Covid – Survivors Edition.

March 13^th was on Monday this week. Does that date ring a bell? Apart from the superstitious among us who believe that anything to do with that number is jinxed. Personally, thirteen is just a number like any other. However, something happened on this day three years ago that almost convinced me there is some truth to 13 being a bad omen.

That was the day the Kenyan Government declared that coronavirus had fikad Kenya. President Uhuru Kenyatta gave a speech on containment measures and soon after schools were closed and we were asked to stay at home and minimize interaction with the outside world. I’m not sure the president knew what he was dealing with but neither did any of us. Before then covid was just on TV and seemingly a western problem. We were all thrust into the biggest fight for our lives and the whole of humanity. When I’m a mzee I’ll be telling my grandchildren how we survived a pandemic. And I’ll be their hero hehe.

We are here today and it’s been three years. How time flies. Folks if you ever get into a pity party just remind yourselves that you are a covid survivor and that should mean something. Many good people were wiped out by that tiny virus. Some of us even got it and survived. We were all affected or infected or both. But we are still here. This article is to honour you all who’ve made it this far but also to challenge us. Congratulations on surviving the pandemic of our generation. Maybe we wore more masks or sanitized better. Maybe we stayed under house arrest and went to great lengths to ensure our bubbles didn’t burst.

I credit Sir God for being here because there are folks who took more measures than I did yet did not survive. Man, it was a crazy time with spin masters putting out all sorts of advice. I remember once buying supplements for 10K ati that was going to reduce my (and my family’s) chances of contracting the virus substantially. We were grasping at straws, looking for whatever solution and security we could hang on to. It was full chaos.

Now that the pandemic is largely behind us, what are our reflections? What have we learnt? What can we thank corona for? After surviving such a monster we should never be the same again. Folks we cannot waste a pandemic. The fact that we are here means that we have an assignment that even covid 19 was unable to stop us from accomplishing.

I can’t remember the last time I wore a mask. It feels odd putting on one now yet it was as natural as brushing our teeth in the morning, although we would skip that too sometimes as we were not going anywhere hehe. And of course the minister of health then, Mutahi Kagwe would remind us through his briefings that, “I can gerrit, you can gerrit” (Kikuyu accent). We also forgot how to drive at night because we rarely did thanks to being under curfew for more than a year. The price of petrol was at an all-time low but who cared? We hardly drove beyond the neighbourhood supermarket. Now we are busy avoiding alcoblow in the middle of the night. How quickly we move on and forget.

What is it that covid gifted you that has changed your life now for the better? I was able to finally shut down my events business and embark on training to be a coach. I became a halftime-certified coach and facilitator. Zoom was my golf club and local for meetups. I signed up for webinars and immersed myself in all the online engagements by my local coaching chapter which I had just joined. At the time I was doing it to keep sane and still have something to live for. It was hard mental work.

A memory I cherish was the time spent with my baby sharks. Due to covid, online school became equal to homeschooling. Since I didn’t have a business to go to I became the headmaster, subject and class teacher, laptop and internet fundi plus the PE instructor all in one. I doubt I have ever spent that much time with my family and I pray that my love and commitment were sealed then. The few personal errands I had were done after the school timetable was concluded. I got to know my kids better and that bond was hopefully strengthened.

I can now say that this thriving coach germinated and got watered during covid. I thank covid because I paid attention singularly to self-development. I even attempted a few Havard online courses. There were much fewer distractions than there are now so I’m glad that mbegu had been planted. Are there fruits of covid that you are eating now? what are they?

Finally, the pandemic brought us up close to the frailty of life. We are here today and gone tomorrow. I hope that has led to us living with an urgency to get as much of our assignment done as possible. We were spared for a reason I believe. We should spend the rest of our lives finding out what that reason is and how we can fulfil it.

Happy third covid anniversary my fellow survivors. May your future not be socially distanced from your purpose folks. And may the only sanitizing you do be of baggage and fears that hold you back. May the mask of imposter syndrome come off and may you live your best life. Maybe a good place to start this life after covid is by joining me next month at the Masai Mara for our Halftime in the Wild weekend. See the flier on this site.