Happy Holidays and Merry New Year
By: Sohel Roopani
Tags: New Year, Holidays, Year In Review

This year, so many of us won’t be found where we normally are for the holidays. In light of the dispersement, it might be the best year yet for a digital card.

I’m sending warm wishes for you and yours to have time filled with love and cheer, and best wishes for health and wealth (whatever that may mean to you) in the new year.

I’m also leaving some life updates and musings below — please, do feel free to skip the read! I wrote to provide an outlet for myself, and as an update for you if we haven’t connected in a bit.

Mahalo,

Sohel

My 2020

I don’t want to offend anyone or come across tone deaf — 2020 has been kind to me, and I am tremendously grateful for it. I’m well aware it has been hell for many. If you have a feeling that reading about my (broadly positive) journey over the course of this year will upset you — please stop here!

My dear friends got married in Mexico City at the end of February, right as the world was learning of the severity, spread, and potential approaches we could take to respond to COVID-19. At the time, we didn’t know enough to halt travel; flights and hotels were still operating normally. So the gang traveled to Mexico and participated in a truly incredible wedding. I stood, for the moment I was asked to recite some words, under a Chuppah for the first time, and danced the night away. CDMX and I were a match made in heaven, I ate my weight in tacos over the next several days.

I returned to NYC and within two days and was already given the option to start working remotely. I work for a company that was flexible with regards to where and how you found your productivity, even prior to the pandemic. 2020 has helped me realize just how fortunate I am to be in a sector and organization that allows for remote work.

Within a few weeks (late March), I got sick. It was COVID. I know this because I tested positive for antibodies a few weeks after and had hallmark symptoms including a temporary loss of smell. I was bed ridden for a few days and felt strange shortness of breath when running or cycling for a couple of months after recovering. Otherwise, I am one of many fortunate people who fared well and feel no lingering damage or symptoms today.

At the time, the virus was spreading most voraciously in pockets of New York, including the part of Brooklyn I live in. One of my best friends was sick at the same time, and had a mirroring antibody report. We both knew we would spend the rest of the year working remotely, and having fought off the virus — chose to stick together as we posed relatively little risk to one another. Once we were better, we set course for a cross country trip, and spent time working from cities where we had loved ones, saying hello from a distance, and visiting various state parks. The United States really is a treasure trove of natural beauty and resources. We left Brooklyn for 40 days, and that became the longest I’d ever been on a “trip” for.

In June I turned 30, and wrote a piece to synthesize my reflections about the milestone.

The year went on — and things got bad for a lot of people. Things also got good for a lot of people. Some businesses, particularly technology companies, saw secular tailwinds (i.e. continued digitization) accelerate already exponential growth. Capital continued to outperform labor, and that’s a trend I see no end for. I tend to revisit Yuval Harari’s assessments of the near future and growing risk for a “useless class”. As humans continue to sprawl and prosper, more and more of us find ourselves on journeys of self-fulfillment (refer to: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs). Much of the species have become fortunate enough to begin wrestling with a new paradigm: what do we want to want?

In my quest to answer that question for myself, I went to Kauai with another good friend of mine and spent 30 days working remotely, meditating, running, reading, learning how to surf, and reconnecting with the natural world. We hiked the Kalalau Trail and camped on the beach for two nights. I ate more plants, more super foods, less meat, and less processed foods. I looked at my phone less and at the world more. My buddy had ended his lease on the mainland, and stayed in Hawaii to ride out the rest of the pandemic shuffle. I owe him for countless surfing lessons, and most importantly — for allowing me to join him for the first month of his own journey.

I’m ending this year feeling healthier, happier, calmer, and more connected. The biggest changes have been to proactively slow myself down, and constantly remind myself that I am of the same organic material as my fellow living creatures on planet earth. Changing our relationships with food and with our environment are quick ways to radically impact our wellbeing. I hope to try and spend as much time as I can in nature and being (even more) active in 2021.

Here’s my wishlist (it is the holiday season, after all):

The silver lining of the pandemic, and other disruption seen in 2020 is that we were just gifted a break from inertia!

Please, take the opportunity that comes with broad changes in economic conditions (like what’s occurring right now) to re-assess what matters to you. Live a life that is designed and intentional. Be the change you want to see. Do not succumb to the ultimate gaslighting.

If we haven’t caught up properly in a while: I’d love to know what you’ve learned this year and your outlook for the future. Ping me!