Rose-colored glasses were hard to wear in 2020. Too much was happening all at once, between the pandemic, the elections, natural disasters and all of the personal issues we struggled with. It seemed like there wasn’t even time to put them on.
They aren’t even rose-colored anymore. They’re a dingy brown, like lenses covered in dust you can’t seem to wipe off.
We’ve had rioters storm the capitol, we’ve experienced one of the warmest winters I’ve seen in the Pacific Northwest and we saw a revolution ran by Redditors against the stock market. I was hopeful when the new year turned around, but so far 2021 has come nowhere close to passing the vibe check.
My goals in 2020 were trying to get back into long lost hobbies, making time for myself and being able to finish at least one book without losing interest by the end of the year.
In 2021, my goals consist of not falling behind on homework before I get a month into the semester, eating at least two meals a day and being right on time for any appointments I have.
I’ve failed all three, it’s time to set new goals.
With the majority of my classes being in-person this semester I’ve found that the 20 minutes it takes me to walk to class is precious. Multitasking seems inevitable with the mountain of tasks presented to me.
I figure if I can walk and chew bubblegum, I can walk and write up the last bit of an article. Write? Talk-to-text has been a new favorite tool of mine when it comes to multitasking. I used to think cooking was hard until I started cooking and participating in Zoom meetings at the same time.
All of a sudden I find myself grateful for all the mom’s out there, including my own, who has a toddler writhing around their feet screaming about how they want macaroni and cheese instead of chicken nuggets.
2020 was stressful because we were all learning how to navigate through a pandemic while trying to vote, deal with hurricanes and fires, protests and riots, keeping jobs and finding new ones and paying rent or buying food. That’s just a few obstacles we worked through.
We know how to deal with these things in 2021. We’ve practiced emotionally processing the constant big, bad news. We know how to be flexible with schedules. Dealing with a lack of a social life has become easier. Learning how to use technology is a little more straightforward.
The stressful things in 2021 have become the little things, even more than what they were in 2020. The things that could be pushed aside and dealt with later, like the laundry that rotates from the basket to the floor, through the wash and back to the basket – no folding involved.
If going through 2020 was walking across the tallest dunes in a sandstorm with only a rope to follow, 2021 is like finding out you’ve been going the opposite direction you thought you were the whole time.
Despite all the differences between this year and last, I’m grateful to have been moving forward at all. Even if I’m looking through dingy brown glasses.
Anteia McCollum can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @antxiam5.