End of year reflection

2020 has been the worst year of my life. Hands down.

Just 365 days ago, Jaruwan and I were exploring Malaysia, walking around Bukit Bintang, and eating Australian beef.

Life was wonderful. I was planning to learn Thai, and I applied to an academy. I got admitted, and after two years in long-distance, things seemed to get better.

Then the pandemic spread, and it changed everything.

I lived alone for almost three months in Kuala Lumpur, thinking that the nightmare was going to pass quickly. It didn't, and I was obliged to go back to Barcelona.

My flight changed dates, and I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to fly back to my country. I remember that, after the flight was rescheduled, I needed to book an apartment for the remaining days in Kuala Lumpur. When I arrived at the new apartment, and I was waiting for the host, the security guard told me that I couldn't rent it because of the pandemic.

"Do you want me to sleep on the street, then?" I asked him.

I went back to Barcelona on an empty plane. When I arrived back home, things got worse. My grandmum passed away because of the virus, and we couldn't say goodbye to her. She died alone at the hospital.

I began to feel more and more depressed. Lockdown made things even worse.

The pandemic was out of control. Every prognostic was pessimistic, the number of cases was growing, the economy was crashing, and more people were dying; what a year.

In summer, I decided to do something to feel better, and I began to write what I was learning daily. Since 8th August, I have published a daily article on this site.

Traffic has peaked at ~7000 sessions per month, and I'm happy if some of the articles here are helping developers around the world.

In 2020, I've launched two new applications: Tiempone and ChronLabs. Even if I can't still make a living as an indie developer, I feel like I'm making progress as a software engineer.

This week, the vaccine has arrived in Spain, and I'm feeling more optimistic over the last weeks.

Summarizing, 2020 is a year to forget. In 2021, I only wish to be able to ship code, publish articles, and that I can go back to live with Jaruwan.