I’m sure you feel like I do that you wish this year would be over already.
2020 has been a year that I have never before experienced. I have gone into this year, full of enthusiasm and vigour. I was confident that this year would be better because 2019 was a challenging year for me both health-wise and financially.
As we have just entered the month of November, I’m not even sure where this year has gone. All I know is that it’s gone and that I seem to have spent most of it in lockdown; much like an animal does when it hibernates for the winter months.
I came out of hibernation to discover that the world, on the surface, looked the same, but there were changes.
As I ventured out on my rare trips to the mall, I no longer saw people stop to chat with each other. They walked with a hurried pace as if a clock was ticking away and they were losing the race against time.
It wasn’t only the physical pieces of material covering their noses and mouths that was different. It was the tension I felt in the air when passing by. I discovered that people wanted to get to the shops to buy food and get back home. Much like a mouse peeking its head out of a hole in the wall, to see if it is safe to get out, people were doing just that.
It was sad and depressing to watch people no longer converse the way they used to.
The better part of this year including my birthday in June were spent under lockdown. There was a fundamental difference though a sombreness to the atmosphere surrounding any celebration. I have realized that most people irrespective of their age are not ready to die; that we all have some unfulfilled part of our lives that we feel can only be done when we have more time. More time to do what we need to do, to discover what lies beneath us, to peek around the corner, always looking for something new and exciting to do to fulfil our existence on this planet. We want to be able to show that we were worthy of having taken up the space we did by doing as much as humanly possible.
I think its a trait we all have! The desire to leave our mark on this world as if we would be listening to our obituary. But death doesn’t offer us the opportunity to right all wrongs or fulfil our purpose because death doesn’t have a future date. There is no guarantee that the angel of death will not visit us until we have done all that we desired doing.
So, we can learn lessons from this year, and the biggest lesson would be to live! Live today as if we have lots of tomorrows. We need to complete all that is required of us today, without thinking about next month or years from now. We can plan for our future, but the future can’t be planned! It’s not in our hands. That’s the simplest lesson of all, yet the most complicated.
Nothing is unfinished! Should we die tomorrow, because our day was filled as it ought to be and guaranteed to us only by the minute we live in!
From one breath to another, there is a pause, and that pause between the two breaths is all we have to show that we lived and loved. This year has taught me to take not each day at a time, but each breath at a time, and to give thanks for all that has gone before.
