2020

What a year.

What

a

year.

Before I start, I have to ask you:

How are you?

How's 2020 been treating you?

I guess it's not an exaggeration to say 2020 will be the 'that year' of our lifetime for most of us. If anyone mentions about 2020 ten or twenty years from now, we'll most likely say; 'oh, yeah that year.' Depending on how it went down for us will determine the tone of that conversation. But no one will forget 2020. It'll never get mixed up with 2019 or 2021. No one will forget 2020. Ever.

With that being said, I hope everyone is doing okay.

I realize how inactive I've been the past months (almost a year) on @bookbosomed.id page. The last time I posted a short book review on my Instagram story was in March. Eventho I'm still reading since then (not as much as I usually do), I just didn't feel like posting anything. Feeling obligated to post something while figuring out what to do when the pandemic hit gave me anxiety and those who are familiar with that will understand that it's not a pleasant feeling. So I chose not to bother--not wanting to be tied to anything. I was slacking but it's okay. I forgive myself for those months not being productive.

Aside from being unproductive, possibly the least productive I've been in a long time, I actually did a lot of new stuff this year. Not the first few months of the outbreak, but later on I tried different activities I never tried before. I did bouldering, I learned to surf, I bake now, and I had my first American thanksgiving thanks to my new American friends (one of the highlights this year, meeting new great friends). I didn't get to see some of my close friends almost at all this year, I obviously didn't get to travel, not even to visit my Mom who lives in Bogor. I had to skip my cousin's wedding too. It was hard, but I can't complain about how this year went down for me. I'm one of the lucky ones, even tho financially, not so much. Someone real close to me got the virus and it was pretty scary for about a month. Alhamdulilah he survived.

All in all, I'm grateful. I'm grateful for all the time I was given to rest and contemplate. I question, I seek, I learn. Of course there are still endless things I need to learn (or unlearn), questions not yet answered, but I'm confident because if there is one thing this year gave me, is the time to get to know myself better. 

Before I close this post, can I just quickly let out this one thing:

Screw conspiracy theorists.

Screw Anji and Rina Nose and whoever has big platform and use it to spread conspiracies. Honestly, that's the most triggering part of the year for me. I don't curse at people, I don't rant in public, I also always try to understand different perspectives, but these people, I just can't. It was funny at first, and I get that some people couldn't accept mundane explanations for something as big as a pandemic. They rather believe some dramatic explanations like covid was actually man-made, or this whole situation is a part of the 'global elite' trying to evoke a new world order (yes, JRX, I'm citing your non-sense imagination). And what is it with hating Bill Gates so much? If the conspiracy is about flat earth or about Hitler ran away to Indonesia and died here, I don't care. But they undermine a freaking pandemic. And people listen to them! 

Huft.

I'm sorry. Let's just focus on our well being for now. I will not spend anymore energy to get upset about what other people are doing. You do you, bishes. 2020 was hard enough without you lot making it worse.

Indeed 2020 was not easy. To some, it was brutal. Losing job, losing loved ones, losing the sense of security, the list goes on. We should all give ourselves a pat on the back. We've survived 2020. And if 2020 is the year of uncertainty, I want 2021 to be the year of recovery. Of love. Of forgiveness. 

I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but thank you 2020, for everything we've been through.

And 2021, you better be nice.

Please.