Fighting with Covid and the slew of home remedies

I would like to start off by saying, life is all about experiences, good or bad serves a purpose.

Most of us had started behaving as if the new normal is nothing but the normal that we have always known. I was just beginning to feel that Covid wasn’t a big deal anymore, me and my sister came out positive in the first week of May. I started having symptoms that I thought were related to seasonal allergies. But they worsened. Two days later, the result came, and we were ensconced in isolation. Having done all the permutations and combinations of where we might have caught it from, we still didn’t know from where it came. We accepted it – we were positive. Most of our symptoms were similar with slight differences.

Me: Dry cough, tiredness, sore throat, headache.
Sister: Sore throat, fatigue, loss of smell, pain in the eye.

As far as home remedies are concerned, we all know how it is in Nepal. We got massive spam of recipes of different kinds from our relatives, friends, and acquaintances, but all with good and highly appreciated intentions. We usually stuck to the home-remedies routine (gurjo, besar, pipla).

Immediately after learning, I was positive; I began trying to read as much as I could about what I should expect. Beyond the feeling of isolation was fear. News of close relatives dying, and other frightening news around social media added fuel to my anxiety. When I woke up at night, my heart beating was so fast and even I experienced shortness of breath. Would the virus begin to affect my lungs and other organs? If I had to go to the hospital, would I make it out alive? At a certain point you begin to wonder why did that person die and why am I alive? Like everything else in life, it's a mystery. But the randomness of a virus that ends someone else's life but lets you live will weigh heavily on your soul — for at least a little while. It is certainly something I think about and will continue to think about. Alongside the chaos happening in social media and my mind, a question arose– was I supposed to delve into greater fear, or could I live in quarantine happily?

I deactivated my social media to avoid negativity because that was hampering me a lot. I also changed my daily routine. I started doing meditation, pranayama, and light exercises. I used to watch motivational videos of Beerbiceps and Sadhguru. All these minor changes to my daily schedule energized me in an utmost way. I recovered after ten-day of proper diet and medication. Even after recovery, I feel unusual bouts of headaches sometimes. None of us knows what we are dealing with. None of us has any idea about the number of ways our bodies have been/may be affected by this novel virus. All we can do is share our experiences and find solace in being together in this experience. As far as ‘the new normal’ is concerned, I am just scared at how casual many have become with respect to precautions. The wonders of willpower and the importance of yoga – are the biggest lesson from my entire coronavirus sojourn. And you should take that home too.