2020 was a year that threw us all for a loop, to say the least. Many of us had our lives as we knew it upended in some day due to the Coronavirus, and no matter what happens, we won’t be going back to how things used to be. Given how much has happened this year, I felt it fitting to reflect on some of the things I have accomplished this year and what I hope to accomplish in the next one.
The Good of 2020
Sustained Employment
I’m one of the lucky ones, I know. I’ve had a job continuously in 2020 and have been able to contribute a lot towards the pandemic with regards to modelling and such. The stability of having a job helped me keep my focus on tasks at hand rather than ruminate at the state of the world, and for that I’m very grateful.
Learning Many Things
Both personally and professionally, I learned a lot to further develop my skillset.
Professionally speaking, I became proficient in Python, version control, and further advanced my skills in R by developing a package. I presented at the HDAA Conference about an unsupervised learning algorithm and to executive leadership regarding surge modelling. Additionally, my workplace offered up LinkedIn Learning for all employees, so that has aided me in rounding out my skillset.
Personally speaking, I learned about the various facets of game development (of which there are many). I’ve begun an initial project in RPG Maker based on a D&D campaign I’m a part of, and hope to finish it in 2021. I’ve also started a blog and read over 50 books.
All things considered, I’ve been pretty productive.
Working from Home is Nice
Working from home isn’t perfect. You need to have strong boundaries to not end up at your computer all day. But the convenience of working from home is nice. Commuting stinks, and it’s nice to work and not have to wear real pants.
Admittedly I found working from home horrid for my back until I obtained a proper work setup, so that’s a necessary investment. And it’s harder to forget connections when you aren’t in an office with people on a regular basis, but it’s doable with the appropriate effort put in.
The Bad of 2020
Mental Health Effects of Quarantining
This is an addendum to Coronavirus, but I think it deserves its own side note. Everyone’s mental health is at great risk during this pandemic and it will require a lot of healing to recover from this trauma.
I can attest to the challenges of quarantining. I’ve been working from home since March, after moving to a new area in August to live alone in an apartment. I hadn’t met many people yet, mostly getting my social interaction in at work, and have stayed effectively holed up in my apartment for the last 9 months. In that time frame, I had a friend commit suicide, a family member die from stage IV cancer, and watched 30% of my coworkers get laid off. That’s all a lot to happen in a normal year, let alone a pandemic year. Not having normal relaxation methods available made it really hard to deal with, even as an introvert.
I know various virtual avenues are available for socializing, but having a Zoom call with someone just isn’t the same as interacting with them in person. In general, when “normal” returns a lot of us are going to come out of this more socially awkward than we started. I already feel more social anxiety than I have in years on the rare occasions I do interact with people in person now, and it remains to be seen how long that will take to recede to previous levels.
I Miss The Gym
Staying at home makes it even easier to slide into a sedentary lifestyle. I try to mitigate that by working out on a regular basis, but it’s also closely related to maintaining my mental health. Over the years I’ve learned I work out best going when going to a fitness facility. However maintaining my physical health has been tricky with having to stay indoors, especially now that we’re approaching winter. It’s much harder to motivate myself when I’m always in my apartment and there’s no dedicated workout area. I have managed to stay at least vaguely in shape with Ring Fit Adventure (a Nintendo Switch video game) but I’m definitely not where I want to be fitness-wise.
Political Tensions
The leadup to the 2020 election in America was a nightmare I think we’d all prefer to forget. The fallout, where Trump is still insisting he won despite all objective sources of truth saying otherwise, is undermining democracy as we know it. Millions of people have been laid off and are broke to the point of shoplifting baby food for their children due to inadequate COVID funding. Our government still hasn’t taken any meaningful action to stop mass shootings or address systemic racism. Following politics is just downright depressing.
Sure, the stock market looks great, but there’s a storm brewing with how desperate people are getting. I suspect we’ll see more fallout in 2021 from this, especially if the government doesn’t give people the assistance needed to survive.
Conclusion
There is a light at the end of this tunnel with the vaccine. I don’t think a new normal will arrive until 2022, but there’s an end in sight to this nightmare. How bad the fallout gets in 2021 remains to be seen, but for my sanity’s sake I’m staying optimistic. Here’s hoping for a better 2021 after this dumpster fire of a year.