Love in the Time of Corona

 So, 2020 is almost coming to a close. Most of us are tired and exhausted with the burden of cancelled plans, dreams put on hold, physical separation from the ones we love and most of all the crushing weight of uncertainty. We often refer to this year as one that was ‘wasted’. In these ‘unprecedented’ (I have heard and used this word more in 2020 than in my entire life!) times, I thought it would be a good idea to do some self reflecting.  

Sunrise at the Taj Mahal

Personally, 2020 began quite well. I visited my family with my partner. He did the whole scary ‘Meet the Parents’ thing and it went well (no arguments were had! Success!). We then did some travelling to see friends and visited the Taj Mahal (a big tick off the bucket-list). We sat at cafes in Kolkata plotting a Europe trip in June where we would start in Italy and end up in Belgium. We even planned a weekend away at Torqauy, relaxing by the English Riviera for his birthday. Needless to say, several weeks later, all plans were crushed and were locked down!  

I confess, I was quite panicked about the lockdown. I worried about my ability to work from home for an extended period of time, the lack of human contact and the state of my mental and physical health. There were days when my room felt like a prison, days when I felt like I wouldn’t be able get out of bed and days when I felt like there was no hope left. Even with everything going on, I feel like I managed to make some significant progress in certain areas of my life which I would happily neglect in other years due to my ‘busy schedule’. Here are few of those things:

• Exercise: Like many others, I would begin the new year bubbling with enthusiasm to get fit and exercise regularly. Much like many others, a few weeks in, the short days and cold weather would extinguish my motivation and I would conveniently slip back into watching TV shows all evening in my PJs and wanting an entire cake for dinner! Since commuting to work was no longer taking away my time, I was (still am) exercising regularly. Living on a floor above an office ruled out anything that required jumping so I focused on yoga. I began my year with a 30 Day Yoga Journey by Kino MacGregor and became an ardent fan of Tim Senesi. I have reached levels of flexibility and strength this year that I am truly proud of. Have I got on my yoga mat religiously every single day? No. I have showed up more often than other years though.

  

  Lemon Tea and Onion Bhajis

• Home Cooking: Makes sense to talk about food soon after exercise. I have cooked more this year than any other year of my life. Yes, there were days I ate a bag of crisps for lunch and couldn't be bothered to get up to get dinner. Restaurants and cafes being shut, forced me to learn more cooking from my great food guru (my mother) and my other great food guru (YouTube). Staying home through summer made me crave some signature dishes from my life in Kolkata and I finally had the time to learn how to make those!

• Reading: Wanting more time to read is my constant state of being. This year I have outdone myself and read a total of 75 books (okay, 73 and 2 that are nearly finished. Will be done before 2021, I promise!). I explored genres that I never bothered with before and I was fascinated! One of the many surprises in 2020 (this one is a pleasant surprise) is that I absolutely love graphic novels! I started with The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman and now am about to read Blankets by Craig Thompson.

Graphic Novels

• Relationship with Friends: I agree that virtual interactions pale in comparison to face-to-face ones. However, some friendships in my life have reached new heights this year. Two of my friends from school invited me to a book club where we read books from all over the world. We then have a discussion over video call. This has brought us closer than ever before! Previously, we would often be out of touch for several months! Some friends I had lost touch with reconnected with me this year. Maybe such reunions (though mostly virtual) would never have taken place if we didn't slow down for once.

• Relationship with Partner: Surviving a global pandemic together can help you get to know your partner like never before! Jokes aside, we had to deal with a constantly changing situation and plethora of restrictions. If nothing else, I have managed to transfer my love for reading, cooking and yoga over to him. For the last two months we have been separated geographically with little chance of him joining me due to travel restrictions. For a person who swore they wouldn’t be able to pull off a long distance relationship (that person is me by the way!), I am constantly surprising myself with the relative smoothness with which this is progressing. We have found a strange routine of video chats where we do yoga, discuss books and even cook together. I long for the time when we can see each other in person again but thanks to technology, the wait is less harrowing. 

Surviving or thriving?

Motivational speakers often ask this question. This year I would say that surviving and thriving are one and the same. This period has led me to redefine my sense of self-worth and truthfully examine the things that are important to me. 

When the lockdown began, social media erupted with people making most of the lockdown. Baking bread, learning new languages, completing online courses, exercising at home and excitedly attending events on Zoom. We know that for the majority of us, it may have gone quite differently with motivation decaying by the hour! Sometimes it is ok to just be and not reach for the next thing. In the world of free next day delivery and streaming services, we often feel uncomfortable with that concept. Going into the future, I want to remember to take time for myself no matter how many commitments I may have.