2020 is a tough year for us. Heck, there’s a song about how bad this year is called “F 2020”. Yet, this year was filled with opportunities that with the right strategies, helped me thrive. Hope these strategies will help you thrive as it did for me!
- Continued taking responsibility for my health: Only you can take care of yourself better than your doctor
- Working in the healthcare industry instilled the emphasis towards preventive healthcare. This emphasis encourages adopting healthier habits so that people will require fewer hospital visits and treatments – so do your best to live healthy, because our health is our wealth!
- Healthy habits include spending extra money for higher quality foods, lifting weights, running outside, incorporating dietary supplements (such as Vitamins C and D), investing in household air purifiers and high-quality air filters, and staying in touch with those who matter most to you
- Remained optimistic: Despite the trials over the course in my life (losing my father during my teenage years, getting rejected from the universities I applied to back in high school, attending community college, being taken advantage of countless times for being a nice guy, rejections in my dating life, rejections from business schools, moving back into mom’s one-bedroom apartment, being unemployed for 18 months, realizing that much of my stagnation during various times in my 20s was because I didn’t have a father or grounded mentor to encourage me through my failures)
- Still, I smiled and my resolve to do my best didn’t fully waver
- This was all God’s way of showing me tough love to be that grounded man for my girlfriend and future family
- People will remember you more for your successes than failures, and it’s okay to make mistakes and own up to them
- Found alternate sources of media and information, because mainstream media is straight-up basura propaganda sowing division in our society
- One of the core tenets of a grounded person and true American is being a well-informed person, able to question and think critically for themselves
- Blindly following what people say is a recipe for disaster, since a person can be easily influenced if nothing is questioned
- Understood the true value of time: Commuting to work takes a bigger part of our days than we think
- Our time, in addition to our health, is one of our most valuable assets since we don’t get time back
- By working from home even before the pandemic, I used the time saved to get extra sleep, exercise at the gym, or work on a side project
- My mother now realizes the benefits of working from home. After commuting for more than 2 hours each day for more than 30 years, she was forced to work from home during this pandemic. She has more time to wake up a little later in the morning and take her time getting ready for work, resulting in a LOT less stress these days
- If avoiding commuting is not an option, commutes are a great opportunity to listen to audiobooks and podcasts, helping us grow and be more well-informed
- Made time to get outside of the house
- After meeting with friends and people outside after all these lockdowns, there’s a sense of relief they can socialize in person
- Going outside to get fresh air and a change of scenery is key to our mental health, an underrated part of our preventive and health as a whole
- As my cousin once told me a few years ago , “You can’t live life to the fullest by being inside your apartment.”
- Became comfortable being by myself over the years, such as eating alone, grocery shopping and window shopping at the mall by myself, attending events and concerts and events without knowing anyone
- It was awkward going out by myself in the past without a purpose. Over time, I learned that the awkwardness was all in my head and it’s cool embracing my weirdness of wearing basketball shorts and high socks to the grocery store and restaurant to pick up food
- When it’s all said and done, we are alone in our deaths, so now is a good time to slowly, but surely, enjoy the times we are by ourselves
- Maintained a consistent, daily prayer life: our relationship with God does not stop!
- Prayer humbles us to accept that there are parts of life we cannot control and those we can control – focus on what we can control and use the frustrations from what we can control in productive ways (exercise, extra effort in our crafts)
- Found humor in random things and expressed gratitude for those moments to share a good laugh
- When some colleagues vent out to me, I find a way to diffuse the situation by telling them a corny joke. I later privately express gratitude for having the opportunity to make someone laugh and being someone whom they trust.
- Besides, it’s a warm and fuzzy feeling making someone smile and laugh
- Reconnected with friends from the past and engaged in funny conversations
- It was surprising to know how happy some people were to hear from me. I was like…”Awww…they happy to hear from me (: “
- This pandemic taught me to better accept people for who they are. I’m just a “moment” in their day and not as important as I think I’d like to be.
- Kept cash in handy: Cash is king in the realm of personal finance
- Despite credit cards become more of a required form of payment these days, it does help to have some at hand “just in case”
- Having cash on hand gives me greater confidence in how I carry myself. I don’t use the cash to spend, but as a psychological assurance that I won’t be caught with my pants down, awkwardly smiling in this pandemic
- Did things that scared me, which included:
- Speaking up at work and suggesting areas of process improvement. This led me to be a designated corny joke teller at our work staff meetings LOL
- Putting myself out there with publishing content and starting a program for men. This emphasized an underrated aspect of entrepreneurship, which is being resourceful in figuring things out along the way
- Assured myself that “my biggest growth is ahead of me”
- Regardless of what happens, good or bad, I will learn something new that will serve me well in the future
- Being courageous and taking action pushes us to grow and live life more fully
- The world wants us to be vanilla, so this added physical isolation is an opportunity for us to grow with fewer distractions
- Like Way #2, this assurance breeds optimism that the future will be better than the past
The cover photo was taken at a restaurant my mom and I ate at during a weekend trip. The host who seated us joined us in taking pictures of each other. It is a microcosm of how we thrived, despite all that’s been going on.