdown?

What are you doing right now amidst the stillness around, with this unusual silence that nature has imposed on us? With the on-going coronavirus, the lockdown situation has become normal to many of us. However, things outside our comfortable home, are not that simple. 

Everything around us has come to a halt as people prefer to stay indoors and avoid public places. It’s natural to feel threatened when you see someone roaming outside. What if I catch this virus? Is my family safe? With so much uncertainty around, we often catch ourselves with such negative thoughts and then unnecessarily panic. 

Agreed that times are different and difficult. But, what if we replace our negative thoughts with a mindset of developing a simpler, productive and positive lifestyle? 

Like many say, “There is light at the end of a tunnel. Some tunnels happen to be longer than others.” Since COVID-19 is forcing us to stay safe and stay indoors, why not embrace this as an opportunity to change our perspective towards life. 

Lavleen Kaur, a Chandigarh based dietitian and lifestyle coach, encourages people to look at the bright side of things when in darkness. She is reminding us that there are many positive aspects and lessons to be learnt from this. One of the most important one is, to have faith. The corona-virus outbreak is a nature’s game. This virus is uncontrollable and does not focus on who it is going to affect, whether rich or poor. It doesn’t have a boundary. 

It is teaching us the value of equality. We need to stand together for each other in times of crisis like this. This lockdown period is a time of introspection and healing, for our planet and especially for us. 

It’s time to think about the changes that are happening around us. Everything is not going to go back to the way it was. We need to slowly change our lifestyle in order to return to a version of normalcy after the lockdown. “It is the start for a new beginning to a better lifestyle”, says Kaur. She believes that God is giving us all a chance to gradually implement positivity into our hectic lifestyles. Nature has put the entire world on pause, for us to relax and for a new beginning. 

You can now do things that were impossible before with your busy schedules that kept you outside your house. “Spend that quality time with your family”, says Kaur. This lockdown period has helped people realize the importance of family rather than materialistic things. She believes, “what is the point of having a car, if you cannot even go outside at the risk of your health?” Instead stay at home and connect with your family. Before, it was very difficult to create a work-life balance with hectic working hours. Now is the time for you to look positively and realize that you can spend quality time with your family and friends. 

Lavleen sheds a light on how lockdown is making us realize how important our family and health is. We are often told what to eat in order to maintain good health and avoid problems like diabetes and hypertension. She says, “But the problem starts from low immunity. That’s the reason doctors are advising us to boost our immunity to stay safe from the virus. However, we need to realize that increasing the level of immunity is a continuous progress. It is not the result of one day.”

As a lifestyle coach, she states that eating right is not enough. To increase our immunity, it means having a proper lifestyle. Even when you are medically diagnosed as COVID-19 positive, if you have a good immune system that means your body will be able to fight it. You shouldn’t only focus on building immunity to be safe from Coronavirus, but also to avoid further fitness related problems. That’s why it’s important to focus on our health and lifestyle, especially now! 

Start by taking small steps towards building your immunity. Lavleen has even created a simple and fun 21-day challenge that helps you to create a habit towards a better lifestyle. This way, you incorporate healthy habits into your daily life. You can start by eating right and exercising, but remember to maintain this healthy lifestyle. 
She inspires us to look at this lockdown as a positive change towards a new beginning. Keep faith in GOD and his intentions. If we start focusing on building a positive lifestyle, negative thoughts will automatically disappear. We will not have to worry about our health and about the possibility of getting infected. Instead, we will learn to pause and start a new and better life. As Lavleen says, “Have patience and faith, there are brighter days ahead!”

• Lavleen Kaur