I have a note in my Notes App that I started in March of 2020. I just write on it. Beginnings of blog posts, posts, tweets, songs. Thoughts I want to not forget. Some get posted. Many don’t.
As this year that feels like three entered its last few hours, my husband was watching a football game. My dog was passed out, wrapped tight in her Thundervest because of revelers’ fireworks. And I was listening to a rebroadcast of the Avett Brothers’ NYE concert from last year while reading some of the things I've written on my note. In 2020, I wrote and published 12 blog posts on my Jenuine Thoughts blog. In 2021, I did it twice. I’ve started and stopped writing about how we need to stop trying to “get back to normal” and instead start working toward a better future no less than four times. I’m going to write that for real this year..
I don’t really know how to write about this year that’s ending. When a year that’s been marked by a traitorous insurrection, an interminable pandemic, campaigns of disinformation intended to sow hatred, distrust & polarization and bigotry that festers out in the open ends with the death of a national icon, what is there left to say? 2021 ended in much the same way 2020 ended: Spiking Covid numbers. Deniers denying. Believers believing. People fighting online.
It’s hard to feel excited and hopeful for a new year when things feel sort of hopeless. And yet, New Years is a time to do just that. Reflect on what you may have done in the past year. Feel hopeful for a better future. And so I will.
In no particular order, I learned new ways of eating and cooking. Walked and got back to in-person fitness classes. Read more books. Listened more and reflected more. A new dog entered our lives and quickly made herself at home, bringing with her boundless love and energy.
Some of my apps summed up the year in numbers for me. I met my GoodReads goal of 37 books. That’s almost 12,000 pages. According to Spotify, I listened to almost 12,000 minutes of music. And listened to my “most listened to song” 203 times. Last week, I logged into MyFitnessPal for the 3000th day in a row. My watch says I logged 481 workouts in 2021.
As I look at my "Second a Day" video for the year, it might be missing some of the people of past years, but it still tells the story of a life well-lived. A year that brought me my dog, time at home with my husband that I wouldn’t trade for anything, introduced me to Ted Lasso, a vaccine that made the future seem a bit brighter and saw countless stories of people helping people isn’t a total wash. It’s really just life. I mean, even on Little House, during tough times, Pa still played his fiddle at night, right?
And so here’s what I look forward to in ’22. An end to the pandemic (or at least its becoming endemic and something we learn to coexist with), connection with friends, back deck bonfires, workouts, and so many more books. Puzzles and Legos to build, time with my family and music to play, sing and listen to.
Writing about 2021 and what to look forward to in 2022 has been tough, something I’ve been playing with in my head for a couple of days. At the same time, I’ve been stumped trying to think of my “One Word” for 2022. Last year, it was “enough,” the year before that, “strength.” What “one word” is the one that can help guide me as I move into this new year? And after a day of thinking about this, I’ve decided it’s simply this: Be.
