2020 Onwards…..
Oh boy! Where do I start ? 2020 has been one helluva year. Just like a roller coaster at Six Flags, with the highest highs and lowest lows. Some lost their loved ones, some built new relationships. Some got furloughed, some made fortunes. Some made new habits, some had to forego the old ones. Who would have thought most of the year would be spent in front of a screen, on Zoom wearing joggers and we would have to think twice before meeting people we used to meet almost everyday and we would have to wear a mask for a reason other than air pollution. But nonetheless, whatever happens, happens.
On New Year’s Eve as I am sitting in my living room in front of my computer waiting for the clock to strike 12, I am forced to think what did 2020 meant for me.
For starters, I realized that almost 80% of the things I was doing on a daily basis (before the pandemic) was non essential to live a happy, healthy, mindful life. You don't need to go out (partying) every weekend to live a happy life. You don’t need to spend endless hours at a Zara or an H&M trying 100 different shirts to choose the best fit. You don’t need a membership of the most expensive gym in town to stay fit. Your life might be happening by doing so, but definitely not happy.
Pre-2020 we were in such a rush that we hardly had time to think about these things. It was so difficult to sit down and reflect for as short as 15-mins. But 2020 gave us the time and space to think about life in general. I believe, it not only gave, but forced us to do so.
I got time to read the books laying in my shelf for years. I got time to focus on the skills I wanted to learn for so long. I also, launched a podcast!!
I got the opportunity to the learn more about myself in just the last 8–9 months than I had learnt in the last 9 years. While being isolated from others, I think I was building a better relationship with myself.
However, I don’t believe there is anyone on the planet who did not get impacted by the pandemic. But, it also bought an opportunity to rebuild, rethink about how were we living our lives (in totally meaningless ways), wasting time doing things that are not important, working hard for things that we don’t need.
It took a pandemic for us to realize that climate change is reversible if we just cut down the polluting activities that we do on a day to day basis, its not necessary to commute to office everyday in order to be productive (at least for some jobs), family is important, mental health is important and so is physical health and by optimizing our time a schedule by a little bit we can actually find time to work on our goals.
2021 would be the year of hope and recovery. I believe most of us would like to resume our normal pre-pandemic lives as soon as we can. I would like to do that too, but I would also like to carry the (positive) experiences and learnings from 2020 with me so that I can navigate through life in a more meaningful and mindful way.
I am happy that 2020 gave me an opportunity to strategize and re-focus my energy onto the things that are important to me and I feel incredibly lucky that I will be entering 2021 as a better, more learned version of myself and I hope the same for you too.
On that note, I wish everyone of you a happy, prosperous and meaningful new year!
And yes, in the future if you think about baking a cake, picking up a new skill, checking on your friend’s mental health, visiting your parents, thinking about climate change … don’t wait for a pandemic, do it right away.
Cheers to a year that woke us up!
Onwards…
PS : I just launched a podcast, @Intellect where I talk about business, technology and its intersection with life. Give it a listen!
