The year was a blur. A friend asked me what word I’d use to describe it, and I struggled to find one. I thought there isn’t any English word to describe the feelings I have. That of inhaling and holding your breath for so long, and just wanting to finally exhale it all out. Like at the end of a yoga class, when the teacher tells you to inhale, and inhale more, clench your fists and tense your entire body, and then… Exhale it all out. Let it all go.
Do you know of any word like this? From another language perhaps?
Today I decided to unblur the year. As a last challenge to cap off all my challenges, I’ll be looking back at the past twelve months, and recounting all the things I have to be thankful for. It’s an incredibly cheesy activity, but I know it’s what I need at this time.
Just to make it even cheesier, let’s call it #12DaysOfThanks. And here we go.
January: A Month of Festivities
‘I will spend all the important family occasions with my family’ – That’s what I told myself when I moved countries. So of course I was home for Christmas in December 2019, all the way through New Year in January 2020. I started the year with back-to-back themed parties in our Antipolo home, finally ending the series with a Mexican-themed celebration on the 1st of January. Our home events are a full production. My sisters and cousins are a bunch of creatives, so we always have a fully setup photo section according to the chosen theme. This is a tradition we will miss this year, but we’ll think of something else for sure. When I arrived back in Singapore on the 5th, an excerpt from my journal says, ‘I have no complaints. My life is good. It is relatively easy.’
At the end of that month, I flew to Amsterdam for the Booking.com Annual Meeting – or what we famously call BAM. For BAM, Booking.com employees from all over the world would fly into our headquarters to meet, attend workshops, and finally, party. it. out. I won’t be shy to admit that the most memorable parts usually happen in the evenings, and the late evenings.
Now this might sound like all my highlights are parties, but yeah. That’s how the year began.
Thank you January, for the gift of celebration.