Reflections on 2020: A Year at Home

Before I started this, I looked back at my final post for 2019. I also looked back at my Goals for 2020.

This time last year, my one hope for 2020 was that it would be a proactive year (as opposed to the crisis-after-another of 2019), and my one Goal was simply to continue doing what I love (crafting/reading/etc).

It’s quite safe to say I’ve done a lot of the things I love, aided by the pandemic and the stay-at-home order combined with being fully furloughed for two months. And, despite the external complications, work has been reasonably proactive, without the internal crises that so exacerbated 2019. If only some of the external complications had been a bit more proactive…

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The main thing I’ve learned from 2020 is that I was right: being at home, working from home, suits me. It reduces my stress levels for all sorts of reasons, including reducing the normal stresses of work. I don’t know when we’ll return to the office – as with all plans this year, anything we do think is subject to change, though perhaps the vaccine will help with that. Not, of course, that I’ll be getting it any time soon, given that I’m not in a priority group.

I didn’t manage to complete all of my unfinished cross-stitch projects – the map still looks accusingly at me whenever I reach for something else – but I think my card-making skills have improved. And it’s been nice to cook again. I haven’t, much, for the last few years, but since I’ve been home, I’ve used the kitchen more often, both for experimentations and the usual recipes.

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And my TBR pile remains, as ever, rather towering. I think I only managed to read a couple from it: there were just too many others which I found or was recommended or given or generally distracted by. Never mind.

All things considered, though, I’ve found 2020 to be quite calming, which I know is a bit odd for the Year of the Pandemic.