It’s been hell of a year… damn!
I have envisioned a very different year for 2020 back in 2019 - 2020 was supposed to be normal and balanced (again, like all things should be), and yet we had this: a year that might’ve already led us into a completely different future. I have come across this thought multiple times: when everything goes back to normal, the perfect term that describes that feeling would be: post-apocalyptic.
I’d like to share my thoughts on this year, some thoughts that I want to remember and can always learn from in the future.
Miss
A major theme of 2020 for me has been “miss”, and others seem to agree with me. We all miss the old days where we were together, physically. Although I have terrible social skills and have found a solution to almost every problem, being unable to sbe with others physically has killed me, and I miss that.
More sadly, “miss” is caused by too MANY farewells in 2020. Too many people have lost their family members and friends because of what has happened or just pure bad luck. I vividly remember the feeling of devastation when reading the news of Kobe passing away.
There’s plenty to miss.
WFH alone
I am one of the many people who have been working from home this year, and it’s actually incredible to think about it.
When things got out of control in March, nobody was well prepared: people were panic-shopping EVERYWHERE; the ongoing school term was ended abruptly; and Spring 2020 sucked.
I was struggling in the beginning of Spring 2020: as an individual who loves “order”, I was doing a terrible job at managing and scheduling my own tasks, which surprised me. I always felt that my decent self-discipline would come into play seemlessly at a dire time like that, and yet I felt overwhelmed by the high entropy of stuff that kept coming endlessly.
When no one is watching me, or telling me when to do what, I need to think about how to keep myself going. I believe that the best way to achieve that is to make everything feel like normal: except for keeping myself at home, I can do exactly the same things that make myself comfortable, and luckily, it worked. In a nutshell, I tried the following:
- Organize my courses into a calendar just to feel like I had a real schedule;
- Write all deadlines on a whiteboard placed in a noticeable area;
- Get a pair of adjustable dumb-bells to not let my body deteriorate;
- Study with friends via online conferences, most of the times;
- Wake up early to feel good about myself 😊.
One important idea that I realized was that: this is just like the theory of evolution. Those who adapt survive. It sounds nerdy to most people but that’s how I feel.
Surprises
What happened and is still happening must be a surprise to everyone, undoubtedly. However, we should be pleasantly surprised by what we accomplished under these circumstances. In a way, this new style of living and working has inspired us to generate new ideas, try new things (baking, cooking, running), and cultivate new habits.
I would say that in terms of my personal achievements, 2020 could be the most prolific year, and I might’ve never come to this place if it didn’t happen.
When everything started going down, I considered it perfect for thinking about what to do in the future because I would probably go on a trip after the finals which I couldn’t do any more. The time saving was massive for learning something new. I spent two weeks learning a new web framework and used it to build a simple web portfolio to put on my resumé.
More importantly, I didn’t want to give up in the job market, which was significantly impacted by the situation. I needed to be “outstanding” if I wanted to be selected since there was no other way, so I made a systematic plan for studying interviews. I started participating in the LeetCode Monthly Challenge where I get the chance of winning some perk if I complete all 30 questions. I got addicted into it and kept doing it even after I got an internship, which perfectly wrapped up my undergraduate co-op experience. The offer was a surprised, but also somewhat expected: I put much more effort in the preparation than any previous term, and I was lucky to interview with a lot more high-profile companies. I also felt great about every interview, even though some didn’t land me offers. Regardless, the one I ended up with was my dream.
I previously mentioned that Spring 2020 sucked, and it really did. Nobody was well prepared for it, so the entire term was extremely disorganized. However, I appreciate what they were trying to do and deliver to us, and it has gone a lot better based on what I’ve heard recently. The most impressive experience was me staying up all night working on a course project that was due the next day. The course was Distributed Computing - a subject that is inherently obstruse, and the project was just too hard. As the time passed 12AM, I decided to take a break by browsing YouTube… and voilà : folklore, the (first-in-2020) surprise album from Taylor Swift went live. So you probably know what happened next.
That’s why I think it’s among the best things in 2020. Putting the unconventional styles exhibited in this album aside, it was a huge surprise to me that came at the right time. The songs helped me get through the toughest times of the year.
I said this before: this new style of living has been a source of inspiration for many that lead to those pleasant surprises. If I solely focused on them, 2020 was my favorite year.
Post-apocalyptic
I have no idea when our life would go back to normal, and what the world would look like. I sometimes naively wonder if it would look like those “post-apocalyptic” movies or video games.
I don’t put out new year’s resolution because I really can’t think of anything specific at present 😅. Regardless, my general objective for 2021 is to live better and achieve more. More importantly, I want to learn from 2020 so that I am better prepared for anything like it.
Peace out, 2020. I’ve had a great time with you.