A World in Change: Online Health Care and Telehealth

A World in Change: Is Online Health Care and Telehealth becoming the new normal?

With the world locking down, slowing down and staying at home, businesses are having to move with the times and adapt to the current global climate.

What does the future hold? Will life ever go back to normal? What exactly is normal?

Covid-19 is changing everything- worldwide. Our lives as we knew them came to an abrupt holt and everything we knew to be real and tangible was taken from us. The proverbial rug was ripped from under our stagnant feet. What is going on? We are reeling in confusion as to how the world changed without a moment’s notice.

What is it costing us?

Most of us are grieving a life, a world and a future we lived just a few weeks ago, yet now seems like another lifetime ago. We know that the only thing to do is take stock of the situation and learn how to move forward, but this is made difficult due to the numbness of realizing that maybe we have ‘lost’ a life once lived. We have ‘lost’ the life we were living and all that was real to us. Things are different. Things have changed. There is grief in that.

Until this old way of life has been mourned, it is difficult to move forward. Because let’s be honest, Covid-19 isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. There is a lot of loss in Covid-19; an old life, jobs, income, shelter, food, freedom of movement, human contact, security, lives, family members and friends- to name a few. A lot of loss, a lot of grief, but not a lot of control over it.

While most people are wallowing in the ‘will things ever be the same again?’ pot, there are the ever-optimists that see this time of change as a time of growth. For them, different does not always mean bad. It is times like these that make way for creativity and opportunity. Neither one is wrong or right, again, just different. We need every types of people and thought patterns to get through this, together. It is important to recognize how you are feeling, in order to take the right steps in the right direction. What was your norm? And how do you see your new norm? These things will be relevant to how you are coping with this pandemic and the restrictions and loss it has brought about

We all in this!

Covid-19 is taking no prisoners. It does not look at class, social standing, race, nationality, or gender; age might play a roll, but it is not worthy enough to be given the golden ticket. Nobody is immune to its invisible powers. Even if you are asymptomatic, or you have recovered from the virus, you can still carry it and spread it, possibly infecting those you love.

Is our Mental Health under attack?

One thing has become very evident. Most of the world has been forced to slow down to some extent, and with that, we have been given an invaluable gift- the gift of time. Time to do things we love; it’s time to discover new things;making time to check off that year-old to-do-list; importantly time with our VERY NEAREST and DEAREST, but most importantly, time with ourselves and our innermost thoughts, needs and wants.

It seems Covid-19 is bringing to the surface what we have spent a lifetime trying to hide or maybe just trying to forget about. As a result of all these changes, it is forcing us to take responsibility and acknowledge where and what the problem is in our life. Maybe it’s not that we were deliberately trying to hide anything but rather we were too busy to even give whatever it was a name. Nonetheless, we were trying to suffocate our emotional downhill by brushing it under the surface. And now, ignoring our mental health has come to an end. It’s being magnified as we stay at home and consider who we are. The anxiety, depression, fear, and other conditions we might be facing in some way, are starting to rise to the surface.

We need to acknowledge our emotions and our mental health.

It doesn’t happen by mistake; it happens because we make it happen. Make your mental health growth happen for you. Make it a priority and possibly start by asking yourself the question: What am I feeling? What is making me uncomfortable, anxious, angry, sad, etc.?

Moving forward and getting help.

The world is moving Online and so is Health Care.

If asking yourself is not enough, the world is open and available with online health care and telehealth at your every wish and disposal. Nothing can really be stopping you anymore. It’s convenient and available. It’s a matter of stepping out and finding the right person.

Having been forced and cast into this new world era and situation, what are life’s future possibilities? Could now be the time to start the process of change, to create a new norm. We are in the perfect time to start fresh and, simply put, what do you want your story to look like?

With this changing world, we are standing in the grips of history and even though we think we are in an abnormal situation, is it? History has always played this picture out over the decades and centuries. There have been numerous wars, plagues and pandemics which have shifted the course of history and changed generations. This is where we are, a pandemic has caused this landslide of change to happen and the whole world is obeying. This is not to minimize what is happening. What is happening is very real and devastating, because to us- right now- it is new, it is unchartered, and it is SCARY. But to the world, this is just another cyclical change.

What are the keys?

The key is having creativity, finding new or different ways to make this work for you. Maybe this means new business opportunities, home-schooling your children or socializing online. Along with all this, we are figuring out how to grow. We are changing the way we are living. In the past where you were seeing your therapist in their office, you are now seeing them online. Where you were going to a physical gym, now your trainer is coming to you in the comfort of your living room and through your technology. Whatever it was that you were doing, you are now doing it in your home and having to find the best possible solution along the way.

This virus has propelled us into a new virtual world. Deny it and be left behind, or embrace it and grow- receiving all the benefits that it has to offer. We must fast realize that the world we are longing for is dead and will never be the same.

Through all this change and in our endeavors to find a new norm, let us never lose sight of the fact that while we are all in this together, we are by no means in the same boat. We are all experiencing loss, but in different forms and in varying degrees. We do not know what others are feeling and what they are going through- so let’s navigate this new world with the hugest amount of KINDNESS and EMPATHY.

As stated by the World Health Organization (WHO):

“#COVID19 has taken so much from us, but it has also given us a unique opportunity:
-Put aside our differences
-Break down barriers
-See and seek the best in each other
-To lift our voices for #HealthForAll“-@DrTedros during the One world, #TogetherAtHome