2020/2021 Reflection

Update: Not sure how I forgot to publish this until now. It was written around March 2022.

Somehow I forgot to write a reflection last year. It's always nice to look back to previous reflections like in 2019. Since the last reflection, no one could have predicted what was to happen in the next two years.

2020/2021 Reflection

In early March of 2020, a week before we were told that we were to work from home, I wrote an unpublished post expressing why I loved working in healthcare. Interestingly enough, the focus was that healthcare should be about getting people to achieve their goals in life (no matter what their financial situation is) and not only seen as treating diseases. (After rereading that post, I'm convinced that I will probably end up back in healthcare in the future)

Little did I know that I would spend the next year and a half building one of the most impactful products I'll probably get the opportunity to work on in my lifetime with an absolutely stellar team. We built the vaccine scheduler from scratch for the record 2020 flu shot season. With our focus on the customer and pharmacy experience along with the enterprise system constraints, the result was the best experience at CVS Health. 

We always knew that the COVID vaccines were to come (and built the vaccine scheduler as the foundation) but there was an ocean of ambiguity. From November 2020 to May 2021 we were as agile as a team could possibly be. The distribution of the vaccine changed on a daily basis and states/jurisdictions were setting their own vaccine eligibility requirements just as often. 

I will certainly look upon those times fondly, despite (actually, because) the long hours and challenges. The various aspects of CVS came together to create a great experience in times where and when people needed it the most. Yes, there were negative articles, but they were outweighed by positive articles. I loved hearing about people's experience in getting their COVID vaccine at their CVS Pharmacy, but more importantly, what it meant for them (ranging from feeling safer to go out to go grocery shopping to seeing their family in person for the first time in over a year). 

While I sat at my desk at home for hours on end, my partner, Vivian, was on the front lines of the COVID battle at the hospital and volunteering at a local hotel that was housing people with COVID. What was to be one of her election months that she looked forward to the most turned into infectious disease.

It was interesting to see how she was helping people directly and how I was involved with the administration of the vaccines from my desk. There were many days where the only hours we spent together were spent sleeping our exhaustion away only to recover for what was to come the next day. It was fitting that she was able to give me my first COVID vaccine.

With the vaccine scheduler deployed and the foundation set (and millions of COVID vaccines and millions of flu shots were administered), I thought it would be a good time to move on to another challenge. It certainly was not an easy decision. I got the opportunity to join TaskRabbit and be part of their top initiative, where I hope to make people's lives easier with an amazing team. I'm just starting this journey and we certainly have challenges ahead of us but I'm confident we will create an impact.

Through the pandemic, I got to travel quite a bit; of course, not nearly as much as in 2019. I did trips to Acadia National Park, Colorado (Great Sands National Park, Mesa Verde National Park, Grand Junction), Michigan to celebrate a beautiful couple (twice!), Toledo, Los Angeles/SoCal, Baltimore, Iceland, the Berkshires during the foliage season, and, most recently, to San Francisco.

Though travel was limited, it was interesting to see Providence/RI respond to COVID. I've had the opportunity to photograph various events on how people continued to live their lives despite the pandemic. Will people remember the socially distanced events and all the surprise group video chats? Hopefully, the photos I took will help us remember.

As for habits:
Music: I am still listening to Hamilton; though not as much! Sometimes I wander off to other music.
Food: One of my best purchases over the past two years is a blender. We've been drinking smoothies. I have definitely cut down on fast food thanks to Vivian and COVID. Baking was our COVID hobby and we made scones and macarons. One thing I have to work on is planning what to eat for lunch during work days; this was probably the contributing factor causing my weight loss during COVID times.
Books: I have been consuming more audiobooks than reading books over the past year. Without the commute, I had to be more intentional about reducing TV/Movie time and increasing time spent on books.
TV: I cannot possibly overly express how much I love Ted Lasso. 
Writing: I've continued to write but much more in private (as you can see from the posts from this blog)

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the most important part of the past two years. I asked Vivian to marry me and she said yes! 

What's in store for 2022?

It will certainly be a year of change.

We will be moving to California (Bay Area). So we will have to participate in one of the worst things in life, moving. 

As with previous years, I continue to be more intentional, set proper enthusiasm/expectations, have strong opinions weakly held, set priorities, and continue to improve upon myself.

There is so much to be excited about and I'm looking forward to a defining year just like 2020/2021 were.