The other day I read a few post-series “learning new things in 2020” in CSS-Tricks. The year-end-post from Natalya Shelburne ( a designer, frontend designer at the New York Times, instructor @harvardext, author, illustrator, speaker, relentless optimist & doer of good deeds) captures most what I have in my mind too. It was not a good year for learning for me too, despite of having more free-time.

I spent almost a decade teaching design and, let me tell you, the conditions for curiosity were all wrong this year. 2020 was not a good year for learning.

Natalya Shelburne in CSS Tricks

Like Natalya, I too had plotted ambitious learning plans for 2020 but most remained incomplete. The following statement from her post provides little solace to my shortcomings this year.

“Many talented people felt their ability to create disappear this year, for a variety of reasons. I want to be clear — that’s a normal human reaction to all of this. There is no “one weird trick” for unblocking productivity when the world is on fire.”

Because of the global coronavirus pandemic, the entire world plunged into crisis. As Natalya puts eloquently, we all feel ‘deep gratitude for having weathered this storm’ and I remain hopeful that my learning endevour continues next year!