A Look Back to Year 2022

Finally, the COVID-19 pandemic, which spanned three years, was over by the end of 2022. It was a great relief for all, having spent so much time in social isolation. Now we are gradually reconnecting with the social life we had before the pandemic.

While it was a painful experience for all of us, it was also a great learning lesson on public health and healthy behaviors.

Some of the experiences, such as how to wash hands properly, and wearing masks, even if they look very simple on the face, are useful habits to pursue. Throughout the respiratory influenza season, these healthy habits help us all stay healthy.

The weather continues to be the great story of Minnesota. Those of us who live here longer feel that the weather conditions are becoming more and more extreme each year. 2022 was not different in this respect. During December, we had about a foot of snow in our neighborhood, followed by a very brutal sub-zero temperature mass that lasted nearly a week.

So, How It Went For 2022

Looking at my personal issues level, it was a normal year for me.

Burnout: As a solitary working-from-home person, there was a bit of burnout, as many of us in similar situations often go through. However, I have been able to manage it by various methods, such as by changing the topics on which I work. Daily, if I get tired of coding, or writing my drafts, I just walk out of the house and take a short walk. I don’t force myself to work when I’m mentally tired and worn out. Reading inspiring stories and watching sports gives me a great deal of comfort for a while.
Daily activities: Daily activities (especially stretching and short cardio) have been in my daily life for several years. During this time, I have observed that these day-to-day routines make me feel better and more productive. I feel like my daily routines with my healthy vegetarian eating habits make me feel a lot better than in previous years.
Daily short-note writing: Over the past three years, I have been writing short-notes posts on this site, which I maintained this year too. Except on one occasion last year, when I was sick with respiratory viruses and bedridden for about three weeks, I missed posting. There are also some other casual cases that I missed or else, I make sure to write something every day like my daily chore. I even wrote a short note about this too.
Family trip: On a personal note, we had our family trip to Los Angeles and San Diego to take a look around. During our stay in Los Angeles, we stayed in the Rancho Palos Verdes estate and rented an Airbnb house in San Diego. It was a fun and enjoyable trip and we all had a great time in California.

About this site

For a while, I have been making plans to give a new look to this site, currently powered with a Twenty Twenty theme. After a few last-minute final tweaks, the new look of this site is finally coming after three years. During this period, I also plan on consolidating the related content from other sites to this website.

I just have a few ideas that I would like to pursue for the next year. One of those for the year 2023 is to take heed of this Chris’s post where he emphasizes the importance of writing short notes or any form of writing. Chris writes “I rarely say it, but I mean any writing. Not just stuff like documentation, emails, and blog posts, but short-form and often casual writing as well, like Slack and GitHub comments.”

Gratitude

During the year 2020, I made a long list of things that I am grateful too. The same list is true this year too, except that the Covid-19 pandemic finally ended this year. Among those, the most important are the personal ones: family, friends, food and health, neighbors, and (artists, and singers), which hold today, too.

As I wrote in my 2021 year-end post, I am grateful to this great adopted home country, which gave me all the opportunities I wanted to pursue. Although, with some obvious shortcomings, it offers exceptional things, as Amjad Massad eloquently wrote in a Twitter feed last year.

In Closing

Returning to the closing remarks of my previous year, I would once again listen to the call of the happiness guru, Professor Brooks, to make “forgiveness and gratitude” our resolution of the year 2023 for a happier and healthy life!