THE coronavirus pandemic has both negative and positive impact on people's lives. Yes, the negative effect is more obvious. But if one will also look into its positive impact, the pandemic has also brought simple joys and happiness as we learn to appreciate ordinary things and activities we never noticed before.
Mine is about flowers where I believe God has led me to the garden to help me cope with life's stresses and anxieties.
It is believed that flowers can help boost one's emotions, reduce stress level and anxiety, and re-energizes one's peace and tranquility, something I would like to confirm.
In our culture, flowers can even awaken a woman's love, thus men would use flowers to woo ladies in courtship. Somehow, the scent of the flowers helps make the woman smile and slowly opens her heart to courtship.
Artist Sugar Cuenca-Tonogbanua shared that the power of flowers can very well help reduce stress and anxiety.
She said the different stages of community quarantine from the more stringent stage of the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) to General Community Quarantine (GCQ) and Modified Community Quarantine (MGCQ) had caused her stress due to non-activity and loss of income.
"I and my husband are artists. We draw and paint and we even do painting and art exhibits as our means of livelihood. When the coronavirus pandemic hit the community, we were all locked down to our respective homes and there was nothing particular to do inside the home. When ECQ was extended, I tried to look around and see what tiny things I can do to relieve my stress? And boom! It's gardening. Gardening is a combination of physical exercise and an appreciation of the beauty of nature and the environment," she shared.
She then started her gardening where she planted various kinds of flower-bearing plants.
"My kids also helped me sprinkle the plants with water every day, except when it rains. And as the day goes by, I started to appreciate what we are doing in our little garden which help us relieve our stresses caused by Covid-19," she said.
She added that because of Covid-19, she officially became a gardener and she loves to see more plants growing each day.
"It truly helped me overcome my stress and anxiety during the quarantine and a blessing indeed. I praise God for leading me to the garden," she said.