The year of 37

 This year was especially good to me.  Things I'm blessed with:

• I saw my family, and spent quality time with them
• No one (or nearly no one) got COVID seriously or otherwise. I'm thankful for this everyday
• I had a job through the pandemic, when many didn't.  
• I had people to talk with, had activities to do every week, even when shut in during lockdowns
  

This year was a blessing for me, not because of all the things I had, but because of the essentials that were put in place by me, my friends and family, and God.  It's those essentials that keep you going when you wonder how you'll face another day in a small four walls, and with no real change or variety to lighten the days.  And we all know, there were some long days.  

And I still managed to accomplish some of my goals this year:

• Goals completed: 10/37
• Number of goals affected by pandemic (Aka. impossible to complete): 15

  There are some that are half-completed, and some goals/plans changed so much in the year I was 37 that it was hard to know what was worth completing, and what was better to just leave to the side. I'm sure most people felt this way: What to do? What to bother completing?  Does getting out of bed count as high functioning?  Yes, probably.

But I did accomplish a few things off my list, some of which I'm proud of:

 

• I spent time with Vita, my grandmother. I love her dearly, and it was hard to schedule and see her safely
• I worked on my financial investments this year.  They aren't anything exceptional, but it is good I am at least attempting to plan for the future
  
• I read over 10 books (I'm somewhere on book 26-7), and often non-fiction books and books on hard subjects that challenged me.  White fragility was probably the most thought provoking that I read.
  
• I planned to run a 10K, but since it got cancelled, I can at least say I run about 5-10K every week at a leisurely pace (yet another activity cancelled by the pandemic last year).
• I managed to do fun things with friends, even though most events and plans were cancelled

 37 was not exactly what I thought it would be. But overall, I'm happy with how the year went. A lot of good things happened, some not-so-good things, and some things that were surprises.

 

More than anything, I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that, yes, I am an adult, and I'm going to have to make adult decisions, some of which will be hard, and experience adult things, some of which will be difficult.  But life is a wide road, and though some experience have been shut off for all of us in the last two years, I still have a hope for a better future for younger generations.