What would you tell yourself back in January?

I sometimes spend my isolated weekend going through my photos from when I was in junior high all the way up until the past couple months. It is surprisingly an effective time-sink activity when you have lots of free time, like I have now. One time, I stopped at my photos from January of this year (2020) when I spent two weeks in Hawaii, looked that my past self, and told that person "the world that you know it will change completely in just over a month." 

Me on top of Koko Head, one of the nicest place to hike in Hawaii

What would you tell yourself back in January? 

I thought about this question a lot recently after watching a Youtube video about it. Obviously I cannot tell my past self what exactly is going to happen since that might have an unforeseen consequence that is too difficult to deal with when you messed with the past. 

I think I would say: 

• Pleas clean up your room more often since you will be staying in it way more time than you thought you ever would. If you could, getting couple more furnitures, like chairs, might be the best thing you can buy right now."

• Please go exploring even more. Although it will be cold in January and the spring is coming soon, just do it and do not take it for granted that freely exploring cities even the city that you are currently living will be possible all the time. Just like the quote that you love said "Do whatever you want to do tomorrow today."

• Maybe pick up some new hobbies that you can enjoy when you have free time indoor. Ok, this one is probably not going to happen for me personally since I know myself too well and simply picking up a new hobby cannot just happen right away even when my future self show up and tell me to do so. 

• You might think that this year you will be traveling as much as you did in the past couple years. You don't. In fact, your Hawaii trip is probably your first and last traveling trip this year. It might sound surprising since you already had planned to go back home during spring break, touring Vietnam during that time, attending European conferences in the summer, and giving job talks in the fall. Again, you don't. But don't feel disappointed yet. I know you love traveling (since I am you), but you will get through this. Traveling is not everything. You will have much more time in the summer to hang out with friends that you don't usually have time to both online/offline.

• 2020, at first, might sound like it is going to be a great year at the beginning. It could still be. Just don't be afraid that many of your plans will be cancelled. They are just plans. You can easily create a new one. Oh, one good news from this year is that Parasite became the first non-English film to win the Best Picture for Oscar. My most favorite quote from the movie is "With no plan, nothing can go wrong." Even though it is the best quote, I still don't believe in it. Instead, I will give you another quote: "If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail[1]". That's a better quote. 

Now, my past self would be super curious about what will happen in couple months. Don't worry too much about it. You will get through this. 

You have to. 

[1]: Quote by Benjamin Franklin