Hi Friends, 2020 may sound scary but let me capture how it unfolded for me and what were some key moments to highlight. It feels too mundane to write a post like looking back on a year, but I am writing this time mainly so that my future self can read and appreciate what I went through.
I would like to go to 2021 resolutions before going to 2020. This time it is very simple
1. I want to feel all the emotions intensely (except anger)-
If I am Happy I want to feel every moment of it. Smiling and feeling energetic all around.
If I am sad, I want to truly be sad at that moment, so sad that no joke can make me laugh, and so on.
All the emotions are part and parcel of life, better to accept them and get yourself immersed in them. This way you can also better understand and manage such emotions and their triggers in the future.
There are situations when I get angry at someone or something and then I get angry at myself for getting angry. So, I wish to have better control over anger - a tough task.
2. My second resolution is to fail big - slow or fast - but big. You might have seen the movie pursuit of happiness, I want to go in pursuit of failures. There are several reasons for this pursuit -
1. All this year I tried to go behind success and mostly I found failures. So, going behind failures might land me into more success.
2. It is said that failures are stepping stones towards failures, so the more failures I get, the higher I go.
3. Failing big - like seriously - failing at a rocket launch, or being in F1 and missing out on the championship, etc. Not everyone can fail big - you need to be on top of your game to reach the top level of competition and then fail.
3. Then there are running goals around health, fitness, book reading, etc.
2020 - Nearly half of the year was spent in Chennai and in lockdown.
First of all big kudos to all of you, congratulations, well done, etc etc - for making it to 2021. This was trending a lot - people used to say making it through 2020 was in itself a big achievement. Well, I don't agree, Yes 2020 had new challenges which most of us didn't experience before - those were external circumstances - you still had full control over your inner self and most of the resources. I have friends who lost jobs and I have friends and relatives who opened up new businesses - so anything and everything was possible. My condolence to anyone and everyone who lost a near and dear one for no matter what reason. I wish you get over it and be at peace with reality.
March to June - Locked-down in Aqualiliy, Chennai - MWC -Nationwide lockdown happened in the last week of March. My cousin in the UK had told to me stock some foodgrains etc and thanks to that just a week before I had stocked foodgrains and other times for at least a month. It was tough for a week to get used to the new style of working and work-life balance. Then in May it was like let me learn something new or pick up some old hobby - juggling, playing with Raspberry Pi - surprisingly for me things didn't move forward.
My two flatmates, Jasprit and Shashank were in the flat and we were in this together. Shashank is a really good cook and thanks to him, in lockdown I didn't face any issues at least for food. In the process, I learned a few dishes myself such as Dal, Rice, Pasta, Rotis etc. Jasprit used to take care of other household chores. We would occasionally support each other in different tasks like someone will chop veggies, other will wash utensils, etc. Bringing groceries was for weekends. Any two of us would go and get the required items. Shaving each other support made those days less stressful.
In the month of July, I was able to fly back to Mumbai and have been here since then. After a couple of flight cancellations - I made it to Bombay. I was in a 14 days home quarantine - work was going okay-okay from home. I locked myself inside till almost August and then started the morning ritual from September. I was accompanied by my building friend Nupoor on morning walks. We were crazy back then - going for 6;30-7 am walks in heavy rain with jackets on. I say crazy back then, since around Diwali (in November) our consistency dropped and so did the rain. Anyway, so this morning routine helped to balance my health a bit.
Studies - I enrolled in an online PG Diploma (Machine Learning) course in September - one step towards self-improvement.
Fatness - I had gained a lot of weight before lockdown, so lockdown just added to the fat. In December I went keto for a few weeks and I was able to bring down my weight. As of now I am regulating my diet a bit, exercise a bit, and everything a Bit :P
I read Think Like a Monk and for the next month, I went insane and started meditating for 40-50 mins a day. I became less interested and involved in all activities around me and also at work. I was trying to ditch everything and leave a simple life detaching from my goals. I am not sure how and when, but I came out of that phase and I started focusing more on my goals and dreams. I also became more aware of my emotions and then their triggers. So then meditative phase was not a complete waste at all.
By Christmas, my Happy Phase fully clicked in and things are just going Super Fine now :)
Let me know your thoughts. I would like to hear your resolutions rather than what happened in 2020.
You might be interested in the following -
2019-year-of-rejections
if-i-knew-that-was-last-time
a-decade-of-transition
