2020 - the year of Transition

Wow. 

We are now in the 4th month of the year 2020 .....  Gosh, what a start! It's like the world will never ever be the same again and we haven't even got to the half way mark of this year. 

CoVid 19, social distancing, lockdowns, looming recessions ..... our world has come to a grinding, screeching halt. No one still knows what tomorrow will look like, for anyone. This is a watershed year for sure.

Interestingly, for me, personally, I had anyways planned for this to be the year I changed courses. Even before the ugly virus appeared. Now the change appears bigger than I had envisaged. But I believe in change; I am ready for it.

So here's to 2020 : the year of Transition!


April, 2020 

I have truly lost track of time.

My life - and everyone else's - has changed drastically in the first quarter of 2020. All our parameters of normalcy have crumbled and disappeared and we have all got used to new terms and lifestyles - social distancing, flattening the curve, wfh, even pandemic …. I doubt how many of us knew these terms, when we rang in the new year.

Yet, as we painstakingly moved into the second quarter of the year, we seemed to have settled into the new routine, slipped into a new lifestyle. Our worries about what next and when and how remains - may even have got worse. But as they say - Shit happens, Life continues. And it takes us along, willingly or not. 

In just a few weeks, I have witnessed how we have moved away from our busy and complex lives to the very basics now. And this happened almost brutally. Yet we not only have accepted this rapid transition and but are now making the most of it! The family bonding, the experiments with cooking, gardening, teaching the young ones, connecting with friends over Zoom, reading, doing home workouts, practicing mindfulness - suddenly we all have time for that, as well as staying on top of our professional lives as much as we can.

And I lean back and smile …… Change is almost a bully …. Those of us who are open, always find ways to deal with this bully, use it as an opportunity. Those who aren’t quite as welcoming hurt more and just have to figure out ways to deal. Ultimately, we all accept the new and make the most of it. And that’s probably why we humans didn't go the dinosaur way! 

Whilst there is overall acceptance of where we are now, I see that there still remains some remnants of hope that things will go back to "normal". But after such cathartic changes, do they, ever? And I am not talking economics or politics here! I am referring simply to the way we live our daily lives, our routines, our habits. 

I am firm in my belief that the new order at the end of this long, dark and horrid tunnel will be different - hopefully better! We and all around us will need to adapt to this new order and it will continue to evolve for a while now. 

So.... What I have often referred to as the flowing river of life is in a tumultuous phase, today and threatens to flood the landscape ahead. Be prepared! 





I have begun to rewire.... 

After the initial shock, worry and discomfort, I have also started settling into my new routine. And the more I am getting settled, the more all of this seems like a prep for my next chapter - for the new kind of life I wanted to lead anyways, going forward. The slowing of pace, the simplifying of needs and wants, the limitation of social engagements and travel, the abundance of time to look inward - all seems just perfect for the new page…. 

Perhaps this is a prep not just for me, but for all of us …. A nudge to recalibrate hard… a chance for us and this world to first grieve and then heal…an opportunity to be ready for the new “normal”…..because it will come, for sure. 

Till then, let us all adjust our sails! Let us spend these times in cleansing ourselves and our worlds of what no longer serves us and preparing for a better tomorrow. 


“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”
― Lao Tzu


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