This last year (2020) brought a lot of change. Our new normals consisted of hand sanitizer, face masks, temperature checks, stay-cations, making bread, puzzles, working remotely and dumpster fires. Many people have wished for 2020 to be gone due to the amount of changes that we had.
There were changes to work and schooling. I have been working from home since March, needing to adapt to managing staff remotely. Luckily, one of my teams was provincial so I already had skills that I could use. My children have seen online schooling surrounding each side of the few months when they were physically back. With remote internet, this has been a challenge for the family but we work around it. School went from two semesters to four which the kids have actually adapted to quite easily.
There have been changes to shopping and social gatherings. Most of my groceries are done now online. The majority of my Christmas shopping was done online while trying to support local (or Canadian) businesses. Lower prices used to be a major factor in purchasing, and now that is not my deciding choice. Social gatherings are limited to people who have the same beliefs, ideals, and practice when they could occur. The majority of the time, we were with our immediate household. Although I have not seen my parents physically, I have made sure that I am speaking with them more then before.
One of the biggest changes was to our Kung Fu training. We went from full contact classes to virtual on-line classes, back to class but with physical distancing, and currently back to online classes. In our household alone, training has been done in our living room, the outside deck, and finally we have a spot downstairs that we are still tweaking. We have gained a lot in our Kung Fu training during this change as our instructors have adapted and offered 1-1s and instructional videos to supplement class training.
There has always been two ways to approach this change, ignore it or adapt. These changes could impact people either positively or negatively. Not all change is positive, but adaptation will allow for some type of positivity from the experience. It allows us to look at things in a bigger picture.
Not only have I adapted, I have seen how other Kung Fu students have adapted as well. Zoom meetings for working out, Kung Fu Advent calendar, home training areas that were not there before, connecting outside of scheduled classes. This adaptation is the biggest skill that we have learnt through our Kung Fu training. It did not start this year, it started the day we walked into the kwoon. We have always been taught to adapt for injuries, shown multiple techniques because there is no one right way, adapt a form for space available, be aware of your partners' skill and adapt how you spar, the list goes on. We are given reminders to help us stay grounded, breathe, and focus on "Where am I and what am I doing?".
Do I wish 2020 away? Absolutely not. Wishing away time is one less day, month, year that I will NEVER get back and those are finite. So I use the skills that I have gained to adapt to 2020 and to find the positives. We were able to start new things that we never tried (buying a sailboat and raising chickens) and work on things that were always left on the back burner (home renos and organizing). I have trained at home and have trained with my family more than ever before. It has brought our family closer. Why would I wish that away.
What were some of the positives you experienced while you adapted to these changes?
See you on the "virtual" mats!
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