Wrapping Up 2020
For most of us, 2020 has probably been the craziest year in our lives. A year that we will all remember long after the pandemic is gone. Ranging from forest fires in Australia to the BLM movement and, obviously, the pandemic–we have basically experienced decades of change in just one year.
But that‘s just the big global events–there has also been so much happening in our personal lives. Many people lost their jobs or completely had to rethink their life situation-while others have experienced more business and opportunities than ever. In Iceland, there have been many record-breaking months of real-estate deals, so obviously many people undergoing big life decisions.
“On a personal level, this year has led to a lot of change in my life. Essentially, I have undergone a decade of life-changing events in just one year.”
On a personal level, this year has led to a lot of change in my life. Essentially, I have undergone a decade of life-changing events in just one year. To name a few; at the end of 2019, we discovered that we were expecting twin babies. Boys in fact! This gave us so much perspective during the early days of the pandemic - a very positive milestone in front of us, bigger in our lives than the pandemic. We now have three boys in our „not-so little anymore family “. Other big-life events were basically a result of that, having to move away from our downtown Reykjavik apartment and into a house in the suburbs.
We also somewhat „secretly“ decided to get married and go on a 1-day honeymoon in West Iceland at Hotel Húsafell.
Almost all hotels were closed due to the pandemic, but we managed to secure the last room at the hotel – which fittingly turned out to be the suite. Kasia my wife was more than 8 months pregnant at that point and when we arrived at the hotel, the lady in the reception asked if we had decided to come to the hotel to give birth! ;-) No understatement when I say that her twin-baby belly was huge!
The move into suburbia has probably been one of the most biggest transitions for us this year.
Obviously, our quality of life has heavily improved, but something you realize as you continue accumulating more in your life, is that it doesn’t always make you more happy. Removing some of the basic frustration is of course a huge improvement in life, but there’s definitely a diminishing returns in terms of having more space. Often all that space calls for more things… and with it comes more upkeep, costs – and in the end you have more responsibilities and a more complicated life.
Reykjavik downtown is such a magical place to live and you‘ve got so many amazing things in one place – an international city (obviously not so international during covid-life), the ocean and a stunning coastline, overlooking mountains, and many amazing culinary and cultural options. But with the added family members and a raging pandemic, we really felt like we needed more convenience and space. And living in a relatively densely populated area during a pandemic isn’t always easy when you’ve got little kiddo’s .
At least that’s the case for me. In a professional aspect, 2020 had already forced me to remove much of the project-related clutter; but in 2021, I think the biggest thing will be to remove all the non-essential things in our personal lives, such as possessions and responsibilities – and in instead be more minimal. All the stuff around us tends to take precious time from the things that really matter such as spending time with family and friends – and really just focusing on living life. For us, travel is a big part of living life – and while keeping all the amazing things that happened in 2020 in mind – I feel like this has been our biggest loss to the pandemic.
Timing wise, this wasn’t the worst for us, since our opportunities to travel were quite limited with two small babies. But they’re getting bigger fast and our appetite to get out in the world increased accordingly.
This year I have learned many lessons – but I also feel (almost a bit shamefully), that I have had to re-learn lessons which I already thought I had figured out:
• Knowing my own nature and trusting my initial instinct.
• The importance of living a more simple life.
• How short and precious life is – and that you cannot waste all of it preoccupied with work.
• Above everything else, health matters so much – yet it is so easy to take for granted.
• Not spending enough time outside in nature and not traveling really is a loss of life quality.
So that’s some of my thoughts for 2021 and I’m so excited start the new chapter called 2021!
— Gunnar.
Lots of Love, Gunnar.
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