Reflections on 2020

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31 December 2020

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A lot of people say Fuck 2020. Indeed I've heard people say every year has been worse than the last for a number of years now. But no year is without it's ups and downs. For me, at least, this year had plenty of both. Sometimes it's just a matter of perspective whether something is positive or negative. Most things have a smattering of both.

The pandemic was probably the biggest bummer for western society. Focusing on death and infection statistics governments destroyed peoples' freedoms of movement, assembly and ability to earn an income. This also established a terrible precident for the future as they know that weaponizing fear remains an effective tactic to enslave humanity. People went hungry, became homeless, and saw their careers and businesses end. Looking back at history I do not think rational historians will contend that the medicine applied to society was not worse than the disease. Personally I saw my ability to travel outside of Norway vanish and my job in the marketing industry end, just before my lease ended and I needed to reapply for residency. So I spent the better part of the summer unemployed and homeless. But that's the negative perspective. I got to live out of a van a friend of a friend lent me and travel around Norway climbing mountains for a couple months. Not to mention doing my Chris Farley motivational speaker impression living in a van down by the fjord! And eventually I found a new job with a company based in Norway, so no more late night meetings with people back in the United States.

My reading goal for a number of years now has been to finish a book a week, and this year I came in pretty close: 48. I also resolved to write more about what I read and actually release blogs regularly (while avoiding family topics which are still too emotionally painful). Check out A Year in Books.

Athletically, my running calendar was basically shot. I did the Vinter 10 in Bergen in February and then everything was cancelled until I found the Karmøy Marathon in November. I'd planned to start off the year's travelling with a half marathon in Cyprus in March, but Covid rules kept that from happening. While races were cancelled, baseball was not. Well, sometimes not. My first season with the Wet Sox was a rewarding one and I am still pinching myself at the luck of starting to play baseball again at 40 with the best players in the country. And according to Strava I still managed to clock 1234 km this year, which is slightly less than my 25 km a week goal.

So, not a bad year. I'll punctuate the year with a poem from one of my favorites these days, Rupi Kaur: