Year 2020 didn’t start off too well. There were natural disasters, trade wars and Covid-19, which led to lockdowns all over the world. These events created lots of uncertainty and chaos. It seems like the end of the world when so many countries went into ‘lockdown’ and the streets became empty.
However, things took a turn – much of the pollution went away. When the different governments loosen the measures, the activities returned and so did the pollution. It only showed how much that us human beings are causing so much harm to mother earth.
In Singapore, we had our own version of ‘lockdown’ – the Circuit Breaker. During that period, I was thinking, “What if mother earth is trying to teach us something?” Few months before Covid struck, the movie Avengers: Endgame was released. In the move, half the population in the universe was wiped out. That made me wondered about the coincidence.
Covid was spreading real fast as well as the wild fire in Australia. Humans and animals were dying. At the same time, fake news was spreading just as fast.
DECISION AND ACTION
Before the end of 2019, I already decided to have some drastic changes to my life. I decided to quit my job, enrolled in some courses and also wanted to cut some people and some groups of people out of my life.
When the Circuit Breaker came in April 2020, I put away my mobile phone (most of the time) and focus on the important things and people that really matter. At the end of Circuit Breaker (June 2020), my mobile phone had more than 15,000 unread messages.
Yes 15,000! My life is totally unaffected even if I did not read those messages. It only shows how much energy and time are wasted on things that do not really matter.
I am grateful my family members are all well and safe during this period. And I am fortunate to a group of friends that choose to stay around, providing care, concern and support.
NEW ENERGY IN MY LIFE
Courage is needed when it comes to eliminating certain people out. These people may often be toxic people hiding before ‘Be Positive’ masks. And their actions often do not match what they preach as well – they are absolutely a form of disempowering/toxic energy.
After doing a detox, it is important to welcome clean energy into my life. They do not just appear out of thin air. I need to do something as well – go out to find them, approach them.
THE NEW PEOPLE OF 2020
The following are ‘brand new’ people I get to know in 2020.
1. The team of exceptional people from Mind Transformations. The staffs at MT are Barney, Agnes, Hans, Joseph, Alfred and Celine. I have been observing their activities on Facebook for 2 months before enrolling into a course with them. They practise what they preach and are truly people of high quality and great integrity. They passed on practical knowledge and skills to me and instilled self-trust in me. They have been very helpful and supportive throughout.
2. My fellow course mates attending the course led by Mind Transformations. The course was 12 days long and we went through it together. Two particular people left a deep imprint in me. They are MG and Max. They made me feel safe and help me understood that I am normal and they appreciate me for who I am. They encouraged me to be myself and not become someone that other people want me to become. I am deeply touched by them.
3. Miss S and Miss B (inconvenient to name them) who trust me 100%. During this period, there are people out there losing their jobs. Fortunately, these two ladies gave me opportunities. They are people who engaged me because of who I am. They had absolute faith in me and my ability to perform my work well.
4. Miss Fiona, someone I get to know online during the Circuit Breaker period. She is an interesting character that works 12 hours or more during weekdays and still have the energy to volunteer her time during weekends at a dog shelter. Many people like animals, the end. From her, I learnt that there is a difference between just liking animals and willing to do something for animals. And through conversing with her, I discovered that for so long, I stopped doing things I liked (because I was busy fulfilling what others want). That’s really a dumb thing to do. Hence, for the later half of 2020, I started doing things I have been enjoying during my teens. Thanks to her, I rediscovered a lost part of myself. And through her, I felt my faith in humanity being restored.
FINAL THOUGHTS
It has indeed not been an easy year for many. And that is why many people are hoping for a better 2021. My take would be, instead of hoping for a better year, let’s make ourselves better and stronger so that we can take on the challenges. It would be tough to do it alone and that is why we need a team, a group, a community.
Lend your support to people, if you can. If you need support, seek it, ask for help.
Collectively, together, we can pull through this and still make the world a better place to be.
For 2021, I am still going to continue incorporating Essentialism into my daily life (No to 15,000 messages).