2020 Reflections; 2021 Resolutions

A few weeks ago I came across this prompt via an Instagram post from my church: what are the hidden gifts of 2020?

I love thought-provoking questions like this because it gives me the opportunity to stop and reflect on what I learned in 2020 (as crappy as it was) and how I can continue to grow in 2021.

This is by no means comprehensive, but here’s my list of 2020 hidden gifts:

• First and foremost, I’m incredibly thankful for the friends I’ve kept in touch with in the age of social distancing. There were also friends I got closer to in this season, and I have the pandemic to thank for that. Early on in quarantine I saw this tweet that stuck with me: “The virus doesn’t change who your friends are, it reveals who your friends are.” This has felt true, mainly in the sense that in the absence of anything interesting happening, it has been fun to see who I’ve gotten to know better. At the same time, I’ve talked less to my friends with young kids because they’ve needed to spend more time with their families, but I know it doesn’t mean I’m any less of a friend.
• In the same vein, I have appreciated consistency in community this past year. In particular, my church small group went from physically meeting 2x / month to virtually meeting 2x / week, which I know sounds crazy but was really nice during this time. For several months I also had a weekly (virtual) game night with some friends that was great for social connection as well as stress relief (although some games gave me more stress…).
• Life has felt more communal this year: in 2020 I’ve had more food dropped off by more friends (and vice versa) than, well, ever. That’s been meaningful because I’ve never had to cook and clean this much in my life.
• Realizing what a gift it is to see people in person, versus on a screen. I still remember the first time I organized in-person volleyball when the rules loosened up a bit, and how happy I was just to see people. I’m glad that feeling hasn’t gone away as it’s easy to take for granted.
• Discovering new quarantine hobbies like hiking and chess…and more importantly, having friends who also enjoy hiking and chess. I have never hiked so much in my life, and I definitely wouldn’t have hiked as much on my own. I’ve also been obsessed with chess ever since a friend challenged me to a match this summer…it’s been really fun to learn something new, although I need to be careful to not spend too much time on it…
• Rediscovering my love of playing piano. Growing up I played it for ~10 years, but since I haven’t had a piano for the recent past I haven’t really touched a piano. Ever since acquiring an awesome piano a little over a month ago, though, I have loved playing on it and can’t wait to actually learn new pieces (fingers crossed!).

With regard to new year’s resolutions, I always like making them even though I usually fail. Will this year be different? I don’t know, but I want to at least try…and who knows, maybe blogging about it will help keep me accountable.

So, here goes my short list of 2021 resolutions:

1. Learn new skills:
   • biking with clips (or equivalent)
   • take >= 2 MasterClasses (since I got a membership…)
   • learn >= 2 new piano pieces
2. Blog weekly, even if it’s short.
3. Track my workouts. I’m glad that I’ll be tracking this with a couple friends via a shared spreadsheet…the idea is that we can spur one another on when there’s a lack of progress.

In addition to this I’m planning on having monthly challenges, similar to the no dessert Januaries I’ve done in the past. Since I’m doing a screen time challenge in January I’ll plan to have no dessert in February (and possibly all of Lent). I’m thinking I need a couple more resolutions that I won’t write about here, but feel free to ask me if you’re curious.