My 2020 In Review – A Year Of Pause
When I look back at 2020, I heave a sigh of relief, hoping it’s almost over. I usually enjoy writing yearend review posts, as there’s so much to share – the places travelled, the rewards, personal achievements, etc. However, 2020 wasn’t really about triumphs.
Besides Coronavirus, we had a lot of other sad stuff to deal with – communal riots, starvation, explosions, floods, cyclones, earthquakes, wildfires, locusts, airline crashes, and then we also lost quite a few film celebrities this year. Phew!
2020 was hard on all of us!
And, do I need to even mention the repercussions of lockdown on many people – domestic violence, sexual abuse, depression, joblessness…?
My heart aches as I write this post. It’s an unusual post to write. I could have skipped it. But then I thought it’s better to write what I feel in my heart.
My 2020 In Review – A Year Of Pause
I came quite close to Coronavirus.
2020 was a tough year personally as well. It was hard on my family, too. We lost two very precious people in our family this year.
My husband, his mom and sis got COVID. While my husband recovered quite smoothly, my mom-in-law and sis-in-law had a tough battle to fight. By God’s grace, they came on the other side. However, it was a tough path to recovery for them, especially my mom-in-law, who had recently lost her husband.
It was all a bit too much to handle. But we did!
The lockdown life.
I have no complaints about the lockdown, and the fact that I had to be homebound with my husband. It was pretty good! Had it not been the lockdown, I wouldn’t have refined my baking and cooking skills. Yes, I baked quite a few cakes and pizzas, tried my hand at many delectable Indian snacks – Dahi Wada, Jalebi, and Bread Pakora to name a few.
Also read: How To Be Happy During A Pandemic?
My favourite part was learning to ice a cake. I did it for my own birthday first, and later my dad-in-law’s birthday. It was fun!
No, I wasn’t addicted to Netflix or Hotstar. I did my own thing. I worked on my blog and also on my Pinterest account.
The lost projects and opportunities.
The biggest professional setback for me was losing out on a project with a tourism start-up. I was looking forward to starting something definite and long-term that I believed in and with the people that I genuinely enjoyed working with. I have no idea if we are getting back at it or not.
Update: We are restarting the project!
A blogging trip to Germany was also in the pipeline, which was called off due to COVID.
My eBook – launching on 21st January, 2021.
Perhaps the best thing that I did for myself in 2020 is my first eBook, which is my labour of love. I was supposed to launch it in September, but my circumstances changed quite swiftly and mercilessly. I was caught in the whirlwind of illnesses in the family, which kept me away from work.
Well, I am disappointed that I could not launch it earlier. It is delayed quite a bit. But I am happy that I finished something that I started, and that I created a product.
My eBook is available on Amazon.
Back on the road.
You can judge me for traveling during a pandemic, but it’s my personal decision and I’m entitled to it. I’m happy that I could restart traveling in 2020! It was a much-needed break after what we all went through together in our family.
Also read: Post Lockdown Travel – How To Be Safe?
My mom-in-law at 74, very bravely, fought her own battle of COVID, which was right after she lost her husband, who had been in the hospital for almost a month due to kidney malfunctioning.
I was back on the road with my favourite kind of travel – the forests. I was relieved and extremely excited to be traveling again with Pugdundee Safaris, my favourite wildlife travel brand in India.
My mom-in-law and I travelled together to the jungles of Madhya Pradesh – Kanha Earth Lodge. It was not just a vacation for us. It was a time of pouring our hearts out to each other.
To be honest, staying home and traveling are equally dangerous for me. I am as vulnerable to Coronavirus at home in Raipur as I am while traveling. In fact, I feel safer while away in the midst of nature with minimum human contact. As a daughter-in-law, I have no control over certain things at home.
My three-week slow travel in Goa.
Well, my second trip during COVID happened the following month with my mum. After my mum-in-law, it was time to spend some quality time with my mum, for which we chose Goa as our destination. My mum and I wanted to head to the mountains – somewhere in Kumaon. However, traveling to Kumaon would have involved a lot of movement from Hyderabad and Raipur.
Also read: Is Air Travel Safe During COVID-19?
Thereby, Goa was perfect – just one flight. I chose South Goa to be able to stay away from the touristic crowd of North Goa.
My mum and I met after 8 months of pandemic life. It was more than a vacation for us. It was our time of conversations, praying together and being with each other.
We enjoyed lovely breakfasts, went for morning and evening walks, spent lazy afternoons, watched sunsets and lapped up lots of verdure and fresh air.
We wore our masks all the time, whenever we went out or came in contact with people, which was minimal.
Raipur, my current base.
My husband and I had moved to Raipur (my husband’s hometown) in July. We decided to keep our household stuff in a warehouse in Mumbai until he has the option of ‘working from home’.
Well, I’m glad that now even my husband’s work is location independent like mine. We can be together all the time. We don’t know what the future holds. What would Mumbai’s situation look like post March 2021. It’s all quite vague.
I’m grateful that we are with our loved ones. We are getting to spend more time with them and doing our work without getting stuck in mad traffic. Life is simpler and slower now. We are mostly homebound.
Also read: Coronavirus – A Passing Terror With Lifelong Lessons To Learn
The biggest lesson 2020 has taught us is that we can’t control anything. We just have to accept and move on with whatever life throws at us. We are mere human beings, who are here today gone tomorrow.
“Embrace uncertainty. Some of the most beautiful chapters in our lives won’t have a title until much later.” — Bob Goff
What was your 2020 like? What did you learn through it?
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