Goodbye 2021, Can’t Wait For 2022

December 2021 is turning out to be unexpectedly uplifting with historic wins for Singapore and the Netherlands, both countries that I call home.

Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew beat World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen and World No. 3 Anders Antonsen to become the newly minted World Champion at the WBF World Championship 2021 on 19 December. The first badminton World Championship ever won by Singapore!

Max Verstappen won his first F1 World Championship title by snatching victory from the jaws of Lewis Hamilton at the exciting finale race in Abu Dhabi. The entire Netherlands celebrated this momentous win with unabashed pride and joy.

There is something about champions that sets them apart. The capture of greatness and victory despite adversity is inspiring, moving and infectious. It perpetuates the belief that nothing is impossible and reminds us that dreams do come true so long as we are determine and focused. It opens up the pathway to hope.

What a way to end 2021. A year that started off with much hope that the development and release of Covid vaccines would allow life to go back to some sort of normalcy. But here we are, a new wave of global infections brought on by the omicron variant and the world is holding its breath to see if it would force the genie back into the bottle. 

As I write this, the Netherlands is in full lockdown until 14 January. Back to where we were a year ago where only essential services and shops are open. Home visitors are limited to 2, mercifully extended to 4 for Christmas and New Year celebration. What celebration? Everything is subdued and the mood is solemn.

This is the 2nd year that Covid has stolen Christmas and New Year. When news first broke about Covid in November 2019, I was in Singapore then. Social media was rife about a SARS-like infection that was spreading like wildfire in Wuhan. The world watched spellbound as China decisively mandated lockdowns, border closures across provinces and constructed a makeshift hospital in just 10 days. 

I flew to the Netherlands on the 3rd day of Chinese New Year and continued to follow the unfolding of the pandemic from what was considered a safe haven in Europe. I recall much interest and empathy but also disbelief and ridicule at photos showing consumers fighting over essentials like toilet papers and instant noodles that were running out of stock.

Then Covid made its way to Europe and the exact sequence of events ensued: alarm, panic, social distancing, wearing of masks, border closures, lockdowns and…you guessed it – run on toilet papers and other food items. Human nature is the same, regardless of nationality, culture and geography. The basic instinct for survival brings on similar actions and reactions. 

2 years on, we seem to be living in an unrelenting Groundhog Day. Loosing 2 years in one’s lifetime is a big deal.

I know a couple who decided to postpone their wedding. A niece had to scrap her gap-year travel to the Far East, something she had saved up for and was really looking forward to. An entrepreneurial friend had to shut her private kitchen venture as her financial resources could not withstand the Covid lockdown and restrictions. A friend’s daughter was summoned back from France to the safety of home in Singapore, depriving her of a normal university experience as she completed her study and graduated online. Major events were cancelled. Neighbourhood stores closed their shutters for good…so many devastation.

Amidst all these, what have been the lessons learnt? There is no playbook to follow, no precedence prior. Despite everything, not all is doom and gloom. There have been positive outcomes arising from the pandemic: the full-on embrace of technology, less commuting and travel hence less environmental pollution – for the first time in decades skies and waterways are clear reminding us how beautiful nature can be, learning to cope with less, making deliberate decisions due to the limitations, finding out the people and things that truly matter.  

With 2022 less than 10 days away, it is a great time to put a punctuation to the negativity, disappointment and frustration of 2021. The closure of a year is an opportune moment to step out of the grind and leave all that behind. A new year is a chance to reset. Take a deep breadth and look to 2022 as a fresh start – with renewed heart, mind, goals and plans. Think of events or moments that made you happy or successful and try to duplicate these. Focus on the positive and make things happen instead of reacting. 

Having lived through 2020 and 2021, it is clear that we are living in strange time. Many things are completely beyond control but there are other aspects that can be influenced, changed or we can make happen within our capacity. Singling out these events and moments will help to distill what are important so you can pursue with clarity and purpose of mind. For example:

• • The accomplishment or actions that made you most proud of
  • Most enjoyable things you encountered
  • New things you learnt that you find useful or educational
  • Biggest regrets or misses and what you can do about them next year
  • Who deserve more of your time and attention

Regardless what may happen, life goes on, time passes with no reversal. There will never be another 25 December 2021, it will come and go. So the only sensible way forward is to start thinking about your dreams and goals, and make dogged plans to achieve them. 

Our niece will graduate with a double Masters in July next year and was deliberating whether to proceed with her travel to the Far East as the pandemic is far from over. She was afraid that she may be forced to cancel her plans again. 

I said to her: “Go ahead, make your life happen rather than wait for certainty. Have a contingency plan though, and that’s your best back-up.” If nothing is planned and the pandemic indeed blows over by then, she would have wasted another 6-12months of her life, postponing what would have been her dream trip. 

It is in this vein that I applaud a 76-year old friend who decided to go ahead and fly to Cape Town 2 days after announcement of the discovery of omicron variant. She took all of 2 days to think over, arranged additional plans, insurance and completed additional tests before jetting off into the eye of the storm for 3 months. Out of the cold and into the sun, just as she had planned it. How gutsy! At her age, she reckoned that there is not much to loose. While still vivid and in exceptional health for someone her age, she figured succumbing to Covid beats putting her life on hold, and dying in spirit by waiting and yearning. 

Life itself is uncertain anyway, although we like to believe that we can control it somehow. Time and tide waits for no man. By living the life you want, you already score a huge win. There is a Chinese saying that goes:

An inch of time is like an inch of gold, but an inch of gold cannot buy an inch of time.    ~ Chinese proverb

Let’s live life with a champion mentality for when you beat the odds, you win big.

Merry Christmas and Happy 2022, Make it a good one!

Savvy Maverick