A languid start to 2025
Most years start with a burst of activity, at least for me. I spend the last few days of each year contemplating what I would like the next year to be about. I don’t sweat the small stuff; I just have big-picture goals – travel to an exotic country, learn a new skill, and write more. I often choose a word for the year, not as a theme but as an easy way to bring focus to a way of being during the next 365 days.
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However, 2025 started with a bout of lethargy. A bad virus knocked me down after Christmas. Unlike my previous bouts with respiratory infections, this one was severe and prolonged – fever, body aches, a reluctance to leave my bed, zero appetite, and no interest in getting better.
Overwork and immunity
Around this time, I came across the storm of reactions to the post by the chairman of L&T India encouraging employees to work even on Sundays, a statement that went viral for all the wrong reasons. The rapid and firm backlash to his statement that staff should put in 90-hour work weeks and come to the office instead of staring at their spouse, was a welcome development. Corporate employees worldwide are bullied into overworking, especially at the beginning of their careers. This trend sets them up for frustration and burnout and keeps the vicious cycle turning.
Immunity is a strange thing, While it is difficult to define and quantify, it is easy to identify its lack of it once we have fallen prey to a common bug. Like vaccinations that have to be taken when we are in good health, immunity needs to be built in anticipation of the eventual attack, like a country’s armed forces standing on high alert for an invasion. Preparing for war requires maintaining excellent health which is the outcome of our decisions regarding food, activity, rest, and of course, peace of mind.
A blue umbrella, hot coffee, and a piece of cake
Using the analogy of war seems oddly out of place in my current mind space which seems to want to simply dawdle. Instead of filling in a brand new journal or writing down a few action items on a monthly calendar, I am concerned that I do not have any concrete plans, not even a list of bullet points.
Midway through the first month of the year, as I wondered about selecting an appropriate word for the year that marks the first quarter of a new century, I decided that stepping out for a long solitary walk would be the best way to clear my head after being cooped up at home.
The weekend was supposed to be rainy in Singapore but it rains often here. A loud thunderstorm, a fierce shower, and then the sun rises, hot and steamy against the wet ground. But it wasn’t any ordinary rain that lashed Singapore last week; it was a monsoon surge, an atmospheric phenomenon in which dense rain clouds gather over the tropics causing excessive amounts of precipitation to occur over prolonged periods.
I waited a day and a half, and when I couldn’t take it anymore, I stepped out with my blue umbrella. A hot cup of coffee, a piece of cake at my local coffee shop and I was ready for a solo sojourn across the familiar trail near my home.
Silence, solitude, and being present
The Rail Corridor is a long trail that straddles busy roads and an urban forest along a large portion of Singapore. The point at which I walk along is usually a busy stretch, filled with avid hiking groups, solo runners, families, and bicycle enthusiasts. Since the rain had kept the regulars safe and dry at home. I was the only walker on the wide trail.
Switching the heavy umbrella between my hands, I ignored my phone and focused exclusively on my verdant surroundings. Alone and silent, I found myself minutely observing everything around me. My senses were heightened to small sounds and strange scenes, my imagination soared as my focus naturally sharpened in the absence of distraction.
The small rivulet of water that usually flows at the edge of the walking path was now a full-blown river, flowing merrily towards an unknown destination carrying with it twigs and leaves. The soft drizzle made rhythmic beats on my umbrella and fat drops landed from the branches on the tree-lined path, as large leaves dived to the floor loudly. Was that lump on the ground a few meters ahead a dead bird? It turned out to be a big leaf that lay swollen and slumped on its side. Phew!
Outdoors on a rainy afternoon
In the distance ahead, a couple stopped in the middle of the road and exchanged a kiss, the most romantic thing to do on a rainy afternoon. I slowed down, not wanting to interrupt their moment but couldn’t resist taking a picture when they resumed walking. Not surprisingly, they took a sudden detour and I could no longer see them.
A couple with two kids and a dog walked along slowly, stopping to study the glistening green foliage and the interesting flotsam on the newly formed rivers. A fully drenched man with a t-shirt that said “No rules, just run” walked briskly. A young boy on a bicycle splashed through a puddle and smiled apologetically, his freckled face crinkling into a cute smile.
Defining the future
As I turned around towards home, my word for the year revealed itself to me with ease, like a floating feather – CHERISH. I want this to be the year to hold things dear, even as I realize that things are fleeting. The monsoon surge would soon end and the same path would not reveal the same secrets to me again. Yet, this rainy afternoon, this solitary sojourn, this silent introspection, will always be something I cherish, even if I don’t remember all the details in the years to come.
Is this not what life is about? Stopping to notice these fleeting flecks of beauty and clarity amidst the chaos and continuous movement that defines most of our waking hours?
When we chase brutally long work days and impossible standards of productivity to meet unattainable metrics of success we lose not just the opportunity, but also the ability to appreciate what makes life memorable, not just comfortable.
For 2025 I wish you many moments of serenity to cherish the day, the year, and the moments that stop you in your tracks.