What I Learned in 2020
Welcome to my random musings about the world, on a weekly-to-occasional basis.
Where we are: Bangkok, Thailand, where our Airbnb is a beautiful studio apartment on the 43rd (!) floor. On less-smoggy days, we have a distant view of the Chao Praya, the ‘muddy old river’ of “One Night in Bangkok” fame. How many times have I danced around the apartment to that song? Not telling.
What I learned in 2020
The first thing I learned is that time actually has no meaning, so that’s why you’re getting my New Year’s post in mid-February.
There is a podcast for everything, if you drill down far enough. This Week in Virology, anyone?
Anxiety makes me lose weight. Anxiety makes me gain weight.
I am a much better, nicer person when my anxiety is controlled. Thank you, Lexapro.
My marriage is the center of my sanity. Not only can Lee and I spend two weeks locked into a dorm room together, we can have fun doing it. And then do it again.
I am a judgy know-it-all. This is not news—I’ve always been a judgy know-it-all. But 2020 showed just how ugly my judgy know-it-all-ness can be.
I am much better at spontaneity than I thought I was (but I desperately miss our well-planned itinerary).
Haircuts are unnecessary.
I will never not worry about my children, about their physical, mental, financial health. That may seem like I’m stating the obvious, but when they live on different continents, and there’s an inter-continental crisis, you realize just how often those worries wake you up in the wee hours.
Then I wake up every morning and am grateful my children no longer live with me. I do not know how parents who have kids at home have survived this past year. I truly don’t.
Even introverts need social contact. All of you extroverts out there have my deepest sympathy—even I’m feeling a little lonely.
I often do the right thing for the wrong reason. Exhibit A: I wear my mask religiously when I’m around people or in an enclosed space. I never forget. But I am ashamed to admit that my instinct is purely self-serving; I put it on to protect myself. Perhaps one day, if I keep working at it, I will be more altruistic, but I’m not there yet.
I don’t need much to keep me entertained, but I have to move every day, even if that movement is bound by the confines of a yoga mat.
I used to think I had pretty good self-discipline. I was wrong. In all of 2020, I believe I wrote about ten thousand words on my novel-in-progress. It feels like such a wasted opportunity, and fills me with regret and self-loathing. What. A. Waste.
I am even more grateful, now, for the great good fortune—the privilege—that allows me and Lee to live as digital nomads. We’ve both been acutely aware of how much we love this lifestyle, ever since we left the US in 2015. But this past year? It has kept us safe and healthy, which warrants a whole different level of gratitude.
Without health, we have nothing, both as individuals and as a society. We’re all humans, we’re all vulnerable to this virus, and we’re all connected.
Hang in there my friends, and stay healthy.
From my writer’s notebook:
Okay, this isn’t really any sort of writing inspiration, but it makes me happy: Uniqlo, the Japanese clothing retailer, has just done a collaboration with the Louvre and a graphic designer named Peter Seville. The result is t-shirts printed with famous works of art and their accession numbers (think Mona Lisa INV 779, or the Winged Victory of Samothrace MA2369). Just geeky enough to be super-cool. In my geeky opinion.
Take care,
Lisa
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