Over the past 6 months, while on my afternoon walks, I see an elderly lady walking her little, white, fluffy dog around the neighbourhood. Every day at around 3:43 PM, they come to the corner of my street and greet the tall, older crossing guard. The little dog gets so excited to see his friend the crossing guard, his tail wags faster and faster as they get closer to the crosswalk. Once they reach the man, the dog’s excitement overcomes him and he jumps up on the man. The dog’s excitement is matched by the crossing guards, as he pets the dog and joyously tells him that he is “such a good boy.” The elderly lady doesn’t pull her dog away or speed off and continue her journey around the block, but instead, every day she stays for a few minutes and chats with the man. As I walk closer I hear them talk about the weather, and updates on the current pandemic. When I reach them I turn the corner and within a few minutes, like clockwork, I walk by the same elderly man in a long, grey coat. He always smiles and says hello followed by a quick comment on the weather, “stay warm”, “it’s a windy one”, “enjoy the sunshine”. And I smile and answer with a simple response, “you too”, “don’t blow away”, “I will, thanks”. As I continue walking I admire the nature around me, observe the little interactions between others, and smile at strangers as I pass them on the sidewalk. In midst of a global lockdown and pandemic, I find myself a part of a simple system of basic human connections, that reminds me of the beauty of humanity.
Human connection has been a major theme for me this year. Even though we had limited contact with people, I found myself witnessing and cherishing special, simple moments with family, friends and even strangers. As an extrovert, I have always valued being around other people, but this year I feel like I have begun to understand just how precious, interacting with my fellow humans really is. Through my daily walks, chats with friends from all over the world via Facetime, and movie night with my parents, I have come to realize that relationships and positive interactions with others are the keys to a successful life.
Life Update
2020 took me home to my small town outside of Toronto. In March 2020 I lost my job and made the journey home from Victoria, BC to Ontario. For the first time in my whole life, I am so excited to be home. I have always wanted to be travelling new places and be exploring somewhere more excited than this small town, but with COVID-19, and the lockdown restrictions, I have never been happier to be home. I am in a place that I feel comfortable and safe and it has been super great for my extroverted soul and mental health to quarantine with my parents and not be left alone in my old apartment.
While I did originally lose my job, I did find remote job work in marketing soon after. During the rest of the year, I was also able to work on Loving Life With Cass and find clarity on what I want it to be and I am very excited about its future. Stay tuned for some amazing things coming this year, hint, hint, I am launching a podcast.
While I wasn’t working, or enjoying virtual hangouts, I spent a good amount of time healing and working on my self-growth. I started going to therapy for a few weeks, and really dove into some exercises that have helped me let go of a lot of past baggage that was weighing me down. As I start this new year, I truly feel like I am in a good, no great, place, and I am very ready to welcome the newness that I am hoping for.
2020 Lessons
Even though I have not done a whole lot of activities this year, I have grown a lot this year. I think that being forced to slow down has made me focus on my inner growth. As I mentioned, I have done a lot of healing and realizing this year and I feel like I am ending this year in a very healthy space. Some of the things I learnt this year are:
- Travel is a privilege, not a right. Getting to explore our planet is not a right, it is a privileged activity that only the privileged truly get to experience. I think that it is so important for travellers to truly understand this. Be grateful for the travel you get to experience and be respectful of each country, it’s people and culture when you are exploring.
- I am not the only person on this planet. This is a big one, but this year has helped me to not focus on myself as much and fully realize how connected we all are. There are 7+ billion people on earth each with their own lives. Life isn’t about one person’s storyline, it is about all of our storylines. We are all connected and we need to work together to make sure that we all get to enjoy our lives. Wearing a mask might be slightly irritating, but to your neighbour, it is the only thing that is stopping them from experiencing serve symptoms of a deadly illness. This year has really taught me to focus on others, even when I don’t want to.
- I am blessed and I live a life filled with privilege: I could literally list 400 million reasons why I am blessed, and this year really helped me realize this. I have food, water, money, clothing, WIFI, a car, access to restaurants if I feel to lazy to cook, Netflix, books, I can go enjoy nature whenever I want, I can see all of my friends and family anywhere in the world over Facetime etc. etc. I am blessed to be able to live in a country that cares about our health and has access to resources that can help protect me against a virus during a global pandemic i.e. masks, hand sanitizer, wipes, soup, gloves etc. With the Black Lives Matter Movement, I was able to start to understand that one of the major reasons why I have all of these blessings, is because of the privilege I have been given in our society because of my skin colour.
- My mental health has come a long way. I struggle with anxiety, but I have been working on managing it for the past 3 years, and I would just like to say that with all of the chaos and uncertain 2020 brought, I was able to see how well my mental health is. I handled this year far better than I ever would have thought I could. If you are reading this and you are struggling with your mental help, please know that it can get better. Going to therapy, taking care of your body and mind, sitting with the hard feelings and staying consistent even when it is hard, can help you to heal and manage your mental health. If I can do it so can you.
- I love creating. One of the best things that I was reminded of this year was that I love creating. I love it more than most things. Writing, painting, photography, oh my! I just love being able to express my creativity and bringing the ideas in my head to life.
Hello, 2021!
As we start 2021 and we welcome in a fresh start I am feeling so excited for the potential this year has for me. I like to pick a word for each year, this year my word is “new”. My intent for this year is to have it be filled with new everything – new adventures, new relationships, new opportunities, new connections, new gear, new ways of doing things, new ideas – just a whole year of newness.
A couple of things I am excited about for this year are:
- The Future of Loving Life With Cass. I have some great goals and a more clear plan and I am excited to see where my baby is by the end of 2021.
- I am excited to find my new home. Right now I am living with my parents, which has been great for two reasons 1) There is a pandemic going on and it was nice to chill with my parents, and 2) I don’t really know where I want to be living next. I am excited to explore some options in 2021 and hopefully find a place to settle my roots.
- Travel! I am so excited to explore again. As soon as it is safe I am ready to visit new countries and hit up some of my favourite countries. I am really excited to head to Scotland, Iceland and finally get to Morocco.
- As I mentioned, I was reminded how much I love creating, so one of my goals going into 2021 is to create a life where I am always creating. I am excited to embrace that and produce some amazing creative side projects.
- Music. I love music and I have waited to learn how to play the guitar since I was a kid but I never took the time to learn. One of my goals for 2021 is to finally learn how to play the guitar and be able to one day write my own songs.
So yeah, that is my 2020 review and a little update on where I am at. Thank you for your support this year, I really appreciate it and I am looking forward to growing LLWC with you.
Cheers to 2021, may it be filled with more love and happiness!
