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Friday was a mixed bag of emotions. Farewells are never easy specially when its someone dear to you. This Friday a dear friend and office colleague had his last day in office. While we made sure to have that last skype call on the office infrastructure (its a surreal feeling that this group of people will not talk again on the medium we used so often to communicate) . A whatsapp video call with the customary roundtable and an online gift- it was pretty much like what we would do when someone moves jobs in the world we once lived in. Perhaps the drinks and dinner was missing and hope we will meet to make up for it.

But it felt very different. March last year is when we hung out daily at work, had dinner together, tea breaks, sharing stuff about office gossip and sometimes delving into much deeper conversations around life and how each of us sees it. Thinking that we will go back to office someday but so much would have changed, is scary sometimes. Nothing lasts forever, we all know that but that doesn’t make it any easy to take everything with ease.

In the past 14 months we saw a lot transform- virtual schools, baby showers, people moving jobs, new joiners, tragedies, fairytale beginnings and so on. Just goes to show that life moves on- and that’s important as well. We cant stay stuck in the rut and wait for this to pass. Its hard sometimes but we learn to get up and move along.

We learn to adapt, to find our foot in the new normal.

I am really proud to see how my mom has turned this lockdown into a whole sea of opportunities and enriched her life. Going for walks and treks, making new friends, conducting online Fitness classes for senior citizens and story sessions for kids- I can see right before my eyes how her life has transformed. There is a spring in her step, Monday to Sunday is not a drudgery any more. She looks forward to the week full of activities and staying busy, only to revel on the weekends with walks and some much needed rest.

On my part its been my fitness journey which has been my constant high through the lockdown, its given me a strong sense of fulfilment, challenging my inner limits and seeing the transformation in my body has been worth it. It seemed surreal to stay at home for so long without going to work, hanging out with friends , no travel since Sep19, a lot of things that were such an integral part of life. Looking back it feels we often underestimate ourselves. We think we are used to a particular set of things in life and cant do without them but that might not always hold true .

I do hope things get better as we all get vaccinated and we inch back to normal , a new normal it surely will be and not the one we were used to. Hopefully all of us can carry some of the vital experiences and learnings as we move forward into a new world.

Image courtesy https://fisher.osu.edu