Tag: Pandemic

2020: The End and The Beginning

2020 was some kind of year. It had its ups and downs. It seemed like for every positive thing there were about 10 negative things. Not to mention that March to about August seemed to last about 20 years while August to December went by in the blink of an eye. But was 2020 all that bad? From my own personal experience, it really wasn’t. Sure some things got thrown off track because of Covid, but overall I did have a decent year.

My year started off amazing. I was in Colorado for our annual skiing trip. We went to Winter Park and spent a week skiing before returning home. It’s a trip I look forward to every year. Sadly we won’t be going this time around. Covid is to blame. But life will go on. We will return when it is safe to do so. In the meantime, we will jusy have to go skiing closer to home.

April took a dive downward. I wound up with Covid with the rest of my family. We all recovered from it, but it was definitely an experience I won’t forget. It was not fun. For me, it lasted for about 10 days. While I was fine enough to go outside and walk around the house, I didn’t leave the property. I was not going to put others at risk and it was a long time after I had it that I decided it was safe for me to even go to the store again.

2020 has opened the door to many new friendships as well. I’ve met a lot of awesome people through Discord and Twitch and many of them live a world away. If it wasn’t for Covid, there’s a good chance I never would of met any of these people. I was only able to meet them because I was stuck at home for 2 months and spent a good chunk of my time online.

August brought another sad moment. I had plans to go to Sweden in August but we cancelled that trip because of Covid. It was going to be my first international trip. It was going to be such an awesome experience and I was so excited. But safety comes first. And while we didn’t go, we plan to make up for it with a trip to Germany in September of 2021.

As the year came to a close I couldn’t help but smile at all the things I was still able to accomplish even with the world in a state of uncertainty. I continued to take classes and I spent 2020 learning German. I’m not completely fluent in it but Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch.

2020 was also the year where I was able to bring myself out of the massive debt hole I was in. I’m not 100% debt free, but I’m in a much better spot than I was 12 months ago and that alone calls for celebration. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to do it but I did. And I’m so happy I did. It feels like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders and I can’t wait to start 2021 in a much better place financially.

Along with all the chaos I also wrote a new LEGO animated film as well as created a new comic series. I’ve spent a decent amount of time doing creative things like that as well as video editing. I needed to keep busy and I definitely did with those projects.

I’m excited for 2021. The world might not be back to normal, but there’s plenty of things I want to accomplish. I want to film the short film I wrote and my new LEGO animation. I want to read at least one book a month. I want to do more video editing. There’s plenty I can do this year. All I have to do it set my mind to it.

A New Beginning

October 2020. 8 months after the beginning of the pandemic. Life is not what it once was. We live in a world of uncertainty. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring. We don’t know if this pandemic will ever end. And yet, we keep moving on. We keep fighting. We have hope that one day, life will return to normal. Is that even possible at this point? Can we go back to normal? Who knows.

This pandemic has exposed many of the flaws in our society. From health care issues to how the ultra rich can be comfortable while the rest of us struggle. It has showed us how divided we are. How entitled some of us are. How we believe wearing a mask is losing our rights when it’s really there to keep everyone safe and healthy.

The unknown scares us. We could have this pandemic another 2 months or another 2 years. But one thing is for sure, the pandemic has caused us to confront issues we didn’t before and as a result, things are slowly changing.

I have made some changes in my life as well. Partially because of the pandemic, partially because it was time. I’ve spent a majority of my life playing it safe. Not taking a risk for fear of failure or rejection. 2020 was the first year where I said, “Screw it! Let’s see what happens!”

It started when I changed my job in February. I left my current job of 4 years after they didn’t want to negotiate a pay raise. I had just worked 14 days in a row and felt I wasn’t being compensated fairly after a co-worker quit. They didn’t want to entertain the idea of a negotiation. So I left. I went somewhere closer to home that was going to pay me more and work me less than 14 days in a row. As it turns out, that was one of the smartest things I did.

Come March the pandemic hit and everything was shut down. I was at home from March-May and I got paid by my new job for the hours I would have worked. This came as a shock to me. I was only a part time employee and I had only been there a month. I’m grateful that they did pay me during lockdown. And it just shows that sometimes when you take a leap of faith it all works out for the better.

I went back to work in June and it’s been a bit of a struggle. Not for me personally, but for work. There are additional rules and regulations in place. Masks are required at all times. We have to constantly clean things. It isn’t anything overly complicated, but it is extra work. While I don’t expect to be compensated for it, I wouldn’t take this opportunity for granted. It has proven to be a wise decision to come here. And in time, I know things will work out in my favor. We are in a unique time. An era none of us have experienced. And I’m sure once this is over, the reward for sticking it out will be waiting. I just have to take that leap of faith once more.