2020 Showed me what I Need For 2021

2020 actually saved me.

Sure, it was a bad year. Horrible. But personally, it was actually a very productive year. And it showed me that I need just a tad of "2020" in my 2021. Why the heck would I want that? Well, let me tell you:

Fall semester of 2019, I was killing myself. Unintentionally, of course, but nonetheless...I was running myself into the ground faster than a Russian racehorse.

It had to be the roughest semester yet. I was beginning my sophomore year at Lansing Community College, and all I was doing was going to class, working, homework, sleep, repeat. I work at the college, too, so I would be there all day and work late until close.

It was all such a blur that I can't even remember what classes I was taking. All I remember is the feeling of permanent exhaustion. I would wake up cross eyed and go all day only to realize at 10:00 pm I hadn't eaten all day. I could barely keep myself awake trying to read the sixty page chapters in my human nutrition textbook.

By some miracle, I finished fall semester with decent grades. My health was suffering. I was going through waves of either rapid weight loss or weight gain, and I kept on getting sick with colds. Come Spring, the next three months were set up to be an exhausting repeat. But as you know, come March, Michigan officially shut down and dove into quarantine mode.

While others were struggling to figure out their work and school situations, let alone what the heck they were supposed to do with their kids, I was finally beginning to--what do they call it-- "live my best life."

You mean I can't make any more appointments I don't want to make? Sounds great to me.

Are you telling me I don't have to set an alarm? I can do that.

What? I'm still going to be getting paid without having to work? Fine by me.

I can finally start to read The Hunger Games trilogy, and work more on my novel? Awesome.

All open book tests? Are you serious? Sign me up!

For the first time since high school, I was able to revel in the past times that brought me joy. It was actually amazing what really genuinely, enjoying my life felt like. The proof? Even though I had the option to sleep in almost seven straight days a week, I began to be excited about getting up as early as 8:00 am to go for a jog around my neighborhood. I read. I wrote. I listened to body confidence podcasts. I was able to eat healthy at home. And, a personal favorite, I took very long, scalding showers.

I was physically, mentally, and emotionally able to rest. I remember telling my mom in the midst of the college craze, "I wish that I could stop the world for a week--just a week--and have nothing going on." They say be careful what you wish for, but maybe I should try doing it a little more. I can say with certainty that the risk was worth the reward.

Quarantine had me doing things I never would have dreamed of doing otherwise...but I’m glad I did them. For instance, I sat in bed and binge-watched Netflix for hours on end, shamelessly demolishing entire bags of York peppermint patties--by myself. And it made me happy.

That's what it's really about, isn't it? I deserve to be happy. You deserve to be happy. It goes without saying that, scientifically, we are almost always happiest when we are at our healthiest physically. For example, I found that exercising improved my mood and gave me more energy I wouldn’t have otherwise. It helped me to focus more clearly on my homework. Fall semester 2020, I 4.0 all of my classes. Needless to say, the fall semester of 2020 was the version of myself when I'm enjoying my life and what I am doing.

Our planners, covered with scribbles of dates and times, force us to get up early, stay up late, eat out, put on a social facade, and replace hobbies and passions with homework and office work. Don’t let these things hinder your happiness.

2020 taught me what it felt like to be at my happiest. I want 2021 to be a continuation of the personal growth I began to experience in 2020.

You want your 2021 to be full of happiness, personal growth, motivation, and success? Learn to enjoy your life again, and the rest will fall into place. It may sound like a simple answer, but maybe the problem is the overthinking we put into it.

So, 2020 wasn't good for nothing after all, and I hope that you rediscover yourself and everything that makes you eager to get out of bed each morning, for the next 365 days.

2021 is going to be great. You’ll make it great. You got this.

(I hope you enjoyed this article, and that you are feeling a little more inspired about 2021. Shares are always appreciated!)