We celebrate every New Year’s Eve with mad anticipation hoping that the year ahead is spectacular and magically somehow delivers everything we want (like as if it were just another Amazon type portal). However, a few days in and we discover, almost expectedly, that the year is no different from any other.
In that sense (and in every other as well), 2020 made certain to break the dull chain. It shook, rattled and rolled us…into possibly a more enlightened, if not, a new version of ourselves.
My story isn’t as dramatic or poignant as that.
It’s a simple one of deep gratefulness. For the things we once considered to be the bare basics. The people we had grown to take most for granted. And the lives we believed we had a birth right to.
My story is also one of realization. How little we really needed. How fleeting life was. How control was more a perception than a reality and how the frills and the extras were just that!
But my biggest moment of truth was realizing how, in our deepest moments of fragility, we discover our raison d’etre.
I believe I found mine in 2020!
My parents live back home in India and we live not too far away, in Dubai. We have always been a close-knit family so when we, like the rest of the world, couldn’t travel, we used every way to make this a fun time. Lockdown meant Pictionary and charades online, evening zoom chats, online birthday celebrations and quizzes and the works. It was a happy time. And yet despite being so joyfully connected, there was that underlying sense of fear that I could see brewing steadily in my parents. When would they see us again? What would happen if they were to get the virus and we couldn’t come? I could also hear their unspoken struggle with being house-bound and sense the frustration, boredom and vulnerability.
And my parents are fighters. They’ve always been one to adapt to any situation. Positive, strong and determined. And yet…2020 was slowly making its way into their minds. Repeatedly telling them they were on their own. And alone!
It was in that moment that I realized if my parents could feel like that, despite being active, positive, tech savvy and so connected to family, how lonely must those who didn’t have all that, feel. After all, 2020 was not like any other year. It was not only targeting our bodies but also our minds.
And just like that, something I had looked for my whole life, came to me like a flash of lightning and I knew what I must do.
I set up an online community for those 60 and over. A space where they can interact with other like-aged and like-minded people. Where they can share their talents and discover new ones. Where they can make new friends and bring along their old ones. A space that reminds them every single day, that they matter and they are not alone.
The Circle of Grey is a seed that has just been planted. We hope through this initiative; we will not just revive many a spirit but bring about a platform for change. We want our elderly to stand up again. To be seen. To be heard, to be looked up to, for their amazing wisdom and unparalleled grit. We want to give them a platform where they can re-discover purpose and renew their zest for life. We want them to be the New Age No Agers!
The most amazing thing in setting up the Circle of Grey is the overwhelming support I received.
When I mentioned the idea to some of my closest friends and the most talented, committed and big-hearted people I know, they jumped onboard, no questions asked, no demands made. Just united in the cause we all felt deeply for.
Today, we are a wonderful team of women from all over the world in all different streams of life. My co-founders are Ashwini Timblo Gupta, Dr. Dipali Prabhu, Sophia Gonsalves, Lakshmi Narayanan and my mum, Harriet Rego along with our amazing CONTENTment creators.
The brilliant and renowned Kay Denis and uber talented Deanna Menezes bring in the magic of Music, the erudite Dr. Dipali Prabhu has conversations related to our health in mind and body, Anna Kurian, a mastery artist brings art to life and the fun and enthusiastic, Candida Rego throws in regular challenges with our ‘games’ block.
We hope to grow in our offerings and make this space brim with the excitement of events, workshops and opportunities to teach, learn, share and just be!
We are in a war against loneliness and thanks to 2020, we are here to beat it!
Maria Menezes
Founder – Circle of Grey
If you would like to join the Circle of Grey, visit us here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2707544266178231
To write to us, email at talktous@circleofgrey.com
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/circle_of_grey/
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You’ve created a wonderful platform for the new agers no agers to be seen and celebrated. Thank you Maria for sharing your experience with us.