It’s become a kind of tradition for me to write a blog post reflecting on the year on New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Day, so I thought I’d do that again this year, especially as I write on my blog much less often than I used to.
For me, this year has largely been defined by the fact that I contracted COVID-19. That was an unpleasant experience. I still don’t feel quite the same since going through that – but it is nice that it’s now largely behind me. I was one of the unlucky people who found themselves having to be hospitalised as a consequence of the virus, even getting hooked up to an oxygen machine at one point.
The pain in my chest was so intense that I couldn’t really move and any time I tried to breathe in, it hurt me a lot. The pain seemed to come in waves and I was so completely exhausted that it was difficult to remain conscious. As everything started to flare up and I found myself on the brink of passing out, I was mentally asking the question: could this be the end of life? I certainly couldn’t imagine being a state worse than that, where just lying half-conscious on a bed was extremely difficult. This thought didn’t really make me sad – I was in agony and so I didn’t really care about anything. Besides thinking absently to myself that I’d had a good life, the only real thought I had was that if anything happened I hoped it wouldn’t be too hard for my house friend to find another cohabiter.
Of course, I was fine, but the recovery period was very slow. At times, I wondered if I’d ever be well enough to work full time again, but at this point in time, I’ve started a new, much better job and am working full time once more. In fact, I’m leading a pretty happy and stress-free life these days and it’s nice to consider how much of a turn around I’ve had. It’s reassuring to think that even when things were as bad as that, it was all okay again in the end, and that’s something valuable for me to keep in mind for future.
