Beyond Corona Time (3rd edition)

TWENTY-TWO LESSONS FOR NOW  

The first two editions of the book had the words ‘Corona Time’ in their title (“22 Lessons for Corona Time & After”). People found this misleading, believing that the book was about Covid-19 and we had all had enough of the virus! I decided to rename the book (“Twenty-two Lessons for Now”). The central message of the book is that present-moment awareness is the key to happiness, growth, and success. It felt apt to rename it. Whenever you find this book, I trust that “Twenty-two Lessons for Now” will provide you with food for thought and ways to survive in the AC (After Covid) world in which we all now find ourselves, endeavoring to live productive lives of meaning and purpose.

In 2018, I wrote a book called ‘The Lessons’. It was written as a gift to my niece, Keshie, who was planning to travel overseas when she finished high school. It contained 22 ‘lessons for life’ – things I had learned and that I wanted her, and, eventually, my two younger nephews to carry with them. They were lessons that I had endeavored to teach them over the course of their lives. I also learned some lessons from them. The book sat on my laptop for two years as I busied myself with earning money and growing my business. I tried but never succeeded, to take it any further.

In 2020, when South Africa went into her initial twenty-one-day lockdown, in response to Covid-19, my opportunity-seeking brain connected ‘21 days and ‘22 lessons’. I decided to post one of these lessons on Facebook for every day of the lockdown, with a little Covid-19 ‘twist’ added to the mix. They were far from perfect, and not all original. I have learned so much from so many wise souls: I endeavored, wherever possible, to acknowledge and credit these teachers. As I began posting my daily missives, so my Facebook friends began responding. Some of them began sharing the posts, and I began to get friend requests from strangers and comments from friends of friends. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive and extremely encouraging. Lockdown was providing many people within my Facebook circle with time for introspection. The posts were landing and resonating. My joy at having created a daily ritual, filled with meaning and purpose, grew daily. Some days were hard, and I shared this openly. 

I had long wanted to create a website, and the lockdown seemed as good a time as any to stop procrastinating. I am grateful to my friend Anton Olivier who rose to the challenge in record time. The posts became blogs, and then the blogs became the first edition of this book. I self-published the book and printed a limited number of copies. Friends began buying it for their friends and soon their friends began asking for books. And then strangers began enquiring about where they could get copies. A school ordered 80 books for their teachers. The lessons were resonating with people. Suddenly, I needed to print additional copies.

In the period between the first and second editions, I realized that the first edition, written under the pressure of lockdown and a daily deadline, was missing two crucial lessons that actually underpin the other 22 lessons. I learned them when I was so young that I did not even consider them ‘lessons’. But the story behind them is so integral to my life that, without it, the book felt like it was missing something. I included these lessons in the second edition as part of a reworked preface and, once again, put my book out into the world. You can read the story HERE.