ONE GOOD THING - 2020 REFLECTIONS

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It’s been a tough year, but I’m grateful for the realisations it has brought.

I usually visit my parents in Pakistan every year, but last year I had surgery and couldn’t go – I thought I would just go this year, but of course that hasn’t been possible. I was feeling very low about that, because my father’s dementia has progressed, and he may not be able to recognise me when I am able to see him again.

But then I realised that my father is in otherwise good health and well taken care of – he lives with my brother, and my sisters are nearby. He is beloved, and not in pain. And even if he doesn’t recognise me when I can see him again, I have such happy family memories with him, and that is enough.

I have more than enough, more than I would wish for – a happy family life, good friends. My daughter graduated from UC this year, and she already has a job. Now, what I want is greater meaning, to reach out and help people wherever I can. My father always said, be like a post office – you’re blessed by God, and so you reach out and distribute those blessings where you can.

I’ve had glimpses of these realisations before, but the isolation that COVID-19 necessitated really made them clear. It has been a way to declutter not only in terms of things I don’t need anymore, but ways of thinking that no longer serve me.

I also found that when we moved to a virtual campus, the connection with students was different. I’ve found a lot of meaning in reaching out – and being reached out to – and relationships have grown beyond classes and subjects, as we connect as humans.

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https://www.canberra.edu.au/uncover/news-archive/2020/december/one-good-thing