🎉🍭🎊 I’d like to wish you and your loved ones a happy, healthy & successful 2021, and a great start to the decade! 💪🏼❤️ Before diving into it, I wanted to reflect on 2020. And let’s start with brief appreciation for surviving it.
Thanks for adapting!
Firstly, I want to thank health care workers risked their lives to put community first. The year has ended for us, but they continue fighting the crisis. I also want to thank my family, friends and colleagues for the understanding, love and core without which surviving 2020 would’ve been harder. Let’s look back more closely.
Off to a crazy start
2020 was surely like no other! The bad rap it got isn’t undeserved for all the gloomy news it brought right at the start. I lost family members to COVID. We had friends who lost jobs. It exhausted healthcare workers, and all of us in a way.
The lock-downs: each harder than the previous. My social appetite was drained having to spend most of my work hours on video calls. Working from home took a toll on those who relied on the office for social interaction. As parents, it was hard managing work without childcare. Not to forget the ever changing regulations on movement, and the gripping election drama since Nobember. I must admit that I had started feeling the burn around December. But we thrived.
Progress & Hope
On the other hand, 2020 pushed us faster & forward on several fronts. From adopting technology faster than ever, to breakthroughs in vaccine development. 2020 pushed us to be less individualistic and think even more about those around us. We made stronger commitments (some indirect due to the lockdown) to reverse environmental damage. We stood stronger together for equality, inclusion and freedom — leveraging the privileges we otherwise took for granted.
Man is a social animal, indeed.
And this was made possible by our great ability to work together and evolve. “Adapting together”, as Janus Boye termed it, was indeed the theme of the year. But in reality, it’s the key to survival, and unlocking new opportunities to learn, grow and give. I did a few things differently this year to unlock those opportunities, and it makes me really happy looking back at them.
I want to remember 2020 as a year that made us more aware of the realities, and helped us to be stronger together in 2021 and beyond. Have a good one!