So 2020 has come and gone, the year the Covid-19 pandemic started. And I did not write a single blog post, not even one! Guess I got some explaining to do. 😅
Well, after my last post in 2019 I was feeling a bit tired of writing. I was dragging my feet (or maybe my hands – for writing 😁) and I was just out of ideas. I planned to pick it up on the next year. 2020 had other plans though. It was a very challenging year. Everyone had to cope with a lot of changes. There were things and activities I had to drop, to focus on what I needed to do. So I did not find myself writing any posts on this blog for the year 2020. I lost sight of my purpose for writing on this blog, which is to share my learnings and insights as a way to contribute to the Agile community. And to help people like me striving to be Agile while doing remote work.
You lose some…
The last year brought significant changes to my lifestyle. My family bunkered down and mostly stayed at home. I can count, using just one hand, the number of times we (all of us, together) went out, and these were just to do drive-bys and drop-offs to houses of relatives and church. I get to go out more because I am the one getting the essentials we need: groceries, water, medicine, supplies from school, and the occasional take-out from restaurants 😄. All of this trips though was planned and executed so that it was fast, efficient (that it minimized the times I had to go out), and safe (done very carefully to lower the risk of exposure as much as possible). I had to be fast, I wasn’t comfortable with wearing face masks and face shields for a long time. This 2020, we have said goodbye (for now) to going to malls, taking trips to beaches and resorts, seeing family, relatives and friends, and enjoying nice meals at our favorite restaurants. It is sad, but we are still fortunate and blessed by God because we could have lost more. I did not lose my job. We did not lose our health. We still have the things we need daily.
Another big change for me is, I had to put in more time and effort in supporting my kids as they do school at home. It felt like I have gone back to school myself! 😅 You’d think that with just staying at home you’ll have more time on your hands, but it turned out for me, I had to do more than I have the time for.
You win some…
Letting go of some things in your life gives space to new things. Last year I increased my effort and time for studying the Bible and meditating on God’s Word. I also grabbed the opportunity to serve in our church, Saddleback. My wife and I volunteered to help in church activities that are done virtually. It was a wonderful chance to apply what I have learned in being Agile and working remotely to serving God and our church.
I have improved my skill in playing the piano! 🥳 We used the SimplyPiano app for self-learning. It was great how one subscription can be used by the whole family, so my kids also learned something new!
My wife gave me a round studio light for my birthday last year and this allowed me to level up my toy photography. 😁 I also borrowed her more powerful camera (more powerful then my phone camera) for better shots. The picture at the start of this post, the picture of Iron Man, that is one of my favorite shots.
That’s life!
If there is one thing that I take seriously in being Agile, it is the ability to adapt to changes. That’s life, change is inevitable. 2020 was a hard year. I think it would have been harder for me if I did not have the experience of working at home and being Agile. Last year, remote work strongly said…
And I was like…
Coming back to the blog
And now I am writing again on this blog. I have learned that “it’s ok not to be ok” (from a Netflix series 🤣). However, I do still want to share my insights and learnings and help anyone who would care to read my blog. So here I am, ready to pick it up again. I’m sorry for being absent. I am grateful for your time in reading what I have to share. I hope it helps you in anyway it can.
Remote Agility 