Reflecting On Our Silver Linings Of 2020
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
It’s safe to say 2020 has been a challenging year for everyone – no matter where you live, and no matter what line of work you’re in. We’re lucky in a lot of ways to be here in Singapore, but COVID-19 was still an unprecedented, unpredictable experience for all of us.
Despite how difficult the year was, we like to look on the positive side, so we’re winding down the year by reflecting back on the positive things to come out of 2020. From personal to professional achievements, we hope these silver linings from the Accela team will give some inspiration and perspective as we prepare for the year ahead.
“Reflecting on 2020, there are multiple things I am grateful for. From a professional perspective, the Accela team adapted extraordinarily well to the ever-changing climate. Although everyone was dealing with their own personal fears and challenges, they showed up for one another and our clients every day, continued to be creative in our approach with our clients and delivered excellent results and partnership.
Personally, a silver lining for my husband and me was the time we were able to spend at home with our Goldendoodle, Marley, who we lost in September. For Marley, 2020 was a dream come true! In her mind, we had finally given up everything social outside the house, all of our overseas travel, days at the office, and late nights with clients to spend time with her. Every day she worked under my desk in the office, occasionally appearing in the background of a Zoom call as she was finding another comfortable spot to sit, or say "hi" to whoever we were talking to. In a normal year, we never would have had that quality time with her in her last year of life, and for that, we are grateful that 2020 made us slow down, stop and appreciate what a wonderful companion we had in our life for almost 15 years. Let's not forget all the sneaky treats she got from our quarantine cooking.” – Erin Padilla, CEO & Co-Founder, Accela Group
“Being able to spend more time connecting with family and friends. As a lot of us were going through lockdown at the same time earlier in the year, this gave everyone the opportunity slow down and I was able to enjoy more regular catch up with friends at home and Zoom calls with my family who are spread out across the world. Happy to say this is something we’ve all managed to keep up moving into 2021.” – Jen Stewart, Communications Director, Accela Communications
“At the start of the pandemic I was upset about the lack of traveling and being ‘stuck’ in Singapore but eventually I was able to change my mindset and realise all of the great things we have right here in our backyard. I spent most of the circuit breaker walking and cycling around new parts of the island, and once things started to open up later in the year I took the opportunity to visit new restaurants, bars, museums and more that I never made time for. On top of that, all of my friends who normally would be travelling every weekend were also here and keen for activities, so we all had the chance to spend more time together and experience Singapore together.” – Jess Slevin, Senior Communications Director, Accela Communications
“My silver lining this year would be picking up a new language – Singapore Sign Language (SGSL)! With the recommendations to refrain from chatting on public transport and masks, my rudimentary sign language has helped a tiny bit with communicating with my partner outside.” – Lydia Lee, Senior HR Administrator, Accela Talent
“The year 2020 was quite a different year with working from home - when family members became colleagues working under the same roof; no travel – the only travel that was allowed was a trip to NTUC; connecting with the team on Zoom and WhatsApp.
Despite so many changes, I was able to find new ways to keep myself engaged (during the time which otherwise would have been spent traveling). My newfound hobbies are cooking (I am trying out Indian-style vegetarian versions of Korean and Thai cuisines) jewelry made with epoxy resin, and homemade soaps and hand sanitizers. I learned that there are various possibilities in life - we just have to think outside the box. This mindset has helped me a lot in my professional life too as I was able to try and arrive at solutions by thinking differently.” – Savitha Raman, Finance Manager, Accela Finance
“We had planned to go back to the UK for the whole summer this year, our first time back since moving here, instead we had time to rethink our time here and decided to look into moving to another part of Singapore. Had we gone back to the UK, we wouldn’t have made the move we did and so we are thankful for that as we now have a much better way of life here in Singapore.” – Vicky Jones, Finance Account Executive, Accela Finance
Closing out this post on a positive note, we’d like to share a favorite poem about persevering through the challenging times and successfully forging ahead.
‘Don't Quit’ by John Greenleaf Whittier
When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow.
Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are.
It may be near when it seems so far.
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.
