Last week, I was reading a story by Dr. Seuss to my son and it got me thinking that how little I knew about Dr. Seuss, the famous children’s writer. With more time at home now, I have been reading up more especially about authors who tend to get forgotten amongst the pages of the books they have written. During my research on Theodor Seuss Geisel who wrote children stories under his pen name Dr. Seuss, I came across one of his life quotes. “I have learned there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead, others come from behind. But I’ve bought a big bat. I’m all ready, you see. Now my troubles are going to have trouble with me.” The witty words stuck to me and I wondered. Now that COVID 19 has kept all of us on our toes for months, isn’t it time to get our big bats out?
The current COVID times have inconvenienced our lives, one way or the other. The cascading effect of the pandemic has affected many industries adversely resulting in many people losing their jobs and livelihood. One of the most severely affected industries is the travel and tourism industry. With travel coming to a complete standstill, the lives of many travel bloggers have changed completely. Full-time travel bloggers mostly draw their incomes through their websites, freelance writing, and blogging assignments. In the current times, due to limited travel opportunities and lower traffic on travel websites, there is a significant dip in revenue. However, like any entrepreneurial journey, bloggers have to brave out this roller coaster ride during these uncertain times. It is the need of the hour, that we do not travel unnecessarily and put lives at risk. It is time to bring out our inner strength and not let our troubles win.
As a mom travel blogger, my life before coronavirus pandemic was quite different. We travel as a family and even when we can’t take longer trips, we do short Press Trips and blogging assignments quite frequently. So, for us staying at home for three months at a stretch has been a big change. Financially, I have taken a hit but I am hoping that things will get better soon. Hope has been a beacon of light for me through these times. Another huge change has been the realignment of our work schedules to manage our preschooler child at home as schools have closed. It is tough for working parents without support to manage work, children, and household chores all by themselves. But through trial and error, we have finally managed to get onto a schedule that works for all of us.
These last couple of months have also taught me to focus on other avenues of interest. I have been massively working on my website SEO and have been focusing on writing new stories and refining old travel blogs. Picking up a new skill or working on forgotten passions can also be helpful in keeping oneself calm and anxiety-free during tough times. I have recently got certified as a travel writer by FICCI and am attending online workshops and webinars to hone my writing skills. I am also focusing on the growth of my social media accounts and looking at innovative ways to create travel content. The COVID times have also made me think of diversifying and I am currently working on my new venture.
It is true that tough times often teach us more than they make us suffer. I think most of us would agree that the slowdown has helped us turn inside and retrospect ourselves. I am able to appreciate the smaller things in life more and I look for small positives in my daily life. Using this time to reboot and reorient ourselves towards what we actually want in life may sound complicated. But wouldn’t it be magical if we could look at the lockdown as an opportunity to reassess and re-strategize rather than a bunch of gloomy days.
COVID-19 has been extremely unkind to many. My heart goes out to those who are facing financial hardships and have lost their livelihoods due to the coronavirus pandemic. While we can’t travel right now, we can always help our local brands and support them in other ways. I am hopeful that travel will be back and will become big again. We may not be able to predict the timelines right now looking at the current scenario, but with many countries and cities opening up gradually tourism will pick up again eventually. It will definitely take a while to travel to become tension free and regular as before. I think official travel will pick up before leisure travel. Many of us will wait longer to take vacations and travel with kids as right now it is quite risky. But once the coronavirus pandemic is under control and it is safe to travel, we are looking at a travel boom for the next couple of years at least.
(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of HelloPost.)
Contributed by Pujarini Mitra, Founder & Travel Blogger at MySoulTravels- a travel website encouraging traveling with kids.
