I have never stayed still in one place this long. You are probably just the same. When this year started, despite news about a brewing pandemic in the east, I am hoping for another year full of travels like the years before. Little did I know that like wildfire, this catastrophic disease will spread and change our lives in a snap. No one knew. Even us in the frontlines are taken by surprise. The past months definitely changed the way we live, and will live months or years after. But if ever there’s one good thing about being stuck in one place, it is finding the beauty in your immediate surroundings.

A few months back, when everything except the supermarkets and chemists are closed down, I bought a new bike, thinking of a faster way to get to work than walking, and since the gyms are also closed down, its also a bonus that I get to have a workout. For some people, those days were probably a much needed time of rest as cities are on lockdown. Those days I am still stressed at work and on the days that I am not, I was anxious of the days ahead. Deaths become numbers on a tally, and at work, no matter if we win or lose a life, we always ended up exhausted. Everyone knows this part. It was always on the news.

Just to break my stressful routine, instead of watching the time tick, me and my friends took our bikes to the coast, a ride that had long been planned but never really happened one day eventually came to be. It was leg-breaking afterwards, but I was happy. On our way, I heard the birds sing, noticed how beautiful summer really is, smelled the swell of the waves and for the first time in the middle of the pandemic, felt that I do still have a way to socialise. I also appreciate the greetings coming from fellow cyclists that will otherwise go unnoticed. These spur of the moment rides eventually became regular, weekly grind. Different routes, more friends and longer paths. I would admit that I’d never have time for these if the lockdown did not happen. But I know better now. I could have done it sooner. All these time I was paying membership at the gym, not knowing how beautiful wide open spaces are and how wonderful it is to breathe nature in. I am lucky that I am living in a city within reach of the beach, or the country roads or nature parks other cities doesn’t have. I am lucky I am still here, finding more ways to live life better one day at a time. Through the course of the pandemic, I have finished 2 online courses in Harvard, learned basic French, tried out baking and gave up, tried out tons of recipes, tried out open ocean paddle boarding and still taking classes, tend to my plants, took a dog in for a night, and still dreamt of finally travelling again.

It is still a bit early to say we are done, but hopefully we are on our way there. This year had been a rollercoaster ride, so much for the end of a decade. People lost jobs, lost businesses, lost loved ones. Maybe this year is teaching us to live life as it goes, because plans sometimes can’t go as it is, and we still never really know tomorrow.