It's the start of 2021 and gosh, hasn't this pandemic been going on for a while. I'm not going back to writing weekly updates - this has been going on for far too long for that - but since it's the first post of the year I wanted to note the passage of time.
Looking back, this time last year I was writing about having a rough January and what I was going to do to make myself feel better. Then I wrote much the same in February - little knowing what the rest of the year had in store. This year, January is again rough going - I'm starting to think that maybe I just don't like January. Rather than trying anything clever to make myself feel better, I'm going to have a think about the good that is happening at the moment and put down three things I'm going to pursue above all others.
First, the good. After a thoroughly miserable year in 2020 we're seeing some actual positive change. There is now a deployable vaccine for COVID, it's going out and real people are getting immunised. We're in a lockdown again, but it's not a stop-gap to drop the numbers so we can build them up again on the other side - combined with the vaccine we should start seeing infection rates come down and stay down. The government has also declared we're going to have a slow re-opening, which frankly will be good for people to ease back into being social again as well as eminently sensible for disease control.
In America, President Trump is finally leaving office and might actually suffer some (potentially serious) repercussions for his actions. It's a horrible mess and I'm really pleased I don't live there, but from a distance it looks slightly positive. Similarly, while I don't comment on UK politics here, I'll also say that I feel more confident in the direction of the UK than I have for a while. Both these are relative, granted, but I'm looking for the sunshine.
On a personal level, many things are terrible as they are for pretty much everyone. So I'm going to focus on three things in the short term.
First, I'm going to do what I can to approach the next four weeks in as positive a mindframe as possible. I'm going to smile, I'm going to make jokes. I'm also going to take care of myself - I intend to work more sensible hours this year, and for the moment I'm also going to do a lot more to take the time I need when I need it. That thing I tell all my people to do, then don't do myself.
Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.
Philippians 4:8
Second, I’m going to focus on my physical health. This has really suffered during lockdown (again, like many people) and I need to do something sustainable now, not in six months when things will be (hopefully) far more normal. This means I'm going to eat better and exercise more and track my progress properly. Although I'm going to measure more often, I'm going to try to judge success at the end of each month, not each week.
Third, I'm going to cook a lot more. Hopefully this won't be too much of a contradiction with my second point. I like making things, I like cooking, and once upon a time I was pretty good at it. I want to get back into practice properly and it should be entirely possible while I have no commute at all. To cook in the evening (as opposed to "place thing in oven"), I have to finish work at a sensible time and that will help with both the other points too.
I've also got an idea for an app which should help me with recording recipes and cross-referencing ingredients for better ideas. I'll write about that another time, when I’ve thought it through properly.
Welcome to 2021 everyone. Remember that it's not 2020 again, even if right now it does feel like it.
This post is from a series of shorter posts, written roughly once a week while the country is on lockdown to capture my feelings and reactions as we go. They are all tagged with coronavirus.
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