The year 2020 was an unprecedented year with developments and situations the world had never seen before and probably wouldn’t want to see in the future. The year is over but the pandemic is not. With some positivity around the news of the vaccine towards the end of the year, the year 2021 arrived with renewed anxiety on the new strain of the virus originating in the UK and the European countries. The good news is that the vaccines have reached hospitals and are on the ground across geographies. The inoculation drive is being launched across on warfront and ‘hope’ for a better future, a key human attribute is emerging stronger, yet again.

The year 2020 showed us that we are so vulnerable yet so powerful. It was a year of loss but also a year of deep learning. What we need is to move on with the lessons learnt and carry them to the new year and continue our journey of self-improvement, the journey of being better today than what we were yesterday, the journey of pushing ourselves outside of our comfort zones, and the journey of reaching our true potential. The past should have relevance in our lives only for two aspects, one for the memories we create and the second for the lessons we learn. Besides that, the past is only going to bring anxiety and have a negative impact on our present. 2020 has been a hard teacher and like many hard teachers has taught all of us lessons which will be with most of us as lessons of a lifetime.

My key learnings have been as below:
  1. Stay Authentic & True to Yourself: The year 2020 threw challenges at us which had all in them to break us. Times as these also present opportunities to be authentic and true to our unique character. In unprecedented times, being authentic is the key. Looking back at the past year, steering situations which were so unique that believing on our own gut worked out to be much more relevant than copying and imitating others.
  1. Surrender the Outcome: In these times, there were many occasions that we felt helpless and clueless with offices suddenly closing, airlines announcing cancelations, new regulations on lockdown, restrictions on movement controls etc. There was nothing that we could really do and had to just carry on with the flow. That’s when I felt that we just need to surrender the outcome and just keep doing the best that we can in whatever situation we are.
  1. Change Can Be Sudden: While the year 2020 started on a wonderful note like any other new year, change came too soon as the lockdowns came in various shapes, sizes, and forms across the world, organizations moved to working from home, and educational institutions adapting quickly to online learning. These were all changes that came too quick, too soon. This essentially proves that change can be sudden. While the future will remain to be uncertain, the mindset to change needs a change which in most cases is a bigger obstacle than the situation itself that warrants a change.
  1. We Are Stronger Than We Think We Are: As they say, anything that doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, better, and wiser. A lot of people lost jobs, faced income reductions, businesses faced closure. People felt they were at the brink of breaking but almost all of us emerged stronger. Many people opened their own businesses tapping on the opportunity. A lot of women, especially homemakers stood up to the challenge and setup their small businesses, rekindled their buried aspirations, and came to become the financial pillars for their families in times of crises. These businesses tapped into the power of technology and spread their wings to markets unknown for them. Such individuals all emerged stronger than what they always thought they were.
  1. Your Family Is Your Best Refuge: Life prior to the pandemic has been running in the fast lane for most of us with busy work schedules, extensive travels, parties, and social engagements. While the family has always been our refuge and close to our hearts, the fast life and the lifestyle that it ingrained in us somehow made it difficult for us to spend the time that we should be spending with our families. With the world in lockdown for the most part of the year, the time that we spent with our families in the past year was probably much more that we didn’t spend together in the entire decade or so. This made us realize that our families are our best refuge.
  1. You Can Choose To Be Immensely Productive: While work from home on a sustained basis led to a lot of anxiety in many people, it gave us an opportunity to make the best use of the time by realigning our work schedules. With the meetings going virtual and commuting times disappearing, it gave an opportunity for us to be more productive while having a much better work-life balance.
  1. Get Comfortable with the Uncomfortable: 2020 threw at us situations and tasks which we may not have been comfortable. Whether it is adapting to new technologies or getting used to meeting people virtually or meeting elderly parents remotely or cleaning our houses ourselves and working without house helps or foregoing things which we felt so essential in our lives. We did get comfortable with many things that we felt uncomfortable doing all this while.
  1. Being Grateful Gives Immense Strength: In testing times, when not much is in our control, feeling grateful for all the blessings in life gives a lot of strength and calms us. Expressing gratitude on a daily basis helps in bringing mental peace, calm, and reducing anxiety.
  1. Reflection Is The Key To Progress:  Regular reflection is the key to stay on course on the path to pursue our goals. The year 2020 reinforced the power of reflection all the more. There is tremendous power in reflecting on what we achieved, what we couldn’t, and what is required to be done to set things right. Reflection daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly is of immense value in our journey towards achieving our true potential.
  1. Choosing How We Spend Our Time: We are made by the choices we make, day in and day out. 2020 also taught us while being in lockdown, whether we spend time binge-watching television series or we get glued to the news channels or we spend our time upskilling ourselves to get ready for the new normal and keep progressing towards our life goals.

Let’s take the learnings of 2020 forward and utilize them to our best advantage in 2021 and beyond. Let’s just not change the calendar this year, let’s also change our mindset and our approach to life.

Happy reading!!!