Am I Being Useless ?

“In this self-isolation period I have :

Started 7 businesses

Learnt how to trade

Hosted my own masterclass/live webinar

Read 10 books

Invested in 3 start-up companies

And so on…”

Now, I have likely lost count of how many times I have seen a tweet, story, picture or post similar to the above quote. Somebody posting of what they have achieved during this lockdown period- leaving me to question as a blogger- am I utilising my time wisely ? Am I plainly being useless ?

No, and you aren’t either.

The lockdown period had brought many changes to people’s everyday livelihood. What once was a time where we could freely go out and just celebrate our freedom, is now a time of it being taken away from us. And is now suddenly a time where everyone wants to be the most “productive” “successful” and make the most money. Everyone is preaching about how this lockdown period should make you :


LEARN A NEW SKILL

That’s the phrase, that’s exactly the words that got me up thinking on my Sunday afternoon, and I have two ways of viewing this

Playing devil’s advocate:

Now for those people who are driven by success, whether that may be in financial terms or fame, then I guess I can understand why they are so adamant on possessing a new skill or thinking fast of ways to fill their bank accounts. At the end of the day, in this current season- the internet is your golden token. So that’s why you are seeing more people write E-books, do masterclasses or webinars, start YouTube channels or collaborate with brands/companies. I guess the whole obsession with learning a new “skill” is what is important to these people, so they would be set once this bondage.. I mean lockdown is over.

Here’s my take:

I’m no expert in business, or branding at that, but what I do know is that it is not easy to start up a business. AT ALL There are lots of downfalls, cash losses and pits that you fall in, therefore just because we may have all the time in the world does not mean we should be so eager in starting one. There is no harm in learning a new skill honestly. Learning skills is what pushes us in life- however learning a skill with the pure incentive of becoming rich overnight ? I don’t think that’s the best thing to do. Additionally, I think that we shouldn’t be pressuring people to learn a new skill without no drive behind it. If you want to learn a new skill, normally there has to be a genuine interest that comes from it, otherwise it just becomes a chore.

And you would be surprised, there are a lot of business owners/ or content creators out there who are even urging people to not rush into anything, to get used to the change in routine and take some time to yourself- and I would agree. I would say to anyone feeling guilty of not being useful in anyway- DON’T. Trust me we are all in the same boat, learning how to adjust to the new system.

What are your thoughts on this ? are we rushing too much into the whole phase of learning new skills ?

Thanks for reading !

5 thoughts on “Am I Being Useless ?

  1. A lot of posts/comments about how ‘productive’ people are being leads me to believe that some have forgotten that we are living through a pandemic and good health should be the first priority. We didn’t all just get a random holiday from the govt so that we could build our skills, and so if people are not in the mental space to build a Fortune 500 company from their bedroom over the coming weeks/months, then that doesn’t make them useless, that makes them human. It’s important to recognise that it is a privilege to be able to isolate in an environment that also gives you opportunities to grow and develop yourself, and if you are able to do this then great! But don’t be hard on yourself if you can’t! Great post as always💙

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hey Tisha ! Thanks for reading

      I completely agree with you, this period is not a free holiday, people need to realise we are in a pandemic! I think if anything, people should work on their well-being and their spiritual health rather than dash into the next thing that would ring in tons of cash

      Liked by 1 person

  2. This is absolutely true we should feel pressured to start something when there is no genuine interest but just a sheer feeling of trying to jump on the bandwagon which isn’t advisable. It is okay for you to relax,enjoy time with your family and revisit old things that you left unattended- because to an extent, there’s no point trying to start new business etc when you have left tasks you began earlier on in the year or even last year unattended.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Correction This is absolutely true we *should not feel pressured to start something when there is no genuine interest but just a sheer feeling of trying to jump on the bandwagon which isn’t advisable. It is okay for you to relax,enjoy time with your family and revisit old things that you left unattended- because to an extent, there’s no point trying to start new business etc when you have left tasks you began earlier on in the year or even last year unattended.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hey Priscilla !

      Exactly that ! There is nothing wrong with taking time in this season to relax, enjoy time and revisit things you loved. I don’t know where this sudden craze of starting businesses and such started from, but I guess it puts people down for feeling lazy or feeling useless.

      Like

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