We are officially at the halfway point of 2020. When we kicked off the roaring twenties, I didn’t think we’d see a worldwide pandemic, massive wildfires, a watershed moment in the BLM movement, nor as of this past week, a YouTube reckoning culminating in Dramageddon 3. Don’t even get me started on that whole mess.
The things I set out to do seem so meager in the wake of all of this, but I think all I can do is just keep plugging away and doing the next right thing.
I’m going to go over the progress I’ve made this month, and then assess how I want things to change or move forward in the six months to come. I have an idea or two churning in my brain, but there are other things that I need to work through in this space.
Strap on your swimsuits, kids, because we’re gonna dive in now!
1. Read 52 books – I have made it through one and a half books this month. I am unimpressed with myself.
2. Do pull ups – I have made it back to the gym! My gym is open and I can start practicing again… and as predicted, I am back at square one. Drat. I am bummed but will get back to it.
3. Spend LESS. TIME. SCROLLING – I feel like I may have made a dent in this! I didn’t bring my phone with me EVERYWHERE this month, and I ended up deleting Twitter from my phone. Just in the past month I feel like it brought me more exhaustion than joy. I still have a ways to go, but I feel so much better this month.
4. Write 104 Blog Posts – Nailed it. Crushed it. Gonna keep crushing it.
5. Romantic trip with Aaron from Dec. 26 2020 – Jan. 2 2021 – Great news! Even if our cruise gets cancelled because of COVID, my mom says she will reallocate that money into a different vacation for us to take as a family somewhere in Florida. We’ll social distance and wear masks and order room service if we need to, but no matter what, Aaron and I will have a great beach week to end the year. And boy golly, we will have earned it.
6. Stop engaging in schadenfreude – This was an interesting month for internet schadenfreude. I checked in on one of the influencers I made a point to not monitor this year and I was happy to see she was living mostly quietly and not engaging in self-sabotage. I didn’t re-follow her accounts, but I did check in on her. I don’t know if the aforementioned Dramageddon 3 counts as internet schadenfreude, because I don’t know how much joy I find in the betrayal, anger, jealousy, and potentially criminal behavior. If it counts, I know I will indulge in this as a hopefully full-circle moment. If things ESCALATE, I hope that all the internet gossip (again, I don’t like thinking of criminal behavior as “tea” or “scandalous” when criminals should be in jail) just comes out at once and we can start to rebuild. I genuinely think this past week and the upcoming month will be another watershed moment of sorts, only within the YouTube community. I think some parts of the community will break down entirely and have to start to rebuild.
7. Take better care of my skin – I got a sunburn this weekend. I was a full on lobster. And yet, I feel like my acne scarring isn’t as prominent. Progress!
8. Go stargazing – Our curfew has been lifted as of this month! According to this article, there will be three astronomical events this month. I want to see at least one!
9. Get a new job – I felt super fatigued at work this month. I still have my current job and I don’t know if I’m going to get this one finished this year, no matter how ready I feel to move on to the next big thing. A pandemic isn’t the best time to not have a job, or look for a new one.
10. Do a handstand – Back at the gym means back at the wall! I’ve started to move forward with this resolution. I’ve been doing L-stands at the gym to get my sense of balance and the feeling of my whole weight in my palms and shoulders.
11. Go see two of my favorite performers – On the plus side, Hamilton is streaming, with the original cast, on Friday July 3rd. So at least I will finally get to see it. That said, between performing artists and an apparent Broadway blackout until the end of the year, I will not get this resolution completed. I am disappointed, but not beating myself up about it.
12. Lose weight – Progress is being made. That’s all I’ll say.
13. Give Aaron a great 26th birthday – As of now, we have plans to go to Disney on Aaron’s birthday! I’ve bought one present for him already, and I know my mom and sister have, too. I told his parents a good gift idea. His parents are coming to town to cook him his birthday dinner. I’m already excited for him.
14. Be a better friend, wife, sister, daughter and granddaughter – I had a good month with my friends this month, save for a facetime chat that all my friends forgot about until three days after our planned chat date. Aaron and I are stronger than ever. I love him so much. I had a great time with my sister and my mother this weekend, and my dad and I caught up over the phone twice this month. I spoke to my grandfather on the phone two weeks ago briefly, but I didn’t speak to my grandmother. On top of that, I found out this past week that because of a spike in cases, I can no longer go to NY to see my grandparents in July. It hurts my heart. I need to talk to them more.
15. Be happy – This month had a lot of highs and lows. I felt very happy some days, and very drained on others. I want to feel less of the latter in the upcoming months.
Here are some thoughts I have about improving my progress on these resolutions:
- If I don’t love a book two days in, I stop reading it and find something I’ll actually like reading.
- Call my grandparents twice a month, email my grandfather once.
- Assuming the world returns to normal, I will see four live shows next year, either standup, concerts, or Broadway/National Tours.
- Focus on my arm/strength training to build up my ability to pull myself up and hold myself up in a handstand and a pull up.
- Do the next right thing. I think that’s the 2020 mantra.
Six months down, six months to go!