A Guide to Being Kind to Others During a Pandemic

The pandemic turned life upside-down for many. In tumultuous times, it’s easy to get focused on yourself and overlook how you may impact other people. Luckily, by focusing on how your actions affect others and making wiser choices, you can make things better. If you want to do your part, Jim Thomas Fitness Management & Consulting presents a look at how you can be a good human during the pandemic.

Health and Wellness

During the pandemic, health and wellness took center stage. While the landscape can be tricky to navigate, it is possible to do so with grace and kindness.

Make sure to follow any local rules, regulations, and mandates that outline safety requirements. Even if you aren’t sure about their effectiveness, doing your part won’t cause you any harm and may help save someone else from a horrible illness.

Additionally, resist the urge to get confrontational about the participation of others in situations where you aren’t an authority. While you may need to intervene if you’re in a customer-facing job and your company has requirements in place, doing so as a member of the general public usually only leads to unnecessary conflict.

If you work out at a gym, make sure to clean any equipment before and after use. That way, you can keep yourself safe proactively while also protecting those around you. If you work out on your own outdoors, give others in the area space. Do your best to share walkways, tracks, or sidewalks in a manner that makes everyone comfortable.

Shopping and Dining

At the beginning of the pandemic, runs on toilet paper, cleaners, and other items made critical supplies hard for other people to access. While the situation today isn’t as dire, supply chain issues and grocery shortages are hampering the shopping and dining experience for many. When you shop, TheMoneyBoy.com suggests making sure to only buy what you need. Cleaning out a shelf “just in case” means others may not have items for their households, creating an undue hardship.

If you dine out, be kind if a server says that they are out of various items. Supply chain issues aren’t the fault of the establishment more often than not. Airing your frustration won’t positively impact the situation and may harm the quality of someone’s day who has no power to offer a remedy, so it’s best to err on the side of empathy.

Work and Business

Before the pandemic struck, around 5 million U.S. employees were remote. But that number skyrocketed during the pandemic. While the number of remote workers is declining as reopening efforts continue, MarketWatch notes that about 22 million people are still working from home.

The major paradigm shift wasn’t easy to navigate. Even today, some professionals struggle with the approach. That’s why empathy is so vital. It ensures you keep the proper perspective whenever there is a misstep on another person’s part. Additionally, it may encourage you to reach out and offer support, going the extra mile to help others excel during these difficult times.

However, if your current workplace no longer meets your needs, it may be time for a new path. In some cases, starting a business might be your best bet. It lets you build a company that aligns with your values and goals, ensuring it’s designed to meet your needs now and into the future.

If you’re going to run your business from home, you’ll need to set up a home office away from distractions and traffic in your home. You’ll need a reliable and speedy internet connection—fiber optic service typically is 10 times faster than DSL service. You’ll also want to invest in comfortable and functional office furniture and tech such as a high-resolution monitor and printer.  

Don’t have enough space for a separate home office? Consider a move to nearby Fort Worth, where you can find over 4,000 different listings. Fortunately, with the help of a website like Rent.com, you can filter the search results by what you’re looking for.  

Being good to others means first being good to yourself, so it’s our hope that you’ll take care of your wellness while being a good person to those around you and with whom you interact as we continue to navigate the pandemic era. Whether it’s at work, at home, or when you’re out and about shopping or dining, you’ll have ample opportunities to be kind to your neighbor.

Image via Pexels