2020 — The Year That Changed Everything
Like last year, I thought of writing a post reminiscing about how my year went. I enjoyed writing that post where I
This year, the entire world went through a pandemic, which affected every single person in some way.
Personal Growth
How were my relationships with family and friends in 2020? Who were the people or relationships that had the biggest impact on my personal life? Who needs more attention? Which new relationships do I plan to build? How much of this is due to the constrained circumstances of 2020? Will it hold true once the pandemic is behind us?
I think the relationship with my Family, especially with my Parents have improved to a state I never thought possible. It was mostly because of the steps that I took, which I’ve been avoiding for all my life. The pandemic made me realize how important they are to me and that I should participate and contribute actively to their life and living.
My relationship with my Brother and his Family has also changed for the better. I took a keen interest in the way he managed his career and Family. I listened, advised and followed up with more advice and directions.
This year, my wife and I had a daughter in October. What a pleasant feeling it is to say that. Just on the day when the first Coronavirus patient was deducted in India, she told me that she was pregnant. For the first couple of weeks I felt clueless. Her being pregnant was just another event for me. It didn’t make me too happy or worried. I even continued to make it all about me. Continued to scold her for not making proper food and not taking good care of me. But as the pandemic raged on in India and in the rest of the world, the anxiety in me skyrocketed. I cooped up inside my house, barely even stepping out of the door. I poured all my doubts and frustrations on my wife and sometimes on my Family who were living in Chennai. By mid April I began to realize that I should somehow learn to not worry about the many things that aren’t in my control and handle the things that are. I started helping my wife more with cooking, cleaning the house and running errands. I planned everything like one would before an apocalypse. I binge ordered on BigBasket and Amazon. I stockpiled face masks, hand sanitizers, floor disinfectants, vegetables, cereals, rice and snacks like there was no tomorrow.
I spent time tending to my wife’s needs. Massaging her foot at night. Reading her stories. Watching movies with her. Sometimes even listening to her complain for no reason. I realized it’s her hormones and it’s natural.
My wife on the other hand was so enamoured with our unborn child. All she could think of is the life growing inside of her. It was both humbling and fascinating to witness.
My wife’s Mother came to Bangalore to help us out at the beginning of June and she took care of all the work I was doing — cooking, cleaning and taking care of my wife.
I am absolutely certain now that the bond I consciously created, albeit thanks to the uncertain circumstances created by the pandemic, will last for my lifetime.
What did I do in 2020 that took me out of my comfort zone? What new things did I try?
Few things actually.
I recorded a podcast of my own. The main reason was because I am so in love with the medium of podcasts. I’ve now been listening to a podcast almost everyday for the past 2 years now.
The subject I choose to record my podcast was on the History of Vaccines. Check out if you can.
I started another company. This time targeting the South East Asian countries to provide consulting services. And named it Headcanon (courtesy to my client and now a business partner Andrew Hemans).
Another thing I was able to do, thanks again to Andrew Hemans, was to work with him to start a social media network SaaS product called Blur. We’ve both brainstormed about the idea for a good 4–5 months and then put together a team of developers in India to start working on building the product. The work is ongoing and we both are liking the progress we’ve made so far.
One of the last things I managed to do during the last week of December 2020 was to start a video production company named Videojude. Myself and a Friend of mine, Saravanan, are working on this together and hopefully we’ll get to work on interesting projects in this company.
What 3 things did I accomplish on a personal level, which I am proud of? How am I feeling about myself in general?
- Managed to continue staying in touch with Friends who mean the most to me. The one thing I wished I could’ve done was to have met them, but the pandemic didn’t let us.
- I think I took good care of my wife when she was pregnant and now when we’ve the baby.
- I talked my Parents into taking the pandemic seriously and somehow managed to keep them indoors and to take every precaution possible.
How was my mental health? Did I have highs and slumps? What caused them? Did I have tools / techniques / methods to manage my slumps and feel better?
My mental health was horrible this year. Apart from my wife, not many know that I have severe OCD and ADHD and the pandemic exaggerated my condition even further. I obsessively washed and sanitized my hands, even to the extent that my skin became dry and started peeling off. I couldn’t step out of my house without feeling a sense of dread and fear. I looked at other people as if they were carrying a ticking bomb. I even projected my behaviour onto my wife, who bore the brunt of my mental condition at that time.
Lately, because of the reduction of infections, I’ve become a little bit more comfortable stepping out of the house and being less paranoid about it all. But it hasn’t yet all gone away and I am pretty sure it’ll take another few months to happen.
What was my relationship with food and nutrition?
I stopped eating non-vegetarian food from the 28th of Feb, 2020 onwards. This is the longest I’ve gone without eating non-veg food, since I started eating it for the first time at 17 years old.
I’ve also not had any alcohol since the 18th of Jan 2020, which is the longest I’ve gone without having a drink since I started drinking 9 years ago.
This year, I ate as clean as possible. Barely eating outside food. I spent 2 months living alone and during that time, I even prepared a plan on what I should eat and prepared myself only those.
What was my relationship with physical exercise?
This year, more than last year, I spent almost every single day working out. For the first couple of months, I continued running 2 times a week and worked out daily using the NTC app and then started using Cult live app to workout. This year I also practiced Yoga and I find myself getting better at it.
During the last couple of weeks of the year, I started watching lots of UFC, boxing and MMA videos on YouTube, especially those of One Championship. I now absolutely love watching Muay Thai fights and even started practicing some watching training videos on YouTube.
What I did this year that I am proud of?
In order to keep me occupied and sane during the long and restrictive lockdown that went on for 3 months, I started recording my thoughts through a microphone. And then it occurred to me that I can record a podcast of a topic of interest.
And so I did. And topic I was interested about at that time were, understandably, was vaccines. So I did my research and recorded a podcast with episodes discussing the history of vaccines. There’s one last episode left to be recorded to bring this series to conclusion. Please check it out if you want. — https://anchor.fm/lastlaughlane
I started couple of companies, apart from the one I run, to feed my ADHD. I sometimes feel I’ve so much to give to the world, but just don’t seem to have the determination and commitment to do even one of it. Is it something only few of us feel or everyone does? I can’t tell.
Few companies I started were
1. Imagine Imagine — A company that will explore brave, experimental ideas that will propel humanity into the future. The name is derived from an Angels & Airwaves lyrics.
2. Last Laugh Lane — Although I thought of this name couple of years back, in 2020 I decided to make it into a company that provides a platform for citizens of the world to discuss and debate.
3. Headcanon — I started this company to target businesses particularly in South East Asian countries, offering consulting services in design and development.
4. Videojude — A company that will produce social video content for businesses.
Shows I watched this year
Mr Robot Season 4
Never have I ever
Atypical Season 3
Alice in Borderland
Better Call Saul Season 5
Followers
Unsolved Mysteries Season 1
Japan Sinks
Movies I watched this year
Once upon a time in Hollywood
All Studio Ghibli movies
Gemini Man
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