This one is a doozy yet again. It’s not quite my birthday yet, but just like last year I decided to take an extra day of time to really think about how my last year was. Let met just say from the jump that much of it also feels like a blur. I’m just going to throw some things on here and see if anything pops up. I think I’ll start with the biggest change I made this year which was to work on myself physically. It is by far what stands out for me the most.

This was the year where I decided to take my fitness seriously and honestly it was kind of easy because there wasn’t much else to do. 2021 was interesting because it let us think we could transition out of the pandemic. As someone writing in the future – we’re still fucking here. There isn’t as much fear and pandemonium. I think people are treating infection as an inevitability, rather than something to truly avoid. I think the vaccines made people feel braver. For me, it eased things up a little. You have to understand that prior to this everyone thought the virus was going to make people die. And die they did. I remember hearing something like we lost more people globally then we did fighting in world war 2. I’m not fact checking that but I will choose to believe it. I don’t really remember the first 4 months of 2021.

I remember that things were easing up and there could be a chance of traveling for the summer. So I just looked at a bunch of pictures from the beginning of 2021 and they were all related to work. That reminded me that I was still working from home until about the beginning of March. My job was desperately trying to open and get things back to the way they were. It didn’t quite feel that way but it was a compromise. I didn’t mind because honestly it gave me an excuse to not be home. Not that I didn’t enjoy being home, but I honestly think it was better for my own mind to have a separation of where I work and where I rest. I don’t really like getting up in the morning but we had an altered schedule for most of the 2021 school year that made it almost like going on a trip to work. I was okay with it since it meant that I’d still be getting paid and spending way less time working.

Besides this change I could see that it was becoming acceptable to see family again. I remember still being iffy about it. I felt more comfortable spending time with my roommate’s family since they were all testing regularly. I already knew they would be too many unknowns with my family and I mostly stayed distant. I’m looking at the pictures again and I realized I went to a basketball game. Come to think of it, I don’t think it was a very safe event. They did require proof of vaccination, but they spent all of 1 second looking at your card at the door. There’s no way they actually cared, but it worked out. Going to a game (not something I do often anyways), really made me feel like things were getting back to normal again. I think more than anything this was a feeling everyone was craving, even though this thing was still doing damage.

I remember this also being the time of investments. Everyone and their mom cared about stocks and was talking about crypto. It’s hilarious what can happen with a bunch of bored people with money to spend and nowhere to spend it. Now, I barely hear any talks about stocks or crypto whereas before my roommate and I were on constant watch. I remember TikTok being big for me in terms of my number 1 time killer. I’m not on it anymore. Not because I don’t want to kill time, but because I didn’t want to feel sucked in. I remember being able to celebrate my nieces b-day with her which was nice after not being able to do so the year before. And one of the biggest accomplishments of the year was going on vacation to Turks and Caicos. I never thought I was going there. I honestly didn’t even think I was going to travel anywhere. For context, at this time there were still some restricted travel places and the places you could travel to required some upfront work. Turks required travel insurance, a negative test 3 days before travel and approved travel authorization form. It was an amazing experience that I will remember forever.

After vacation, I also had some shock to the senses. I can’t discuss it further on here. Let me just say that I spent a lot of time reflecting and writing. It was kind of a dark place because I didn’t feel too hot and I’m not talking about virus symptoms. I had to take a step back and question everything I was doing and just proceed in a way I thought was appropriate. I managed to also book another trip! It was totally unexpected (again) but I remembered to take my friend up on an offer to visit her in Massachusetts, so I did! I spent almost two weeks out there and lived a life different from my own. It was a vacation but it felt kinda like a reunion. I hadn’t seen this friend in years and it was just cool to be part of their environment and get to know the area. I was able to finally see the Red Sox play in their stadium and it was cool to experience. It was something I’d thought I’d do with my dad and we were finally able to do it. I was also involved in many shenanigans with the transit system in Boston and that kinda made it memorable.

Everyone there was very kind to me and it was another experience I can take with me. Besides that, I got back home to hit the training again. I had started jump roping daily as part of a challenge I set with a friend. I had a personal trainer for a couple months to get kickstarted, and then I went off and became a (mostly) daily gym member. I started falling in love with the process and let me tell you it is exactly what I needed. When I say I needed it, I say it because it was key to my survival – mentally. I needed it because at times it was all I had and doing reps kept my mind off things. It created a buffer after work. I knew what I wanted to do and I made myself do it, each and every time. At first I just wanted to feel good in my own skin. Then I got that. Then I told myself that I wanted to be in the best shape of my life by 30. I think I got that. Now I’m just enjoying the ride and I’m not stopping. 30 is fast approaching but this is not where things go downhill. It’s up because it’s me. I’m in control.

Uploaded 2023