While I'm still trying to figure out my plans for 2022, I've decided to go down memory lane and make a wrap-up of how my life rolled, adapted, and moved forward since the pandemic happened here at my side of the world.
For the most part of 2020 and 2021, my world revolved within a 2-kilometer walk; to and from my apartment to my workplace, as well as the errands or whatever kind of exercise I can do in-between. And since I live in a country where the pandemic response, vaccine roll-out, and everything else in between has been shitty and dawdling, finding something to motivate and cheer you up each day had been very challenging. Especially when you're someone with a mental health condition.
So, how did I cope? Well... I ended up surprising myself. 2020 and 2021 became the year when I decided to put myself out there for the sake of personal and professional growth.
Can you believe it? Because I sure can't! LOL.
I applied, by sheer accident and curiosity, to a one-month media BootCamp organized by the UN Women Bangkok and UN Environment programme for journalists and media practitioners that focused on storytelling and Reporting on Gender Equality and Climate Change in a COVID setting. I was one of the selected participants - the one who wasn't a journalist to boot - from the Philippines.
After the BootCamp ended, I tried my luck and submitted an application for a six-month conference program at Mekong Cultural Hub. Initially, it was supposed to be a hybrid conference: we meet online and in person after six months. But due to local and national lockdowns, the program ended as an online gathering back in May 2021. My fellows from Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand and I presented a collective project after months of meeting and sharing about our work with each other which we shared with an online crowd from different parts of Southeast Asia.
2021 ended with a final pursuit: I joined a three-day exciting and intense storytelling workshop conducted by The Moth and UN Women Nepal. The workshop was supposed to be conducted in person in Kathmandu, but then again COVID was still happening so we all shared and supported each other online. The workshop ended with each participant sharing a personal five-minute story with the entire group and a few selected guests (of them was the Australian Ambassador to Nepal, I think?).
And to wrap things up, I gave in to certain quarantine activities. But it's not what you think!
While most people I knew got hooked with Dalgona coffee, Sushi bake, among other things, I chose to do something else. I started with simpler things; I rekindled my love for coloring, and I bought and munched (OMG!) on avocados the way I did when I was a kid. The lockdown also gave me the chance to re-read my old books. I even bought a new book out of impulse and boredom, as well as an online book subscription. In 2021, I convinced myself to join a reading challenge (to justify the book purchases- OMG!!). And I'm happy to report that I've managed to read 13 out of the 18 books that I promised myself.
And I also tried to get my ass out of my apartment, when the lockdown situation permitted it and went to places like the museum, an indoor wall climbing facility, and the beach. I do have a confession to make. The latter was my very first solo trip at the very old age of 31. So... Uhm... please don't judge me!
The past two years of the pandemic have definitely been a crazy one. I'm not yet sure how 2022 will pan out and all, but if there's one thing I'm sure of is that I'm grateful that I managed to thrive and survive during these extraordinary times. And I hope that you feel the same way too.
Here's to a steady and safe 2022 for all of us!
No comments:
Post a Comment