2020: First Downtime

Ain’t it funny that more often than not, spontaneous “plans” have more chances of happening than the carefully-planned ones?

Just yesterday, one of my friends in our group chat came up with the idea of just chilling at a nearby coffee shop. I happened to be free tonight, so why not?

We ended up spending a few hours in the coffee shop catching up with everyone, particularly our newly-wed couple. Well, they said it felt the same for the most part, only difference is the paperwork!

Cliche as it may sound, but I love catching-up talks. We just never ran out of things to talk to. We started off trying to figure out what our Hogwarts house is (mine’s Slytherin according to Wizarding World aka Pottermore), plans/trips for this year and then we came to realize that it’s been almost a full decade since we all moved to Winnipeg.

That’s how I actually met this random group of people I’m hanging out with – we all met at an immigration program we attended when we just moved to the city. Not too long after we became closer, started hanging out, going on trips together, and now sharing life advise and reflections.

I like downtimes like these. As a busy person, times like these gives us the opportunity to breathe and look back. Listening to everyone’s stories, we all felt the same way – 10 years went by in a snap. I could still clearly remember packing up my stuff and giving away my old gadgets to my cousin who I will be leaving behind in my quest for a new life halfway across the world. Somtimes it felt like I’ve barely done anything to work on myself, but looking back on everything, I could say I did manage to put in a few steps forward.

2020’s going to be big for me – I have four big trips planned and I’m finally deciding on moving out, getting my own place and living independently. The thought of it alone is scary, but I figured I’m well overdue and if I don’t do it right now, when will I learn to stand up on my own feet? Time waits for no one.

I don’t know when we’ll be able to spend a few hours away from our busy lives again, but until then I’ll keep going taking baby steps forward, giving my future self more stories to share 10 years from now.