Embracing Uncertainty: Turning COVID-19 Lemons into Lemonade
My best year in a decade
I’m aware that my last year went a bit differently from most. I had the pleasure of being surrounded by sea and mountains for 3 whole months; I tried kitesurfing, climbed mountains and explored the jewels of Seville, Granada and Cordoba with no foreign tourists in sight. I also spent a further 3 months in Lithuania, where I bought a flat and have done a capital renovation while living abroad.
I also read 24 books, started running 5km every day and met a very nice man, with whom I managed to have two holidays. There have also been new recipes, courses and skills — not to mention the fact that I started a blog (yes — the extensive blog of four whole posts… but I’m getting there!). It’s not all roses, and when it comes to family, friends and professional growth, there have been difficult moments. But hey, you can’t have it all — and somehow, overall, this has been a truly transformational year.
If there is one lesson I have learned this year, it’s that acting fast and embracing uncertainty can turn even a terrible year like the last into a bloody good one.
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
I still cannot believe I was out of my flat in 6 days
A roof over one’s head is one of the most fundamental safety needs of a human being. So, when COVID-19 struck in March, the message from our directors was quite terrifying. In what felt like a matter of moments, I went from working 5 days a week in a fancy WeWork office to potentially working remotely for 2.5 days a week. It was to stay that way until “things got better” — and no one had the faintest idea of how long the virus would keep us company. On top, these were the early days, with no furlough schemes or mortgage holidays as yet. And I do have an expensive mortgage.
I am so glad that I immediately stepped into action (which, to be fair, I do most of the time anyway — to varying degrees of success) rather than waiting and overthinking. But in this instance, the “just do it” worked out just fine.
It was Tuesday when the news hit. That evening, I sent a message to my boss suggesting I let out my flat and move to Lithuania for 6 months. An hour later, I put an ad on OpenRent.
On Wednesday, no one replied to my OpenRent ad.
On Thursday Foxtons, Dexters, Knight Frank and other 2 real estate agencies came in.
By Friday evening, Foxtons brought in 2 potential tenants. One of them, a lovely Chinese girl who had just moved to the UK, took my flat immediately.
On Saturday we signed the contract.
And on Sunday, I moved out. I did not go straight to Lithuania though, as my boss was moving to his second home and suggested I could house-sit his place in London (a lovely place with a big garden). Very timely suggestion as…
…on Monday, lockdown began.
Uncertainty does come with a few challenges
Naturally, COVID-19 brought with it a few hurdles in 2020. There were a few PCR tests, a smattering of lovely ‘quarantining’ breaks, switching from big suitcases to small ones and back. With the situation changing all the time, at some point, I set up an Excel spreadsheet to track all my flight refunds and I have definitely lost count of health forms I had to fill out. Good news though, I did not break any laws — maybe just bent them oh so slightly.. :)
The biggest challenge was arranging logistics. All my London belongings have been divided between my parents’ home in Lithuania, friends’ garages in London, my boss’s basement and the two suitcases I took with me between Lithuania, Spain and the UK.
To give you an example, as I was leaving in June, I had to keep a full inventory of my possessions and prepare separate ‘units’ for the weeks ahead: one unit for ‘somewhere hot with a mountain and a sea’, one for Lithuania in summer, one for and another for Lithuania in winter. These had to be ready for me to collect in October, or clearly labelled enough that friends could ship them to me to Lithuania.
A year of only lucky lottery tickets
Much as I endorse it, embracing uncertainty is like playing the lottery. 2020 was quite a big gamble and I am very conscious that, for the most part, I’ve drawn winning tickets. I could have gotten stuck in a lockdown in any of the places I travelled. I escaped Tenerife just before the corridor closed, enjoyed Andalusia between full and local lockdowns, and enjoyed a summer with family and friends in Lithuania in between other lockdowns.
The more uncertainty you embrace, the more you will be able to stretch time
One thing for sure is that uncertainty always results in change. When you are following a road sign towards the ‘unknown’, you have to accept all the unknowable outcomes.
However, the beauty of the unknown is that it literally allows you to pause time, to draw out the moments, so that days feel as long and brimming with possibility as they did in childhood. Remember the summer holidays as a kid when a few months felt more like an eternity? 2020 definitely threw me back to this time zone where days don’t just fly away.
I was always curious about this phenomenon — why do we experience time so differently when we go on holidays or simply abandon our daily routines? Well, there is a very simple scientific explanation. Our brain works on autopilot as we take the same route to the office (remember those times?:), have the same meetings, go to the same restaurants and take the same transport, which means it doesn’t need to register information anymore. As it doesn’t register information, less is recorded in the daily ‘event’ film. Here you go. Do the exact same thing every day and your film will take seconds. Add variety and it will stretch.
It works even for romance
Why on earth would you go on a date when you’re about to leave the country for 5–6 months? Well, you never know. Even if there is no certainty about whether the next date will be possible, you can’t guess what destiny will throw at you… If you give her a chance, maybe she’ll throw you another lucky ticket. I do feel like I got one this year, having met a lovely man and managing to spend two holidays together during the pandemic. Nomadic life does not have to be an obstacle to romance; when there is a will, there is a way.
An infinite number of alternative lives
Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe, there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one telling a story of the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point of your life. This is the plot of one of my ‘to-be-read’ books, ‘Midnight Library’. Throughout this year, I have felt exactly like the main character, as I can envision all these alternative scenarios so easily. I could have had a very sad year sitting in my flat on my own. I could have had a devastating year working 2.5 days and struggling financially. I could have caught Covid alone in Spain without a single loved one around. I could have spent the entire year in Lithuania or I could have had a year moving countries every 2 months with a few more weeks of quarantine.
I find it quite exhilarating thinking about all these options — some more, some less of course. One thing is for sure though. Even though as of January I am no longer homeless, I will do everything possible to get a healthy dose of uncertainty into my life.
