2020 ends, finally.
The Lock Down
15th March 2020 — we got a notice that we needed to evict our university within the next one week. And so, I was home, ready to be bored, filled in with the glee of visiting home (and of course as an informed student, I was well aware how the COVID pandemic would turn out for India, though definitely had not thought that government would be partially successful in containing it for so long and then be unsuccessful eventually.)
A month — and I had learnt cooking and baking. Two months and I was back with my university course on Japanese (こんにちは！ to first time readers). Three months and the anxiety had started to kick back in (I live in Maharashtra and have family members in medical field — they wear masks throughout the day with a thermometer almost always ready). Four months, five months and it has been more than six months now as I type this post. The first thing I realized in this time is that my mind isn’t as robust as I thought it is. It is anxious, hates empty rooms and needs someone to talk to. I have seen harder times with my mind but I did not expect even the slightest of regressions in recent times.
And while I am glad I have friends and family for the purpose, music definitely is one thing that has helped me hold myself. People say that music is an excellent therapeutic tool. And indeed it has been so.
Discovering genres is lit
Discovering new genres and artists is probably one of the best things that occurred to me in the prolonged year of 2020. Right from country music to light metal, I have added more favorites on my spotify account than I did in the last two years.
The music simply seemed to sing with me, hum with me, and tap with me in both mellow and brazen times.
Revelations
2020 was a bit rough. There were issues in my family and stuff I cannot exactly write down here. However, in this one year, I have gained (as I believe) enough emotional processing for a long time to come. A couple of my friends got married just making me more realistic of my situation — I no longer can bargain on my “am a kid” card.
Not to forget, I assessed the human nature a closer than ever during the COVID pandemic. My only conclusion is the fact that one cannot know who or what might be the step of sustenance at a point in one’s life — physical, monetary or emotional.
And finally the fact that we must move on. And while this seems the talk of a love struck swan who lost his beloved, it’s a fairly rational thing to do to be frank. In this world, moving on is the best thing one can do, the best thing, I have come to know of. And that is my lesson for 2020.
Anyways, happy new year
Happy new year everyone. I hope you have a great year ahead.
