My Journey Through The Year 2020
By: Swati Garje
Tags: Self-awareness, Self Journey Of Year 2020, Year In Review, Self Love

2020, was the year everyone will remember for their own different reasons. For some of us, it might be excruciating, and for some, it might be a bit easy to live upon. It’s been 2 months already since the new year has begun. And to think back on a year that feels like it lasted a lot longer than 12 months, surviving that was the biggest challenge for mankind.

2020: A Year That Changed Everything

Like every other upcoming year, the beginning of 2020 was also filled with new hopes, ambitions, and brand-new resolutions. I had also decided to take myself more seriously in terms of Career, Health, self-care, and finding my true passion in life.

Traveling, being my happy place to be in, I had made plans to travel to “Kerala- God’s own country”, and to my surprise, covid-19 has started spreading from there only. The virus was spreading all over the world faster before anybody could know anything about it. With that, all my travel hopes were shattered.

Just weeks into the year, covid-19 has started affecting so many lives around us. Some had to shut their businesses, people got fired from their jobs and some of us had nothing to rely on for our daily essential needs. People around me also faced so many hardships during this pandemic time and witnessing that pain was the breaking point in my life.

Challenges I Faced

The speed with which the virus was spreading scared everyone around including me. With that some challenges I had faced were:

Socializing

When lockdown began in our state and all over the country, with borders have been sealed, everyone was forced to stay indoors. Being locked in the home all day, I was missing my old life of social gatherings, festivals, and celebrations. Face-to-face interactions which were taken for granted all these past years made me value it truly.

Anxiety and Restlessness

I started feeling restless and frustrated with not going out for even a walk or exercise. So many days I had spent doing nothing and feeling anxious sitting idle during days and nights.

Resilience

Amidst all of the pandemic chaos around the world, people learned to adjust to these new normal situations and new lifestyles have been incorporated. Schools and colleges conducted their classes online, digitization got huge demand, and work from home culture got introduced. Adjusting and adapting to new changes become part of our life. We’ve adapted and we have emerged with a far greater appreciation for a way of life that can be easily taken for granted.

Wabi-Sabi

Wabi-sabi is a Japanese concept which means, accepting and appreciating the beauty that is “impermanent “ & “imperfect” in nature. This Japanese concept has taught me to accept and appreciate things as they are. My perception towards life has changed and I realized that I am the one who is responsible to create my own happiness and not the external factors of life. If you are not happy, you cannot make others happy. As the quote says: “ You can’t pour from an empty cup ” — Norm Kelly

Creativity & Passion

Reading

Reading stories and comics was something I always enjoyed since my childhood. But due to other priorities, I had ignored my passion for reading all these years. I began reading different genres in books and experienced calmness in my life.

Learning foreign language

I have been fond of Japanese culture and movies for many years. I decided to take that interest to the next level by learning the Japanese language as a skill. I am still in a learning process but I am quite enjoying it.

Writing

I discovered my passion for writing in this pandemic time and joined a writing course of Content Vidhya. I have learned so many strategies and hacks of writing in the course duration. Uma Madhavi Ma’am taught us little nuances of writing. It was an insightful learning experience for me. Because of that course itself, I had found the courage to write this article. Writing is something that challenges your creativity and makes you think about different perspectives.

Cooking

Cooking a different variety of dishes and relishing it was a daily routine in my life during the lockdown. Be it a Dalgona coffee, minimal ingredient cakes, and other regional cuisines, I had tried to prepare them all. It gave me an immense amount of satisfaction that cannot be expressed in words. Cooking helped me to stay relaxed and stress-free.

Lessons Learned

We only have the present moment. Cherish it.

Time is a limited resource, don’t waste it on the people and things that don’t add value to your life.

Practice Meditation

Happiness is self-created. Do not look for it outside of yourself.

Learn to accept the pain and it will hurt you less.

Alone does not mean lonely, love and enjoy your own company.

Indulge in creativity, follow your passions.

Be grateful for what you have while earning what you want.

Change is inevitable.

To conclude this,

Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times if one remembers to turn on the light -Albus Dumbledore

we cannot describe the adventurous year 2020 in one word and we should continue to inculcate some healthy habits such as sanitizing, social distancing, and wearing masks while going out. Even though vaccinations are in process, covid-19 is going to stay with us for a while. It’s only in our hands to make this new year better than 2020. Until then Stay Healthy and Happy! 😊