10 Things I Learned in 2020

Whether we wanted to or not, we all learned a lot in the past 12 months — about ourselves, about how we react to unprecedented events, about the strengths and faults of the communities we live in, about epidemiology for laypersons — like, SO much. And that’s on top of the day-to-day practical things many of us had to work out, like how to set up a school/exercise/social space at home or how to use software like Zoom.

However, for this entry, I’ve chosen to focus more on the things I learned this year that are specific to me and that aren’t necessarily pandemic related (although you’ll see that one or two made it in there). That’s not to say that non-pandemic knowledge is more important right now, but I think it’s just as significant in the long run — and, perhaps, more interesting and mentally healthy for me to focus on.

So, without ado, here are 10 things I’ve learned this year:

1. Physiotherapy can work for me.

This spring, I started physiotherapy for the ankle I rolled way back in the summer of 2018.

I’d had physio before for my bad arm. And it worked–sort of. My arm feels way better when I do the physio stretches than when I don’t. If it hurts, some of the stretches can help. But my arm has never gotten “better.”

At the Cleveland Clinic, my physiotherapist set me a daily course of progressive strength and stability exercises. My ankle started feeling stronger and more solid week by week 4 or 5. I don’t think it will ever be back to what it was in my twenties, but I no longer feel like I’m going to hurt it playing soccer or crossing my feet the wrong way on the ottoman.

Is physio for everyone? Honestly, I wish it were. Even with mine and Husband’s workplace health insurance, it’s pricey and tough to afford. Most policies offer only limited coverage, and they aren’t designed for someone like me with chronic issues in pretty much every major joint.

2. Plant-based “meat” lets me make vegetarian dinners my default.

In late 2019, I starting shifting my weekly dinner menus from mostly meat-based with occasional vegetarian dishes to mostly plant-based with maybe one “meat” night a week. “Meat substitutes” like Beyond Beef have helped. None of them tastes good enough to eat plain, but in highly seasoned dishes like tacos, they work well.

Plant-based “meats” work better for us than some vegetarian proteins like lentils, tofu, and beans. I like all of the above, but they aren’t, let’s say, universally popular in our household. I usually save those dishes for my lunches, meals with friends (remember those?), or occasional experimental dinners.

Husband and I still eat meat, and I don’t think that’s going to change. However, it’s nice to consider it a “special” dinner instead of the default.

3. Resistance bands and calisthenics can be great

Back when Husband and I were in the process of buying a place, I thought about what fitness resources I’d need to feel comfortable moving somewhere without a gym within walking distance. I figured I’d want space for a bench, a rack, some weights, a barbell, and a mat.

We were lucky to find a condo in a building that has its own gym, so I’d been able to use all those things until the social isolation for COVID-19. Obviously, space, money, and community safety made it out of the question to suddenly buy heavy, bulky weight gear. Instead, when it looked like our city was going into lockdown, I got a few resistance bands, a pull-up bar, and a balance disc.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that, once I got used to working with them, bodyweight exercises and/or resistance bands could provide a challenge for my muscles similar to free weights. I could work muscles to exhaustion (… or not) with good form and focus on particular muscle groups. I could increase the weight by combining resistance bands, include diverse workouts with the help of a door anchor to tie down one end of the resistance band, and move my grip/adjust my form to make it harder or easier to complete each movement.

4. I can be resilient.

Fine, here’s a pandemic one.

I think a lot of us ended up learning this during the COVID-19 social isolation and general pandemic-ness. For me, social isolation went into effect suddenly, in the middle of the busiest time of year at work. I was and am grateful that I was able to work from home with the support of my employer, but it took me a while to figure out that having COVID-19 stress didn’t stop me from also having regular busy-work-life stress.

On top of everything, in May, Husband suddenly got flu-like symptoms, which meant he had to isolate in the room with the fold-out couch, and I was stuck alone in the rest of the apartment, unable to leave even to take out the garbage. Even with kind support from friends and condo management, it was tough.

To be honest, despite practicing all year long, I’m still learning to be gentle with myself without giving up. But at least I know this: I got through yesterday, I’m getting through today, and I can get through tomorrow. And when I arrive in the future, I hope you will be there too.

5. I still like making treasure hunts.

In April, I figured that a lot of my friends were probably bored and sad, like me, and I wanted to do something nice for/with them.

When I ran a treasure-hunt planning business, I dabbled in one or two online treasure hunts. At the time, my biggest challenge was creating something online that would force players to leave the house and do interesting things wherever in the world they happened to be. Of course, during the COVID-19 social distancing, my new challenge was to make a fun and exciting treasure hunt that would encourage people to do fun things at home, both on- and offline.

I gave the hunt a title, and when one of my friends suggested a matching theme, I thought, “Why not?”

It turned out to be a lot of fun. I thought I’d have trouble motivating myself to make the clues–but instead, it was fun to be creative in a way I haven’t thought about for a while. And I thought I’d have a boring day alone while everyone else got to play through the clues, but, actually, with so many teams, I was chatting with someone through almost the whole thing. The most fun part was seeing how my friends were having fun with each other.

So here’s my Twilight Zone quarantine online treasure hunt, now published under a Creative Commons license. It needs a live facilitator running the thing, and I highly recommend that a) you play through the clues before facilitating, and b) you start with only one or two teams if you’ve never facilitated something like this before.

6. Good quality meat/seafood makes a huge difference.

Before COVID, I’d really wanted to get a subscription with a local butcher shop that works with local farms. But they had a monthly delivery fee, and their meat was a little pricier, so I put it off. Then, when COVID happened and delivery was suddenly important, I decided, why not?

It turns out that I’d much rather have a little high-quality meat from more ethically treated animals than a lot of grocery-store meat. Everything from the texture to the taste is just better. As long as this service is within our budget, I don’t think I could go back to the everyday stuff. Even burgers taste ten times better.

(I also bought myself occasional seafood treats from this supplier –occasional only because Husband doesn’t care for seafood and neither of us really loves fresh fish. Everything I’ve had from them has been amazing. Their smoked salmon is so light and thin and tasty!)

7. How to complete all sorts of arts, crafts, and cooking projects.

Over the course of the pandemic, I tried out watercolour painting and cross-stitch. I made and decorated magnets out of Fimo to up-cycle the magnetic fasteners from an old candy box. I made homemade croissants and homemade cheese and, yes, even began feeding a sourdough starter.

Sometimes, I find myself thinking about alternate-universe Sarah, the one in a world without COVID who went through classes and holidays as usual, who travelled to Ecuador for a family wedding and went on a fun vacation to Disney World in the spring, who got to spend the whole summer writing instead of working hard to develop online course content.

And then I think of all the things alternate-Sarah is missing out on: video-chatting with extended family so often; gaining the skillset of building and teaching fully online courses; watching/reading so many shows, books, comics, and magazines; making new foods and creating art in new ways; trying out online martial arts and boxing lessons; finishing projects I’ve been putting off forever.

It doesn’t begin to make up for COVID and all the suffering it’s caused, and trying new things isn’t and shouldn’t be a universal reaction to this crisis: I’m lucky that I have the time and resources to use this strategy and that it’s effective for the type of person I am. Acquiring and practicing new skills makes me feel a little better, because I remember my life hasn’t been on pause; I am always still learning and becoming my future self.

8. “CTRL + semicolon” inserts today’s date in most spreadsheet software.

Now entering the date is my favourite instead of least favourite task!

9. How to dig into a revision

I mean, every time I revise my writing, I feel like I’m finally learning this. I guess what I’m actually learning is how to get braver about what scenes and feelings I can write down, and how to be more ruthless about changing stuff that doesn’t work. It helps to have a file/OneNote folder of all the writing I’m cutting away or replacing, so it feels like it’s still “there” in case I “need” it.

10. How to backwards cross-cut… again

Yes, I know I mentioned learning this a decade ago. But, you know, time flies, and stuff you don’t know how to do so well flies with it.

What I’m saying is, pretty much the next skating season, I couldn’t do it anymore, and every time I tried, I was so far off-balance I figured the first time must have been a fluke.

But then (pre-pandemic) I finally, finally asked one of my hockey coaches what I was doing wrong, and it turns out the answer was simple: I was (for some reason) trying to cross my “push” foot behind my “glide” foot instead of crossing it in front. Wow. The right way is so much easier.

The one time I was able to free-skate after the start of the COVID lockdowns, I was wobbly with one foot and fell on my butt trying the other, but I still did it. And I feel confident that when I finally get back on smooth indoor ice with full hockey pads, I’ll be able to get crossing over much faster.