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A lot of people today are gladly waving goodbye to 2020. The virus had turned their normal lives upside down, they've been denied access to things they're accustomed to having or doing, and they've been torn from their usual relationships. For me however, it's been easy. Why?
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I've had to readjust a lot in my lifetime. Lifestyles that became normalised & everyday were turned upside for something completely different. You know you've led a multicultural life when aspects of one's life are incomprehensible to others from various periods of it.
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In Texas, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and Star Spangled Banner every day was normal. Preparing the house for hurricane & tornado warnings was commonplace. Cowboy hats & boots in the office, not a rare sight.
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In Myanmar & Pakistan, having servants was the norm; a guard with machine gun at the gate, a driver, a maid. Powdered milk, electricity for 6hrs a day, and tap water that could kill was life in Myanmar. Armed military on every street, checkpoints & roadblocks was normal.
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Abject poverty, people with untreated illness and unmanaged disability, stray dogs with broken limbs hanging off them populate the street in Yangon. These things eventually become normal. Simply living somewhere where you don't speak the local language is deeply affecting.
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In Pakistan, security was heavy. Metal detectors at school, shopping centres, embassies; having the car examined inside and our for explosives was the day-to-day. Women in burkas, male friends holding hands, call to prayer - daily sights and sounds.
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To some people in my life these things are familiar & normal. To others they're incompressibly strange & profoundly affect how they view me, my experience, my morals, & my privilege. To me they're all normal. They're all who I am & I reconcile them into the wholeness of me.
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So, to adjust to a new lifestyle is second nature to me. Can't go to restaurants anymore? No big deal. Can't see friends? I've had to say goodbye to so many in my life. Curfew? Been there, done that.
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Adaptability and resilience are valuable skills. I'm grateful I learned them at a young age. I'm glad I know how to take things as they come, adapt to "new normals, and am not so entitled that I always expect to be able to access and do what I want, when I want.
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It's been an interesting year for me watching people in the West struggle to cope with a little adjustment to their day-to-day lives. I'm hopeful that it'll open eyes to the freedoms that they've enjoyed in their lives up to now... but realistic.
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