Reflections on a year gone by is an exercise that quite a few folks undertake. Especially for a year like 2020, which has been challenging for most of the world due to COVID-19 pandemic. I thought I’d try to do the same this year but rather than just reflect, I wanted to list out the things that I’m thankful for this year. This year has been incredibly hard for almost everyone around the world but it has been much harder for some more than others. People have lost ,their dear ones, their jobs, their homes, their life savings and more. Relative to those people, I have had, what I can only call a wonderful year. This exercise, trust me, is not easy for me. I am not good at reflecting on life experiences or reflecting on things I am thankful for. It’s just that I wanted to put some effort and time going through this exercise which doesn’t come naturally to me. So here goes nothing.
First off, after struggling for more than three years, we were lucky enough to welcome a baby boy into this world and our lives. I’m very very thankful for this!
With the pandemic, the early days of managing the baby were tough, but I am thankful for the wonderful friends that I have who provided us with prepared meals for the first two months of the baby’s life.
I’m also thankful for having a job that allows me to pursue my hobbies of flying and astronomy. Although, I haven’t been able to spend much time this year on the former because of the baby and the pandemic.
I’m thankful for my wonderful wife who keeps up with my tantrums and allows me to pursue my hobbies. Most days she is primarily taking care of the baby and instead of taking a break during weekends, she encourages me to go pursue my hobbies. I think I can do more to support her and help her out more in taking care of our son.
Finally, I’m thankful for my health. I have had struggles with health in my early twenties that continued on for about a decade. For more than a decade now, I have been lucky enough to have my condition under control allowing me to pursue my hobbies, live a normal life and now take care of my son. I’m very thankful for that.
Despite all these good things in my life, 2020 has been a bit of a struggle. Our parents and my brother haven’t had a chance to visit or meet with our son. I absolutely abhor the isolation. I usually enjoy the company of people but we have practically been in quarantine since April 2020. I switched teams in my current job twice. The first time because I did not see a growth path in my old team and the second time because, even though the role was good and had a growth trajectory, my boss was a micromanager. Don’t get me wrong, my boss is a nice man, but I cannot work for someone who 1) upward manages creating churn on the people who work for him making them work late nights and weekends for no good reason except that he cannot push back to his seniors on unnecessary, redundant work 2) micro-manages sitting with team members 2-3 layers below him doing grunt work because he does not trust them. I got out of that team as soon as I could. I am now in another team that I don’t think I like. COVID makes it harder to concentrate at work and get anything done. It’s even hard with managing a 8 month old when both my wife and I work.
Overall, If I reflect on 2020, I think the huge positives out weigh the negatives but the everyday drag that the year had been made it hard to enjoy the positives. Even though the vaccines are now available, I think most of 2021 will be spent in isolation. However, I’m hoping to spend more time in 2021 reflecting and enjoying the positives so that the day to day becomes easier to tolerate. Here’s to life getting back to normal in 2021 again. Happy New Year!
astropilotdad.com 