2021 - a year to make up for the last one?
This time last year, I made a list of resolutions. One of them was to (finally) write a book. Check.
I can’t even remember the rest of them. They were forgotten by late-March, when it became clear that 2020 just wasn’t happening.
We all finished the year feeling like we’d missed out. OK, that’s an understatement - we pretty much lost an entire year of our lives, like some weird nightmare combined with long-term amnesia. We panicked, stayed home and washed our hands a lot, and the next thing you knew it was December.
Even though Taiwan managed to protect the country from Covid, keeping us all safe and free to live our lives in relative normalcy, we still felt the impact. For me, this was mainly in the form of anxiety, constant worry about friends and family in other parts of the world, the health of loved ones, and the toll this was taking on their mental health. On a much lower level, it was being unable to travel. I came to Taiwan with a huge list of places in Asia that I wanted to visit - I made it to exactly four places before the pandemic hit.
But amidst the gloom, lots of good stuff happened too. I won’t list them all here, and I think more articulate people than me have described the bright side of the crisis, but I’m left with an overwhelming feeling of going back to basics. Re-learning to appreciate the small things, and each other. Maybe being kinder? More patient? Time will tell.
Even though I missed out on some of my big resolutions, I hit lots of smaller, unexpected ones. I formed some quality friendships, and spent time catching up with old friends (which I’m normally RUBBISH at doing). I probably spent more time talking with my family, too - albeit on a small screen. Possibly for the first time ever, I recognised my own anxiety and took steps to address it. It made me hopeful that, after this is over, we’ll all be better equipped to talk about mental wellbeing.
My ultimate highlight was Igor. Not just spending more time together (we went from spending one week per month together to hanging out for the last 300 days consecutively. Not that we’re counting). And not just spending more time together, but really appreciating him. Quality as well as quality. Anyway, enough of the mushy stuff.
So what’s on the cards for 2021? Who knows, frankly, at this point. I’m hoping to write another book - at least to finish a first draft by the end of the year. More than that, I’m hoping that I’ll get to see my family at some point. The thing I’m most excited about right now is the prospect of seeing my loved ones not living in constant fear. I have a couple of life goals, but they’re more vague ideas than concrete plans. 2020 taught me to adapt, adjust my expectations, and learn to accept that there are many things I can’t change. At this point, I’m not sure that this year will make up for the last one. But how I handle it - how I adjust my plans and whether I choose to appreciate things all the same - I know now, that’s down to me.
