2020 In Review: A Journey of Self-Understanding

I think we can agree that 2020 has been a rough patch for everyone. Surviving 2020 is our biggest achievement and it is more than enough. I am beyond grateful that I am still here, safe and sound, enjoying what life has to offer amid adversity.

Looking back a few months, one of my friends asked me to sum up 2020 for me. At first, I was hesitant to share my thoughts because I have no achievement that I can be proud of. To some extent, we are so engrossed in thinking that achievement is about material fulfillment or worldly success. As a result, we often tend to disregard self-efficacy, which is also important.

Quoted from one of my all-time favorite fictional characters, Albus Dumbledore, “Happiness can be found in the darkest of times if one only remembers to turn on the light”. I believe that everything is not always binary. But this time, I believe life has two sides and we can choose the side that we want.

2020 was a challenging year. Many of us were living in limbo, trying to decide what to do next in life and at the end of the day, it is our decision how we live through it.

I am possibly one of the few luckiest people who could embrace the pains 2020 has caused and learn from it. I dare to say that 2020 was my turning point, albeit its difficulties. Personally, 2020 was all about self-discovery, self-awareness, and fully understanding myself as a person and human being. Those are the proudest achievements I can unlatch.

The journey to self-understanding is not a hasty attempt. It takes time, it needs commitment, and it requires openness from ourselves. However, we must remember that it is the journey of development that matter the most, rather than its destination. That being said, self-understanding or self-discovery does not necessarily mean finding ourselves in a different place by starting a new journey away from our current life. It is about how we connect with ourselves and find a sense of balance in life. In that regard, my 2020 was all about redirecting my purposes, amended my mindset, and be happy.

a. Learning New Things

I believe once in our life we have been in a situation where we have done many things, achieved everything that we have aimed, but we feel something misses out and we could not figure out what it is. After all, curiosity and learning new things are the first step to discover ourselves and what we would like to do.

I have learned several things last year. I have learned to grow plants, which everybody did when the pandemic began escalating. I have boosted my cooking skills and learned how to bake. I have learned about investment and working out at home regularly. In fact, the process of learning those new things makes me happy. Though, I often question myself, how do I continue being happy? For me, I can be happy by keeping on to the things that I have started, committed to them, be intentional with them, and just do it for myself.

To put it simply, I want to balance my mind and my physical health, and I would have never discovered it if I did not learn how to nurture my body and mind properly.

b. Mind and Body Connection

Listen to our body and figure out what they terribly need instead of what we want. It would be complicated if we consider our urge and ego as something we feel called for. As I started nurturing my body, I have become wiser and more mindful of the food that I consume. Not just about temporary satisfaction, I also ponder about what I will gain from it, would be good for my body or not. We have to be more considerate about it.

Another practice is the loving-kindness meditation which I do to nurture my mind. I admit that it will be tough to meditate when we have unsettling and wandering thoughts as soon as we close our eyes. Although it is difficult to concentrate and just be at the moment, it is still possible. Meditation is something we can learn and practice. By all means, meditation is not a practice to solve all our life problems, but it can help us to cope with them. In my experience, meditation has helped me to focus on the things I am doing and to be more patient and clear-headed. We do not need that much time to just sit, be still, deeply inhale-exhale, and be thankful.

c. Gratitude

This greed-driven world is demanding and persuading us to be restless. Therefore, to be enough and be grateful comes at a great cost. We usually think that if we do not possess things like everybody else, it means that our work was not up to par. Consequently, we will keep looking for more and forgot that what we already have maybe more than enough.

I have been journaling for almost five months now. I plan things I want to achieve, things I want to learn, and I write a list of gratitude. If I have the opportunity to change things in my past, I would certainly write a gratitude journal much earlier. It seems insignificant, but it is an exceptional way to practice gratitude.

It is not that we give up without making any effort, but we have to appreciate more what we already have. We have to understand the differences between desire, need, and importance. In this case, by practicing gratitude daily, I have been reminded of every little thing that matters and it makes me happy.

Sometimes, we forget that we have been blessed so much. Millions of people are unfortunate and they cannot taste the food they are craving for, they do not have a comfortable and safe place to rest at night. More than that, many people also lose their job due to the pandemic. Consider what we have and be grateful.

d. Self-Growth

Being able to take full responsibility and authority over my life is the most important adjustment I made in 2020. Everything that I learned in 2020 has led me to be more aware of my purpose and the aspect I need to improve personally and professionally. It also has helped me to consider the matters that I need to set boundaries from and those that I have total control over.

Commitment and discipline are two qualities that I have considerably nurtured this past year. By practicing them, it has made various plans I want to achieve to be more evident and accessible. In addition, patience is another quality that I have blissfully earned. Patience and acceptance have given me the courage and helped me to embrace my flaws, failure, and learn from them.

e. FeelGood Vibes Project

The ideas of me having a very nurturing and caring nature make me want to always share valuable and constructive knowledge with others. Honestly, that is how FeelGood Vibes project came up in my mind. Also, I am always passionate about writing. However, back then, it was difficult to keep it as I realized I did not have a solid purpose for it.

At the end of 2020, I decided to create this platform, FeelGood Vibes, to share my knowledge on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle, to discuss wellness, and to share insightful guidance in a fun-loving way.

Through this platform, I hope I can help people and resonate with those in need in which it can answer their concerns about health and wellness. I intend that it can share accessible and affordable information about healthy lifestyles for everyone. I also want a community that can support each other on the journey to reach their goals.

FeelGood Vibes believes that when we care and feel grateful, what we do? We share and what we get is what we give. All values that we receive, we will try to share with the community. Thus, we have three products to offer:

a. Guides to nurture your body and mind

b. Wholesome recipes

c. Eat bread to donate (buying our bakery product &/or food to support animal’s well-being and environmental wellness)

So, how was 2020 for you? I hope you can find ease in this difficult time. Don't hesitate to share your experiences, I would be happy to read it & we can discuss :)