2021 : the year that was .....

And just like that, another year comes to end..... the year that saw the beginning of the shape of our future years, the look and feel of the "new normal".... the year that the world tried so hard to look past Covid-19 and "get on with it" ...

As I look back, I see there are some years that have left a huge impact behind in our lives - in a good or maybe not so good way - but they have been watershed years, have changed our life paths, have indeed changed us. And there are some that have been a lot quieter, giving one time to breathe and to adjust our sails to the new winds. 

2019 was that watershed year - that changed most of what we had got used to, as normal. 

2020 was the aftermath - emotions ranged from hope to despair to hope again as the world of science battled a pandemic in an unequal world.

2021 , I feel, is a "sampler" - a preview of how it is going to be for the next couple of years atleast - in your homes, at your workplaces, in your communities, in the world that was once rushing at breakneck speed. 

Hopefully we have now seen the worst of the pandemic. We know now what is gone forever, what may come back in place but with precautions and what is new to our ways of living. This year has held our hands gently as we learnt to nervously step out of the safety of our homes and begin to go places; this year has held our shoulders as we wept over what we have lost forever, reminding us of the cycles of birth and death, of fear and courage, of the human spirit that knows how to keep going, come what may.

Emotional wellness has, in my opinion, taken the worst hit in the last 2 years as almost everyone struggled to breathe behind masks, in the confinement of their homes, away from many they cared for, under the constant fear of possible infection and the possibility of the loss of a dear one. In 2021, we probably first realized the extent of damage caused - especially where nothing showed - and we realized we had to each find our ways to heal, to recover from the aftermath. 

Wherever and whenever there was opportunity, we rushed to travel, to shop, to celebrate, to meet and be with loved ones - to hug, to hold hands and laugh - as if to remind ourselves, we still could. 

We checked on each others' vaccination status, we each made choices on how much risk we could and would take in a world that was still battling with mutants and variants of the pandemic. We slowly but surely started looking forward - cautiously planning for good things - probably in 2022. We each decided how we would now live our lives, irrespective of which way the pandemic goes. Some threw caution to the winds, some wary from restrictions, started pushing boundaries and some still looked out of windows to see how it was all shaping up out there. We all tried to make the adjustments we thought were necessary for us - to be able to move on and look beyond.

I think that is the mood this year is going to leave us with and with a lesson for us - that our ability to heal lies in our own hands. Human beings are possibly the fastest to adapt to new environments - that's why we have made it so far; that is how we will grow past this too. 

The new is beginning to take shape right under our eyes and it is now for us to accept it and get going. 2022 should be and will be different. 

Covid may not yet be ready to go, but I believe, our will to make the most of what we have and to carry on our journeys, whilst continuing to be careful, has returned. We have all tasted the sampler menu. We will now need to make our own choices and move forward to bring back the all those things in our lives that once made us smile, that warmed our souls and that gave us the will to live on. And if they are not there yet, we will need to discover new ways to appreciate what we still have, new reasons to laugh and new fires for our souls.  

Let's all work towards bringing back the joys, the smiles and the colors in 2022! 

Let us all help each other heal! 

Amen.