New Year, Not Me

When 2020 had started, I was very excited. 2019 was not a very exciting year for me. I had just joined my first ever job, I was traveling every week, I was eating junk food everyday, and I was licking my boss's ass at the rate of 2 times per hour. When the year was coming to an end, I decided I will take charge of my life and navigate it the way I want. I will not care about what the society has to say about the life choices I would make, as long as the Universe was in my favour. Who would have known that the Universe was more in the favour of 'Bat-shit' crazy people, who ate my dreams along with their midday meals one day. 

In the month of January Corona was reaching more and more countries and before we knew it, millions were already affected. From China, Italy, Russia, to the USA, none of the superpowers could save themselves from the Novel Corona Virus. I, the ignorant person that I am, was sure that the chances of Corona reaching India was as low as Trump winning the US Elections this year. I was about 50% right at least, but the first half was the one that was much more concerning. In India, it is said that you should never come empty handed when you’re coming back from abroad, and to keep the tradition alive, our people decided to bring back Corona Virus from the countries that they were lavishly exploring. I was working in Bangalore, Karnataka when the news came in that Hyderabad and Kerala have seen their first few cases of Corona. This was in the last week of January. 

Our companies in India did everything they could to not give us work-from-home in the initial few weeks. They were sure that if their employees were given an option to work in their night suits during working hours, they will a) never do what they are being paid for and b) would never return to office. So they tried to fight the disease in their own little ways- they brought in massive supplies of Sanitisers, we were given fresh masks every day, our temperatures were checked every three hours. When none of this seemed to be working, they tried calling us to office in batches. Half of my colleagues would go on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Other half on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. While I chose to go on rants about not meeting my friends, and how I can’t work in an hostile environment like that. (I chose Sundays to go to work, but that also wasn’t an option- whatever happened to thinking out of the box, boss?)

In the month of March they finally had to give us work-from-home full-time. They started by telling us that this is only for a week, and we can call you to office anytime, restricting us from leaving the city. I, who was still fighting my boss for not letting me work on Sundays, saw this as an opportunity to run back to my hometown. I killed an imaginary uncle, took a 3 days leave from work and travelled back during the pandemic. It was the most horrifying experience for me. I wore gloves, carried sanitiser in a one litre water bottle and promised myself to obsessively use it every 30 seconds. I then wore my sunscreen, below my N-95 mask, below my Face shield, below my Batman gear- hoping that the three layer protection would not only protect me from Covid, but also from small talks at the airport with complete strangers. Who in their right minds would want to talk to Darth Vader, after all? I ended up sleeping in exactly 20 minutes, and I don’t remember anything that happened after that.

It’s been 9 months since that day, and that is truly the last memory that I have from 2020. Why would I want to remember the other 275 days, piled up one over the other, looking exactly the same. So to separate 2021 from 2020, I decided to make a completely new resolution, unlike any other resolutions that I had made in the last 24 new years. I didn’t want to start my year with old boring goals like become fit in 2021, read more, invest money wisely, shop less, create art, spend time with pets and family (in that order), learn cooking, eat organic, or anything that was ever made a resolution out of, and broken thereafter. I wanted it to be more strategic, more agile as I learnt from 2020 how quickly the world can change, more dynamic to make me feel energetic and full of life 365 out of 365 days. I understood that to have something this failure-proof, I will have to use my Business Management skills that I had learnt in my MBA. I started by thinking about the parameters that I should first have for the perfect resolution-

1. It should be easy to follow
2. It should be easy to track
3. It should make a difference in my life 
4. It should be futuristic and growth oriented.
5. 
   

I spent 9 days to come up with the best new years resolution for 2021. 4 words, 2 emotions,1 person- I WILL FEEL ALIVE.

1. It is easy to follow, I just have to keep breathing, eating, drinking and living. 
2. It is easy to track, the day I stop living, I’d be the first one to know.
3. It will most definitely make a difference to my life.
4. It is futuristic, and vegetating also is a form of growth, right?

This is by far the first resolution that I have been able to keep up with for more than 3 days. I am lesser stressed, more happy that I am achieving something and succeeding every single day, and is taking me on the path of becoming a Resolution Consultant full-time. 

This year will be different. This year I will have one successful story to share with everyone about a resolution that changed my life.