By Abdellatif Sharaa

was very hard at the start of the curfew in Kuwait. I was out at a co-operative society store, and had to be back with my groceries around 4:30 pm. When I arrived, I found the elevator was not working, so I had to take the bags up the stairs to the third floor. When I attempted to put the things in the kitchen, my wife asked me to please leave, so I did. I sat on the couch and picked up a paper to read, but found that I forgotten my glasses in the car.

When I headed to the door to go and get them, my wife this time wanted me to stay in because the parking yard is on the other side of the street and I may be caught by active police patrols, as the time was already past 5:00 pm. "You are not going out," she said.

That first night was really hard for me, and I could not stay put, and kept moving from the living room to the bedroom to the kitchen. Then I decided to go through some books on the shelves and discovered that there were books I hadn't even opened yet, although I had bought them a long time ago! I felt that I should refresh my cultural knowledge and grabbed a book and read for two hours, then exercised a little by going up and down the stairs because of the curfew.

Now and then I picked up my mobile phone to go through some reports and news items, particular about the coronavirus and its effects, and my eyes fell on a headline saying "the Surprising Benefits of Coronavirus" - interesting, isn't it? The report said "just like that, the entire world has experienced a change in its daily routine due to the coronavirus pandemic and the need to reduce or stop travel for the sake of global health."

From new strict hand washing regimens to cancelled events or having to work from home, this is without a doubt affecting everything in our daily lives. In fact the environment might just be the only beneficiary of this scary social distancing scenario we are all part of.

Reports said that air quality has improved immensely in China as an example, since residents were staying home due to the pandemic. China's ministry of ecology and environment said the average numbers of good quality air days increased 21.5 percent in February compared to the same time last year.

This is why we should look for something positive, even if we are in the midst of a fierce battle, with determination that the battle will be won, and we should build on the positives we have made and not drop them. "Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence" - Helen Keller