As I continue to navigate and find my new normal, many things have changed and I have encountered new opportunities since the last time I blogged. To recap, I spent last semester blogging as a way for me to discover a “new normal” for myself amongst all the craziness that the year 2020 had brought. One thing I am extremely passionate about is my feelings. Expressing myself seems impossible at times, but when tasked with writing them out they usually end up flowing and piecing themselves together. This semester I plan to contine to share my experiences and emotions as a freshman in college, and hopefully I get to anwser more of the endless questions I have about my future.
We all shouted “5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Happy New Year!” All hopefull for a year that looks a little more similar to times before the pandemic started. I did a lot of thinking as the year came to a close. Overall, the year 2020 will go down in history books as one of the worst years ever as to what we know of so far. Our world and “normal” as a society has entirely altered and flipped upside down. Through all of the chaos, I still would like to believe that there was some sort of good that came out of this year. In my opinion, 2020 gave society a chance to take a step back and maybe even reflect on ourselves. Before the outbreak of Covid 19 hit, I felt like everything and everyone was always in a rush. Constantly rushing through life fufilling our daily routines on repeat. It taught us that nothing is guarenteed and to not take the little things for granted. I took for granted the opportunity of getting to visit and see my loved ones, and even going to school or work. Normal everyday things are now seen as a risk to everyone’s health. Unfortunately, there were many restrictions on activites, events, and places we could go. Although the bad, this reminded me of all the things I lost touch with. For example, going outside, taking walks, spending time with my family, and the important things that made me realize how important life is.
Regaining my focus on what is really important helped me plan out how I wanna go through with my “new years resolutions.” I wouldn’t call these resolutions, rather reminders for myself that I learned throughout 2020 that I wanna continue to do:
- Enjoy everythimg in the moment
- Live for myself, not for others
- Stop comparing myself
- Do what makes me happy
- Go on little adventures
I hope to continue these goals and find my way not only though this semester, but in my future.
I think 2020 has been a chaotic mess for everyone. Normalcy got tossed out the window and your post definitely hits on a lot of points that I agree with. Even though it sucks that we’re limited to a somewhat virtual world with COVID-19, I’m still grateful for the lessons it has taught us about not taking things for granted and the value of spending time with our loved ones. Life is short, but we can make tremendous impact in that time if we try and persevere to the best of our abilities. I also want to stop comparing myself and live for myself in 2021.
I love this post, and I completely relate to the emotions that you described. It’s so true that everyone took life for granted before the pandemic, and that once Covid hit, everyone really had to take a step back and take a breath. Like you, I also found that the quarantine helped me to get back in touch with myself and with all of the things that I had been slacking on, like going outside for walks and spending time with my family. I really like how simple your list of personal reminders is, because those little things truly have such a huge impact. I think it’s great that you learned so much in 2020, and that you’re able to find the good things in life, even during a global pandemic.
I feel like I can really relate, and probably a lot of other people who are in our shoes can too! Despite wanting 2021 to magically be a “normal” year and to forget about 2020, I agree that 2020 was not all bad. At least for me I feel like it was full of highs to accompany the lows we all experienced, and I want to focus on those more. I agree with and think that your list of “resolutions” is a great way to start 2021 and our next semester at Penn State. I am looking forward to reading more about you over this coming semester!