Past forward

What were your major realizations over the past two years?

This was the question I posted to several people over dinner, knowing that 2023 was just a few days away. If you ask me why I chose to dwell on this particular topic, it was not an attempt to be profound. I simply and plainly was interested in genuinely hearing what they had to say.

Mentally sifting through the varied answers, if one were to summarize what the majority shared, three things clearly stood out: the reminder of our dependence on the Divine, the realization that one does not need much to live by, and the importance of prioritizing human relationships. Following are snippets of those brief conversations.

“I love you.” A young consultant recounted how the pandemic made him realize the value and the importance of verbally expressing these three words. Throughout his growing years and into training, he had always enjoyed a close relationship with his mother. Having such a bond, he assumed that she was more than assured of his love and affection, and there was no need to say it. Imagine how he felt when circumstances prohibited him from personally attending to her when she contracted and nearly lost her to severe COVID. Those three words were the only ones he could think of saying over a long-distance phone call that was cut brief because he had to fulfill his duty as a frontliner, and there was a lot of firefighting to be done still. There was no room to wallow in personal concerns. From that close call, he now makes it a point to let her know just how much she means to him every chance he gets.

“I enjoyed the journey.” This was totally an unexpected reply that momentarily left me a little off–balance. I am sure that my eyes registered that brief moment of disbelief, but I remembered the stuff she was made of and understood. Trained to think and act swiftly, this pandemic to her was the perfect window of opportunity to employ what she had learned about infection control and impress upon people its importance in saving lives on a grander scale, way beyond the confines of the military camp. To this day, she reminds us of how one must choose to move forward with determination rather than get into a state of inaction when faced with seemingly insurmountable adversities.

“It was a lesson in resilience.” This came from a woman who ran a company involved in the service industry. While most companies decided that the easiest thing to do to stop the inevitable bleeding from lost revenues was to close shop, she blindly chose to stick it out because she had employees who were the main breadwinners in their respective families. Her persistence paid off. Her company has remained intact and is thriving. Her personal realization: God never fails to put you in that position to be of help, and if your heart remains true and steady, things will always turn out for the better.

“Life is finite.” The virus was in a sense an equalizer. No one was spared from the deluge of its aftereffects, and we are still slowly in the process of recovery and repair. And as hard as it may seem to accept, the pandemic is still not totally over.

So how do we live through the next 365 days?

I believe the best way is to remember how exactly you survived the last two years. If you chose to celebrate to live life in spite of imperfect moments, chose to live in the present than worry about the future, chose to fully embrace positivity amidst obvious negativity, paused to appreciate what is simple and intangible, chose to believe that there is still more good than bad, then this year would be an easy sail.

A blessed new year to everyone.

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