How are your goals looking from the start of 2020?

Did you quit those bad habits, acquire some new ones or just write the year off as a total loss?

Those are the questions which prompted deep thought most recently as I completed a spin class. A new hobby I recently acquired when my physical activity choices became limited (complete story in the December/January 209 Magazine).

Not one for “resolutions” or the mindset of I will make my life better once the calendar turns on a new year, I wondered how 2020 found those who do operate from this place.

I have a perspective on the 2020 Pandemic debacle which some might find odd, while others might find interesting.

I’m a long time believer that there are two plans in this life, your plan and God’s plan (aka Plan B). Too many times in my life, I’ve mapped out my plan so perfectly, only to have it side tracked and re-designed by a power much bigger.

In a recent conversation with a girlfriend I simplified what I had observed in the year 2020 and the power (I felt) God had over the ultimate outcome and lesson. For those not yet quite getting what I’m “throwing down” as they say, I feel this 2020 shut down is much bigger than COVID.

In a day and age when so many wish for more time, long for more time with family and use lack of time for not fulfilling personal goals, well – you got it.

The year 2020 was a time when all distractions from what is your life were literally placed on pause. For some of us family time became more than we may have ever hoped for as working remotely and distance learning became real life.

As a remote worker for quite some time now, I must admit this becoming the norm versus a flex opportunity became well … different. The option of working from home, as well as from the office essentially taken as my health became a valid factor.

Granted our office is old, not very chic and challenged by way of temperature control. Yet just as it is a family which makes a house a home, this also holds true for our office. Long story short, I miss people.

Thanks 2020. The once romanticized life of living like Carrie Bradshaw, positioned at a desk with a view, sipping tea and pounding out work has now been exhausted. I’m ready to sit among the masses again and be annoyed by noise and distraction. Ahhh, the good ol’ days.

As for my children, it should go without saying that I love them deeply. Helping them through their struggles, as well as successes is my primary purpose in life, as their mother.

That being said, I’ve never aspired or desired to be their teacher, vice-principal or educator of anything beyond life lessons.

Oh, okay, there was the one time I day dreamed about it when my son was in first grade and my daughter in pre-school. Homeschooling and mid-week trips to the zoo sounded like so much fun then … that lasted a minute – quite literally.

As much as we love one another, 2020 has taught me that even with the people we see daily, absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder, even if that comes by way of going to work and school.

So now as we face 2021, I wonder if others have caught some of the lesson of 2020. If others like myself have re-looked at their lives as a whole and caught the drift of what really matters.

There’s a number of things I had hoped to achieve in 2020 that just did not happen. Some of that was due to COVID, some due to cancer, some to both and even more due to laziness/lack of motivation; that’s being real.

So that’s what I offer you each for 2021, release the excuses, the “if only’s,” the lack of time, etc. and be real with yourself and those you love. While 2020 may not have been the rip roaring time so many had anticipated at the end of 2019 it was indeed one of lessons and reflection.

Here’s to sneaking into 2021 and mapping out goals, achievements and life experiences quietly and successfully. Happy New Year.

Teresa Hammond is a staff reporter for The Oakdale Leader, The Riverbank News and The Escalon Times. She may be reached at thammond@oakdaleleader.com or by calling 209-847-3021.