The world is rapidly heading towards a general lockdown these days, because of the Corona virus pandemic. Entire countries are shutting down, flights are suspended between continents, people are advised (or forced) to work from home, public activity is reduced to a minimum.

It’s like humanity hit the brakes so hard, you can almost hear the screeching tires.

Modern societies never experienced this type of situation. It is more akin to medieval dynamics, than to the openness of the information age. Understandably, frustration runs high.

But, even in the darkest times, there are good things. Some of them surprisingly positive. To such extent that I sometimes ask myself if this pandemic isn’t, in fact, just a powerful nudge in the right direction. A deeply needed switch from a reckless, compassionless lifestyle, to a lighter way of being.

Here are 5 things I find unexpectedly positive in this worldwide chaos which is rapidly engulfing our traditional living patterns.

1. More Introspection

I work from home for many years and I know very well some of the benefits of this lifestyle. The good news about switching to work from home on a massive scale (more or less forcibly), is that other people are starting to enjoy these benefits too.

And one of these benefits is introspection. When your attention isn’t hijacked by the latest joke whispered on the other side of the office, when you’re not spending hours in meaningless and boring meetings, when you’re not in traffic twice a day just to get to the place you work and back, well, something interesting happens: you discover yourself. You start “talking” to yourself (hopefully, not in the creepy way you’re picturing right now, I saw that) and you start to understand (unconsciously, in the beginning), your own behavior patterns. That’s introspection.

And it’s good because it helps you get out of your autopilot responses, which, most of the time, are toxic. Not only for you, but for other people as well.

2. More Awareness About Our Impact On Other People

And with that, we’re segueing into the next positive effect. You may feel ok, like you’re not showing any symptoms of the illness, but you may carry the pathogen that can infect other people. So, to minimize the epidemic spread and protect the health of the others around, it’s better to stay apart for a while. This is called “social distancing” and basically means you’re refraining from spreading potential bad stuff on weaker people.

So, even if you look like you’re not doing a lot, just by working from home and managing your own business, in fact you’re doing a lot, because you stop spreading an epidemic. Other people will literally get to live longer because of what you do (or what you think you’re not doing). This leads to many other areas.

Just by refraining to do some stuff, you’re actually doing good stuff. Just by refraining form being a toxic person, you’re helping the world becoming a better place. Think about that for a while. And then think a little more.

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I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at DragosRoua.com where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running.