2020: A Year in Review

It’s been a year.

Of course, it has actually been a year – 365 days. It has also been a year – an emotional rollercoaster. This ride had so many ups and downs, twists and turns that we got off, braced ourselves on any nearby stationary object, shook our heads, and tried to remember who and where we were, what the heck had just happened, and how we ended up here. Did I even want to go on this ride? (The answer: Likely a hard no.)

As the year changed and the anniversary of quarantine’s beginning approached, I thought about 2020. People are constantly saying on TV, on social media, in conversation what an awful year it was; and I thought, “Was it really, though? For me, personally, day-to-day, was it a completely awful year?”

So I dug a little deeper.

I looked back from start to finish. I used my planner and did some analysis as I flipped through each day, week, and month. (Mind you, this was not an overly sophisticated process: I did it on my daughter’s construction paper because it was the handiest piece of scrap paper I had at the time.) I wrote the bullet points and the highlights of each month until I had a bird’s eye view of the past year’s actions and accomplishments.

What I found: 2020 wasn’t just one thing. It was all the things, and maybe that is why it felt so overwhelming for so many people. Maybe, like me, they rode that rollercoaster through all of the ups and downs, twists and turns that came so quickly it was hard to catch their breath to scream or settle the weird “losing your stomach” feeling before the next direction change came.

Nonetheless, I also think it is easy to lose sight of the fact that there were ups, and some of those twists and turns took us in much healthier, more productive directions.

For all of the time we spent indoors, inside our homes, inside our heads, we weren’t stagnant. We kept moving. And that, friends, counts for a heck of a lot in my book – especially when moving forward (or even sideways) feels like it is taking more effort than we thought we had left to give.

So what did my 2020 look like? Well, it wasn’t all puppy dogs and rainbows or even sunshine and roses. I can tell you that. Like most, I had my share of the less desirable aspects of the year. Also, it took at least a year to gain this perspective (my personal shit-storm started in late 2019), but this exercise helped me find it.

I highly recommend you do the same and see how your year really was, not the year as told by the media or Covid-19. Maybe you will find that it was, in fact, an awful, no-good year…then again, you might find that it wasn’t so bad after all.

Here is the bird’s eye view of my 2020.

How did I spend my time, and what brought peace and joy to my life?

Writing: Freelancing and some writing for myself
In the Kitchen: Cooking, meal prepping, and baking both new and tried-and-true recipes
Cleaning: So. Much. Cleaning.
Doing Crafts: I made dog beds, table runners, and wreaths.
With My Daughter: From outside time, dance parties, dress up, making edible play dough, finger painting, and coloring to Mommy & Me workouts and walks outside
Entertainment: A huge thank you to Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Disney+ for helping us distract ourselves, save our sanity, travel, have adventures, and “get out” from the safety of our living room; to my mom and my sister for recommending the Hoopla and Libby apps that connected to my St. Louis Public Library card and brought to life the audiobooks that helped me “read” more books than I would have otherwise had time to; and podcasts, so many podcasts that made me laugh, learn, think, and feel seen and understood.
Connecting: Phone dates, FaceTime, and a few socially distant visits with friends and family
Finally Venturing Out: Family drives, visits to the zoo and the pumpkin patch

What did I accomplish?

Paid Off Debt: Dave Ramsey, be proud.
Got Published: On Her View From Home and in a WAC academic journal (Perseverance pays off – This gem was 7 years in the making.)
Started a New Job
Audited Yale’s The Science of Well-Being: My inner Rory Gilmore was in heaven. Take it, you won’t be sorry.
Webinars on podcasting and travel agency because why not?

What did I learn?

Transcription and Tutoring
A TikTok routine with my sister as a gift for our mom on Mother’s Day
Compartmentalizing
The true value of a strong support system
I don’t like to ask for help.
My childhood uniquely prepared me for a pandemic.
This is not new: Watching TV shows from 30-40 years ago confirmed that we’ve been talking and worrying about the same things as a society for much longer than we’d like to think. We are not quick learners.
My husband can cut my hair. Oh yes, it happened.