Not A Complete Waste of Time: 10 Things I Learn in 2020
If you think 2020 is a total waste of time, you may need more time to think and reflect
2020 has been terrifying most of us so much that we want time to fly faster. This is because we tend to trust our instinct that 2021 can be brighter and a lot better. But who knows? Maybe it is worse. I am just joking. I am, too, hopeful that the coming new year will be healthier and bring better outcomes. But despite the whole world decrying the havoc 2020 has wreaked, it is not a complete waste of time. At least I have acquired new life lessons and knowledge which aspire me to jot down this piece with a glimpse of hope that my ideas will be considerate enough for people to pick up.
1. Congratulation! You don’t need to get rich before 30
Social progress fosters the society, leveling up the living standard of people as well as influencing their perception. But not all changes are positive. What I witness is more people becoming more satisfied with comparing anything they own even their own life. What is this for? It is just too much.
And most frustratingly, I have heard some people telling others to get rich before turning 30. Only two years and three months more to go until I turn 30. But there is no way that I will be wealthy by the time I reach that age. I literally own nothing for now and of course in the next two years.
By mentioning this, I want to tell you something. Don’t ever let other people impose this idea on your way of life. People have different life paths, and being wealthy is not everyone’s goal. So, we should not cultivate things that won’t fit with everybody’s life. Don’t get me wrong. What I raise doesn’t mean I discourage people from trying to get rich. If your goal is literally to be wealthy, continue to find the ways and try your best.
Therefore, either you are 21, 25, 29 or higher, the ideas you hold actually make you who you are. And what you should focus on is doing things that really matter to your life, other people around you and your society. A healthy society might not need full of well-off people; we just need more thoughtful, considerate, inspiring and sensible citizens.
All in all, maybe I can’t be rich by 30, that is why I raise this up. Maybe!
2. You can always adjust your life plan
I have my life plan, and other people do too. It must be clear, specific and everlasting but never should it be rigid. Be aware that not the final objective I am talking about, but just through which means.
Once it becomes a rigid plan, there is only a dead-end which can never be manageable and achievable. Then, here comes a time when you are stressed out; you lose hope and you then give up.
3. Keeping your cool
Keeping my cool is cool but trying to be a person who can always keep cool is not a cool idea. Why? Let’s be frank here. Life is actually hard, tough and can be frightening too sometimes. It grows even tougher when we are getting older.
It is what it is because life can never be easy by its own definition. That is why learning to deal with our life problems is unavoidable.
From dealing with mounting workload to controlling the bewildering daily expense, we have to be attentive all the time. These make us distressed; it can also drive a bad-tempered moment. Even worse, we can also be nasty and creepy to people around us. That is how life turns a temporary us, and that is not what we actually are and whom we want to be.
Therefore, it is indispensable that learning to control our own feelings, emotions as well as tempers are what you have to pay greater attention to.
4. Always learn new things but don’t be too hard on yourself
I did raise this point last year, but I restate it to make sure that we don’t cozy up with the old habit of not learning new things. Society keeps on transforming so that it entails our ability to be habitually developed to stay relevant. I appreciate and value people who can simply see the abstract future of the world and keep doing whatever to ensure that they will catch up with the pace of the fast-changing society.
For many, they happen to have a strong urge to maintain robust self-improvement, yet don’t be too tough. It is the best to enrich your knowledge, but if you are not ready to do so, keep calm. It is simple that human beings sometimes tend to be resistant, possibly mentally, to a change, and not everyone is quickly wholly open to learning new things.
If you are too harsh, you can be overwhelmed and incline to give up. Learn to be consistent and do it gradually and embrace changes slightly. And bear in mind that ourselves also need self-reflection and self-care.
5. Be adaptive to change and be tolerant to uncertainty
2020 is full of “uncertainty.” All airplanes have been grounded while some businesses declared bankruptcy while the global production chains have also been disrupted. Many immediately and unpreparedly became jobless while many have switched to work from home. These are unprecedented and nobody ever knows when these ambiguities fade.
What is more distraught is some people are impelled to revamp their life plans: family, study and other type of plans which are set to achieve within a specific timeframe. However, I have learnt to be more adaptive and what I have been keeping on telling people is: “Go with the flow”. And I really follow what I preach because being worried about things I can never take control of doesn’t make any better. But that can only cost me my happiness.
Thus, it is time for you to learn to do the same. You can’t force things and dictate the uncertainty. This only thing you can do from now is to accept the fact and be pliable physically and mentally.
6. Never say “never”
Who knows what will befall our life tomorrow, next month or next year? I will always say just anything can happen, and just anything is possible in business, in work, in relationship and so on.
It is factual and we can hardly rebut this. So “never say never” is worth keeping a part of our life. Don’t let yourself have a self-doubt while doing what you really want to do.
Don’t ever let yourself form a perception that you can never do it, and never think that it is far too difficult to accomplish. As long as you have faith, anything is possible.
You have been witnessing with your own eyes this entire year: even a microscopic virus can disrupt the whole universe.
7. Stick to your own life principles
Life principles? Is not this too formal for a person? Well, I believe many people have these. The principles can be anything that shapes your life, your thoughts and your behaviors. But don’t get me wrong as I don’t allude to the beliefs — of which can be contradicting, controversial and false.
The problem emerges when one adheres to his or her principles. It is when you become a weirdo because you choose to walk on your own path.
But something like this should never irritate us or impede the enthusiasm that we own as long as we want to. Intuitively, people can have their very own say on whatever we do, but there is only you who can fully apprehend what you have been doing and, to a certain extent, bear the consequences.
Nobody else will stay there for you, so don’t falter to walk your own ways when you still could.
8. Learn to reduce the dependency of your mood swings on other people
Throughout my life, I have learned that no one can stay enthusiastic and happy 24 hours a day within the whole year. There is always a time in which we become distressed, with all motivation flatten.
We may impulsively need encouragement, praise as well as recognition at some point in life.
But don’t you think that you are looking for happiness in others.
It is always healthier that we can learn to be reenergizing, lessening our emotional dependency on other people and learning to cope with emotional needs alone. I can say these happen as you don’t love yourself enough and you may be battling to resist the fact that people can’t always be there for you.
Therefore, once you can deal with these two problems and be able to find your own strength, you eventually can control your mood swing better without relying on other emotional backing.
9. Being kind is more contagious
We impulsively think that in the wake of crisis like COVID-19, people, biologically as human beings, tend to reveal their true character: self-interested and individualistic. And people might not falter to agree with this statement.
But counterintuitively, what we have seen is surprisingly different. Instead of being selfish, more and more people learn to embrace giving and be more generous to other people.
In Cambodia in particular, I can say it has brought a real sense of kindness and solidarity to life, and I am proud that our people are progressively beginning to be more sympathetic and caring.
They generously donate and run charity for the needy during the crisis. They share things they have with those who have less; they contribute more when needs be.
They care more and come to offer a helping hand. This is where hopes are found, and I know we had barely expected to see this happening.
And the act of kindness like this spread, too. It may start small, but it can perpetually ignite an enormous movement. I have never thought that miniature act of kindness has been this so contagious. From now on, all I want to see is our aptitude to maintain this spirit.
We, of course, need more givers who can set more examples, and we need more role models who can instill this sense of compassion.
It is less likely that a society can prosper without the robust and active participation of its citizens. And it is even less feasible that it can grow when there is full of self-centered citizens.
Therefore, at the end of the day, what humanity unquestionably needs is vaccination to help people activate their kindness, immunizing them from abhorrence and resentment.
10. Time to start caring about the environment
I can’t end this writing without pointing out environmental care. It might sound weird, but we can never expect a healthy living when the wellbeing of the environment is neglected.
Let me tell you in a simple way. From driving plastic pollution to deforestation to generating carbon footprint — one of the prominent drivers of the climate crisis, if you pause and think a little bit, you comprehend that you have been a culprit.
But we rarely question how our daily action has been impacting the environment; we don’t really care why this is worth questioning because we are too busy fulfilling our own needs and demands. We become ignorant and, to a certain extent, denial.
More than that, we never stop to reflect on what we can do differently to help heal the environment and the planet earth.
Speaking of solving existential environmental problems, a small number of us have confidence in possibility while many still sense moments of depression and distress. It is because we disdain a small act because we don’t believe that can make a big difference, and we tend to think that only bigger steps taken by clusters of nations not every individual can revolutionize enormous things like the environment.
Let’s filter our pessimistic minds and alter our actions. 2020 has already taught us how important nature is and how human destructive behaviors toward nature are costing us our future. What I want to emphasize is that if we don’t act and foster behavioral change, there will be more dreadfully unprecedented environmental ramifications. It is predictable that the outbreak of pandemics like COVID-19 will be more frequent in the future as they are more a product of nature caused by human activities.
So that having us beginning to care about the well-being of our nature and environment is really crucial to reverse the trend for one and for all.
A small step we can begin with is to reduce our daily plastic use and cut down our carbon footprints in electricity consumption as well as in transportation. More we can follow is teaching people around us to be aware of the desperate needs of more considerate actions towards the environment. I believe there only is education that can generate an everlasting result.
Considering everything, it is high time to set as a good example for younger generation to everlastingly take care of the environment. Remember that we don’t own this world exclusively, but we literally are now owing younger generation their healthy and beautiful future.
Thank for reading till the end. I don’t know what you have gained from this, but I am positive that you are of the same mind. :)
