This time last year I should have been flying to Nepal. I’d booked flights and was due to spend 8 weeks there, a week in Nepal, over to Tibet for a couple of weeks and then 5 weeks to travel and just to be, with nothing planned.
This time 2 weeks ago was decision time. Covid was spreading around the world and I worried that I could be struggling to come back if things got worse. With a cheap ticket there was no chance of a refund, so I lost the £600 paid. But could have paid much more than that if I tried to come home fast. I was able to get the money refunded for the trip to Tibet.
But sometimes, from a disappointment, other things happen. And I was able to get a last-minute place on an Erasmus funded course on Rites of Passage held at Asha, in the Forest of Dean. This was because the delegates from Italy weren’t able to travel.
That’s just one snippet from my story over the last year.
We’ve all had setbacks and disappointments. But there have been some good things too. What I’ll be doing over the coming days is to review this year, to think about what I’ve learned about myself and to look at the good things rather than to focus on what I’ve not been able to do.
For example, pre lockdown I went out, a lot, cinema, comedy improv classes, seeing bands, seeing friends for cocktails and coffee. All that stopped with lockdown. But in its place has been much walking, far more time in nature, learning bushcraft, wild camping and I want to keep doing this.
With my first jab scheduled and plans for opening up the country, I will be able to go back to going out and gigs. But it won’t be as much, and I’ll keep up my time spent in nature. That’s so important to me.
I share this as I think this could be something that is useful for you to do as well. As humans we have stories that make us who we are. And the more we know ourselves personally the easier we can be the person we want to be in our wider life, including the workplace.
I’d love to hear about your reflections over the past year. Feel free to comment here.
Sorry you had to miss that trip to Nepal and Tibet. A year ago, I was still happily hunkered down and not in the mood to travel after 3 months in Ladakh, Nepal and Tibet in late 2019. Covid lock-down came at a good time for me. I wanted to complete my memoir and not travel. Giving up dinner socials was easy also. I learned my social interactions with people on hikes, walks and kayak trips into nature sufficed. I enjoyed a heavy influx of new interest for my walking groups. I don’t intend to return to a heavy social schedule. The semi-monastic lifestyle suits me. I used the time in isolation to deepen my spiritual practice. I did miss family contact and will make that more a priority as things open up.
That sounds great, Dami and so glad you got to complete your memoir. We have both been able to spend more time in nature, and I think this must have helped our mental health.