2021. A Year to Remember.

The excitement of the Christmas and new year holidays has almost faded away and we all are looking forward to another year. Some of us have a long list of resolutions, whereas some of us are utterly clueless about the time to come, and some are treating it entirely normally. Amidst all this, I cannot stop thinking about 2021. I have seen numerous rewinds that many friends have shared on their social media platforms, but a year is much more than a bunch of pictures and videos. It is about the new feelings we discover, the struggles we face every day, about the small victories which are too silly to share or giant successes worth throwing parties for.

A year is also about the tearful lessons and the new skills learned, about the new friends, and also about breaking a few relationships. It could be different for everyone. In short, we just accumulate it into “best year” or “worst year”. But for me, it was a mix-up of everything. On one hand, I am now reflecting on the bitter experiences I had, and on the other hand, I am internally smiling on the achievements I made. Overall, it was a year of realizations.

I decluttered my social media!

According to statistics posted by the website Statista, In 2019 and 2020, people spent an average of 2.5 hours on social media. As a matter of fact, I was spending way more hours than that. Perhaps 2 hours a day on Instagram itself, maybe 2 hours on Facebook and youTube cumulatively. I was well aware of the problem, just needed someone else to tell me. Netflix’s Social dilemma changed my point of view completely. Guilt followed by watching endless “productivity” videos and “influencers” showing off their “perfect” lives also contributed towards de-cluttering my phone. I had been installing and un-installing Instagram for several months, but 2021 was a year of realizations as I said earlier, and I did it successfully this time.

And continued with the books…

I have been a keen reader from my school days and my love affair with books continued through college. But I had completely stopped reading when I moved to Canada, It was 1 book here and there. My favorite has always been fiction but I gave it up for self-motivation and positivity books. They did not serve me very well as I found that most of them talked about one or more similar things and walked in circles for the entire 200 pages. So, I decided to jump out of my comfort zone and read new genres. I read poetry, history and human psychology which I had never done in the past, but it felt good. So, 2021 is when I continued my book-love journey.

The imperfect job.

For a while in 2021, I even fell for a trap of leaving-your-job-and-do-something-of your-own trap. Nothing came out of it, except that I realized that what a toxic place I was at. How exploited I felt at that place. It took me a few months to leave the place but I did it in the end. Many people thought I was a fool to leave a well-paying job when I had nothing else to do. But I was confident in myself. I went for a job that was both well-paying and maintained my work-home balance.

Got my permanent residency in Canada.

2021 was the year when I almost bought a ticket to India to be with my husband whose visa process was taking longer than usual. But, it all fell into place when he got his visa and immigrated here. I feel that no matter how many hardships I face as an immigrant in Canada but like most of us, I will always choose to live here. From a woman’s point of view, it has given me the independence I had always dreamt of, and I would love to feel the same for the rest of my life.

2021 ended with smiles.

Turning 30 is an important milestone in one’s life and I hit it this year. Being 30 hits different. I feel more independent and confident.

2021 also brought me immense happiness when my husband was able to move to Canada to be with me. Words won’t do justice to the excitement we had since then. The best is yet to come!!

Wins for the South Asian community.

A year-long farmer’s protest came to an end after the Indian prime minister decided to repeal the farm bills. Farmers left their homes, their fields, and their families to join a peaceful protest in Delhi in November 2020. In November 2021, they were finally able to go back home, after ending the largest peaceful protest in World history.

Leena Nair was announced Chanel’s new CEO in December and will be taking over in January. As more south-Indians are making it to the top, they are paving way for other immigrants as well. Hurray!!

Parag Agrawal was appointed as the Twitter CEO in November this year when its founder Jack Dorsey stepped down. Parag Agrawal is an IIT Bombay graduate and went to study at Stanford University. Way to go!

American Vice President Kamala Harris became the first woman with presidential power in 2021 for 85 minutes. That came after President Joe Biden was admitted to the hospital. Waiting for this to happen permanently, Ms. Harris!