My 2020 in Retrospect
Updated: Feb 2, 2022
My first year in review blog post! One of my goals of starting a blog is to document my life to look back on, and oh boy what a year to start with. 2020 has definitely come with a lot of challenges but also some blessings and valuable refreshers. Below are my 2020 take-aways:
A new relationship with fitness
Gyms closed down in March so I didn't have my source of preferred fitness anymore (It's not the same to do Zumba virtually). My housemates and I started doing pilates three times a week to get some exercise in since we were all working remotely and barely moving. It was fun doing these YouTube home work-outs and learning about pilates together so it almost felt like an actual group fitness class!
In June I wanted to challenge myself so I started to do Blogilate's Summer Sculpt Challenge by myself where I was working-out six times a week, for about 30 minutes a day, for a month. After a month of consistently working-out almost everyday, I felt myself get stronger and lost some weight! Soon afterwards I started doing some Chloe Ting challenges but eventually went back to Blogilates and to this day I follow her monthly calendar six times a week.
Now that getting my daily work-out is a habit, I actually feel guilty if I don't do some form of exercise. I am learning to appreciate my body more and what it is capable of rather than focusing on how it looks. I don't have to conform to society's standard of beauty and I know that I am doing my body good. I even have some upper body strength now and can do some push-ups! (My quarantine goal was to do one push-up). Another great thing about working-out almost everyday is that it's helping me sleep and keep a routine. Before working-out six times a week, my sleeping schedule was all over the place and I was sleeping at like 3-4am. I am grateful for this engrained habit and for my work-out buddies for helping me stay consistent (Mo, Chris, Rachel, and Adrienne)!
Being kinder to myself
This year had a lot of anxious moments and I felt the need to be productive with all of this extra time. Well for the months of March and April I was primarily playing Animal Crossing to escape the chaos of the world. After the Animal Crossing addiction broke, I felt a lot of guilt for not using my time more "wisely" and for not improving on my skills. However I was mentally exhausted, the unknown of the future constantly weighed on me, and the reading about the state of the world drained me.
I confined in my close friends my about my anxieties and quickly realized that I was not alone. It helped me realized that this year is like no other, we are in a pandemic for goodness sake! We should not be putting the same expectations we would have during a normal year and we should be focusing on surviving. It's okay to push our goals further out and focus on self-care, whatever that may look like for you. Less negative self-talk and pessimistic thoughts!
I did manage to pick up a few new hobbies. I was not as productive or efficient as I wanted to be, but I am thankful for the progress I have made despite the mental toll of a pandemic.
More time with my family
Being work-from-home, I got to spend a lot more time with my family than I would be able to in a normal year. I got to be home for my aunt's birthday, my birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and other notable dates in-between. This period of time is probably the most time I spent at home since I moved out for college over seven years ago. My 25th birthday was my first time being home for my birthday in seven years!
This pandemic really made me re-order my priorities and I realized that I need to spend more time with my loved ones. It was so nice to be there with my family for the important dates and it helped put my mental health at ease knowing that we're all helping to take care of each other. So I am grateful for all of this additional time with my family that I normally wouldn't be able to get.
Maintaining friendships virtually
Friendships have taken a different form this year, primarily through a screen. I consider myself an introvert, but I really missed my friends and surprisingly started craving social interactions. I really value my friendships but this year made me even more appreciative of my friends. I was touched whenever I received a message checking-in on me, asking for a video call, asking to play Animal Crossing, when my friends would drop by my house to (socially distant) drop off birthday presents for me, or to have a rare socially distant lunch with me (before the number of cases surged).
Some things that my friends and I did to keep in touch during these weird times is I started a book club with my graphic design college friends (we've read three books together so far, moving on the fourth!), had a virtual Friendsgiving with my home friends, monthly video check-ins, Summer painting in the park, Summer picnics, lots of Netflix parties, and long calls over Animal Crossing.
I may not be able to see a majority of my friends in-person, but I definitely feel the love and I feel socially fulfilled in many ways. Thank you friends.
A new view of social media
My relationship with social media has definitely changed this year. I reflected on why I would post and what my intentions were. My social media feed has been really dry this year since I typically like to use social media as documentation of my adventures and what I'm up to... But we're in quarantine. I didn't feel the need to share a portion of my day on Snapchat or anymore and I didn't post often to Instagram or Facebook anyways. I kind of enjoy this new type of privacy and not letting everybody know what I've been up to. It's not really any of their business and those who are close to me will care to find out. I don't have anything to prove and I don't really care for social media clout. It also made me realize how lame and irrelevant social media clout is. It's really toxic and life is so much more than social media.
I observed the social media activity of my peers and some influencers, and I was shocked by some of the recklessness during a global health crisis that people are putting out there for the whole internet to see. Least to say, there was definitely some unfollowing and muting. Luckily though, most of my friends are super responsible with deep empathy so I didn't have to unfollow someone in my inner circle. Cutting out the bad energy and embracing the positive energy.
Never take anything for granted
The saying "You never know what you have until its gone" has never been truer than this year. Restaurants closed down, traveling is dangerous, all of the live-music events got canceled, you can't see your friends regularly, everywhere you go there is a risk. You got to have these big life events every once in a while so you can appreciate the little things and realize how fragile life is. 2020 has definitely been one of the wake-up call life moments and the year in finding joy in the small things.
I am grateful for the restaurants that are still open for take-out so I tip generously so they can hopefully survive the pandemic. I am grateful to my friends who insist on wearing masks the whole time we socially distant hang-out because they care about my safety. I am grateful for my kitchen that allowed me to try cooking some of my favorite foods myself. I am grateful for all of the DJ live-streams during quarantine that promotes people staying home and helping people stay sane while indoors. I am grateful for the essential and healthcare workers who continue to work during a global health crisis, putting their own health at risk so society can still function.
I took forward to the day when a majority of the population is vaccinated so we can eat at restaurants, go on planes without worry, see our favorite artists in concert, and hug our loved ones. Thankful for the reminder to appreciate the little things.
Things will never be the same
2020 is going to go down in the history books not only because of pandemic, but it is also going to be remembered as a civil rights movement. The news was distressing and bleak for quite some time, but I believe that it was necessary because we need change. I'm glad that racial injustice and inequality is getting national and even global attention so we can move forward in racial equality. It is going to take time for sure and we can all do better in educating ourselves in being better allies and re-checking our biases. Progress is being made and we are on our way!
But in terms of the pandemic, I think mask wearing while sick will be more normalized (or at least I'm gonna start doing it even when we don't have to wear masks anymore), people will be washing their hands more, more usage of hand sanitizer, people will be standing further apart in public, there will be more work-from-home options, lots of relationships has been strained during quarantine, many lives were lost, we're going to have a new presidential administration, yeah things are going to be different after the pandemic.
Counting my blessings
This pandemic really made me acknowledge my privilege. I am extremely lucky. My family always told me how fortunate I am to live and be born in the US but I didn't really recognize how good I had it until I got older and this pandemic. I didn't get laid off, I have health insurance, didn't have to worry about my finances, I have a place to live, definitely not going hungry, easily transitioned to work-from-home life, can afford to order delivery, that I am an introvert so I really enjoy my alone time, I got to save money from not traveling or going to events, never got sick, my loved ones are healthy, basically my life didn't have to halt.
This point also ties in with never taking things for granted. I am not going to complain about not being able to eat out, or go to events, or go on vacations, or being able to physically see my friends because I am so lucky in many ways.
A hopeful future
I am optimistic that things will get better. The vaccine is getting rolled out, we will cherish our loved ones more, we will be able to travel again, we are moving closer to racial equality, we will be able to go back to our new "normal" lives. My prediction is that we can get back to "normal" life again in either late 2021 or early 2022.
That's my 2020 for ya :) I hope 2021 will be a better year for you. Stay safe out there.
Until next time my friend,
Amanda ^_^
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