On Thanksgiving Day morning, I sat on an empty beach, live with big waves and blue sky. Closing my eyes, the question of “who am I thankful for this Thanksgiving?” came up in my mind naturally. The faces of my life partner, family, friends, and mentors and those who inspired me throughout the year popped up and my heart anchored on myself. That was totally unexpected. Me? I am thankful for myself? A judgment followed — isn’t this a bit too narcissistic?
No, I am thankful for myself. The voice was tender yet firm. I am thankful for all the efforts I made this year. I am thankful that I did my best, regardless of the results. I am thankful for showing up every day, every moment.
2020 was an epic year in terms of curve balls that life can throw at us. The global pandemic with ultimate uncertainty (which continues to date). The dramatic change in our lifestyle that ensued from COVID-19 was beyond what we could imagine. We lost many lives of people directly from COVID-19. Many people lost critical parts of their lives (jobs, connections, etc) from COVID-19. We definitely learned that the social isolation is perhaps the cruelest punishment for human beings in this “global social experiment”. There was no other time when the majority of workforce was forced to work from home like this. The future of work may change dramatically from now. The global economy has been suffering tremendously. There is a good news of vaccine as we end 2020, but it’s still fuzzy to imagine what the new “normal” would be like post COVID-19. One thing is clear — it won’t be the same “normal” as it was before COVID-19.
The pent-up frustration against racial injustice exploded with a series of events as it should. We knew it existed but we were reminded in a meaningful way that the freedom we need to fix this issue is not yet here and perhaps far away still.
In the US, another curve ball was the Presidential Election. For the first time in the US history, the election result wasn’t considered a final result by almost the half of the population. While I still believe in the resilience of democracy in this country, I cannot deny that it feels like that the democracy got a huge punch in the face this time.
In the midst of all of these (and many other events), life happened. Every day we got up, worked, took care of our…
