I won’t pain you with yet another end-of-year list, but I think I have to mark the passing of this garbage year somehow. I mean, if nothing else, we sure learned a lot of new terms in 2020: R0 (pronounced “R-naught,” as virtually every article pointed out), fomite, autogolpe, doomscrolling, and so forth.
It has been, pretty objectively, a bad year for most of us.
Now for the worst part: Switching out our calendars isn’t actually going to change anything. Even switching out the executive branch of our government isn’t going to do much in the short term. We still have to stay home and wait for the seemingly glacial-paced vaccine roll out to trickle down to the average person. (It doesn’t help that Texas is ignoring official guidelines and refusing to vaccinate essential workers in the first group, either.) We still have months and months of social distancing and mask-wearing to go. (Maybe years of mask-wearing, if too few people step up to take the vaccine.) That’s not pessimism on my part, either, but realism. It’s amazing that vaccines were developed so quickly — it’s our generation’s moon shot, frankly — but that’s not the end of the story. And like anything else that has required clear communication or organized strategy during this pandemic, vaccine distribution is going very slowly so far.
So we wait.
Surely, by now, we know how to wait. 2020 has taught a lot of us that we’re more resilient than we ever imagined. We’ve learned to live within limitations and be more flexible; both skills will serve us well in the future. I think a lot of us have become more empathetic, too. We’re suffering through a protracted time of trauma, and as awful as that is, we have the capacity to flourish after the trauma has passed.
Maybe we can learn something from all of this.
Current Obsessions and Compulsions
Archaeologists uncovered a termopolium in Pompeii, which is basically an ancient Roman combination Starbucks/taco truck.
Here’s a great essay on some often-overlooked wholesome literary tropes: “Three Genre-Defining Books With Underutilized Tropes.”
Here’s an endlessly amusing time-waster: Find the words first used in print in virtually any year you choose! Great for research, sure — but also just plain fun if you love words.
You can listen to a random forest from all over the world. This is weirdly soothing; I encourage you to try it as background noise.
Is depression really a survival mechanism? Fascinating theory.
Finish this year with some soothing modern instrumental music: R A I N (Demo) from Himmelsrandt.
What I’m Currently Writing
I’m going to tell you the truth. I’ve been watching TV. I can only do one or the other, and right now, TV is winning. I slammed through all eight episodes of “Bridgerton” on the day it was released. I mean, I’m not catching an hour or two here and there like I normally do. I don’t even have plans on what I’ll write next. I’m just out of the game for a minute. Let’s call it a holiday vacation instead of a television binge, okay? Heh.
Until Next Time
I highly recommend the habit-building method outlined in BJ Fogg’s book “Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything” if you want to make changes you can stick to in the new year. I may not agree with everything he says, but his method is the best I’ve ever come across, and it’s backed by extensive research. It’s not about willpower. Forget making another gigantic resolution that you’ll abandon by February, and try for a tiny habit that really sticks instead.
I’ll be right there with you. After a year of armchair epidemiology and panicked private political analysis, my life could use a few minor tweaks. I’ve done as well as I could in 2020, considering my illness and the stresses of this year, but I’m looking forward to the clean slate of 2021 — even if it’s just symbolic.