2021 Will Be About Pressing the Reset Button

If we possessed some magical power to erase memories, it is likely that many, if not all, of us would prefer deleting the events of the year 2020 from the deepest recesses of our subconscious mind. Even in February last year, who would have thought that the world would literally come to a standstill, and life as we knew it would change forever? While the world waited with bated breath for 2021 to arrive, I remember frequently asking myself: what was there to look forward to in the new year?

The reason for this was not difficult to understand. The coronavirus and its related restrictions were not about to disappear suddenly. The risk to our own as well as our families’ health was not going to dissipate any time soon. Then why this anticipation for a new year to start when no discernible change was expected? It is because for many of us, 2020 was about survival. It was about remaining safe. It was about staying strong in the face of unimaginable events which had not been experienced by generations.

For me, the year 2021 needed to be about learning from the life-changing experiences of surviving a global pandemic. It needed to be about fulfilling a commitment to myself to enjoy every moment for what it is worth since no one knows what the future has in store. To this effect, I decided that 2021 would be about incorporating subtle, but very important, changes in my life to make it different from 2020. To put it simply, I wanted to press the ‘reset button’ in the new year by promising to do the following:

Ensuring that family comes first

I live and breathe work. Since joining Infosys 18 years ago, work has dominated my life more than any other activity. It is not to say that I did not give any importance to family or my personal life. However, working from home during the pandemic reinforced the criticality of being surrounded by a loving and supporting family. This is the first (and most important) learning from last year: family comes first, no matter how important your professional commitments are. After all, they will be the ones to support you in good times and bad.

Not being too hard on myself

It is natural to feel discouraged at times. Instead of accepting our vulnerabilities, we put on a brave face and deny ourselves the chance to experience the entire range of emotions, from positive to negative and everything in between. During the last 10 months, there were times when I felt dejected and morose. I tried hard to suppress those feelings, but in the end I had to give in. I realized that there was no point in being too hard on myself. Accepting a weakness is a strength in itself. Even in 2021, there will be days when I will not be in high spirits – I will take such moments in my stride and let the low phases pass away in due course of time.

De-cluttering physical and emotional spaces

It is surprising how much clutter we can accumulate, both physical and emotional, without even realizing it. Living under severe restrictions taught me to appreciate the concept of ‘less is more’ in the real sense. I de-cluttered not just my physical environment but also my mind – I spent time exercising, cooking, gardening and listening to healing music, all of which made me genuinely happy and filled me with positivity. The year 2021 will see a continuation of this physical and emotional de-cluttering.

Exploring and discovering  

One of the most clichéd phrases we often hear is: “life is short”. Confined at home during the peak quarantine period made me realize that life is indeed short, and there is so much to discover. And by that I don’t necessarily mean traveling, which is anyways going to be challenging in the foreseeable future. There are so many personal development activities that can be taken up without making large-scale changes to one’s routine. One of the most constructive habits I recently developed was to listen to audible & to podcasts while going about my daily activities, whether it was cooking or going for a walk. In fact, I was inspired by Narry, Global head of Cloud and Infrastructure services at Infosys – he is an avid listener of podcasts and a great speaker. In one of the conversations, he mentioned about listening to the podcasts and he also daily shares the relevant ones to his team . Such a simple but effective change!

Being grateful

It is quite easy to complain about the things we don’t have instead of being grateful for everything we do. We also tend to compare ourselves with others and find faults for no obvious reason. Expressing gratitude on a daily basis has helped me find solace and enabled me to connect better with myself. It has made me understand that I have been blessed with so much – a great family, a job that I love, affectionate friends, and a whole lot of other things which we sometimes take for granted.

American car racing driver Tony Stewart once said, “We all get so caught up in the moment of what we're doing every day, it's hard to hit that reset button and get pulled away from all that and see life from a different perspective.” The year 2020 gave us an unexpected opportunity to re-assess our lives and focus on things which really matter. The year 2021 will be about pressing the elusive ‘reset button’ by making subtle but important changes and looking forward to a more meaningful future.