I could start this column by saying it’s been a hell of a year, but that might be stating the obvious.
When I think back to where I was at the beginning of January, it’s hard to believe everything that’s happened in-between. What the heck were my New Year’s resolutions again?
For starters, I made the usual lazy promise to myself that I would lose weight. Year after year I’ve been saying it, but with work and life and everything else, who has the time? Turns out, a lot of it suddenly became available around March.
All the events I usually attended, hosted and produced disappeared on the wind of COVID in the blink of an eye. I was no longer booked almost every night of the week and, like many others, I was working from home.
Of course, it took a few months for the impulse to kick in. By July, it sunk in that things weren’t going back to normal anytime soon. Hadn’t Dr. Lee realised that if we didn’t come up with a locally-produced vaccine, tout de suite, I had no further excuses for staving off a good diet and exercise?
On 6 July, I gave up and started WW (so renamed, because I guess the company thinks the term ‘Weight Watchers’ is too horribly honest), and as I now sit in my office chair without my thighs touching the sides, I’m happy to report I am down 55lbs so far.
Hot dog!
Whoops! Sorry… kale salad!
Phase two of my plan is to get into that pair of jeans I apparently stole from Malibu Barbie.
Another popular goal, every January, is to spend more time with friends and family. Well, whether people liked it or not, it happened in spades this year. Lockdowns forced couples and children to stay indoors together, putting relationships to the test. Normally a scenario only found in one of those cheery dystopian films, it played out for real in 2020. Residents stayed indoors to protect themselves from the coronavirus, not to mention, nosy, tattling neighbours. Good ol’ stratas.
Even those who had no intention of improving their exercise regimen many months ago, happily took to the roads to get walking and breathing in the air for that crucial 90-minute allowance, rather than be imprisoned at home 24/7.
Going back to school is also in the top 20 of resolutions, but I bet those adults didn’t expect it to be high-school Calculus. In a cruel, monkey’s paw-twist, parents who had wished for a shot at further education for themselves, instead tried to keep up with home-schooling their children, reaching into the depths of their memories for quotes from Dickens and the main export of French Indochina.
In-person classes couldn’t come back soon enough when schools reopened.
Thank goodness donating to charity was on the resolutions list for a lot of Cayman’s residents, as this was the year for it. Good people from ARK, the Cayman Food Bank, Feed Our Future and countless other non-profits stepped up to the plate, with local businesses and community members supporting the causes. I dropped off store-bought items at Decker’s where ARK’s food service was temporarily located (no one would have eaten my cooking), and to see volunteers working tirelessly, day-in and day-out, really warmed the heart.
The websites out there are also offering their picks for 2021 resolutions. Improving a relationship is one (three months of lockdown might be a factor), along with managing your stress and giving up smoking.
As far as stress is concerned, I couldn’t agree more. Even if you are financially sound and didn’t mind sharing a house with your family like you were stuck in a giant elevator for days on end, it’s amazing how this whole situation can still get to a person. Like I said to someone a month or so ago, you think you’re fine, but then you burn the toast and burst into floods of tears. Just because the 90-minute exercise thing is no longer in play, doesn’t mean it isn’t a good idea to go out for a walk and breathe in some fresh air. (I can say this because I’m a newly reformed goody two-shoes who’s back in the exercise saddle.)
When it comes to the smoking thing, it’s a no-brainer. Bad for your lungs, heightens risks of complications from COVID and costs an-arm-and-a-leg per packet. Dump it.
Yes, it’s been a crazy year, but hopefully we can all look for better things to come in 2021.
One final note: the last resolution I can think of is to give up drinking.
Yeah… see you in 2022.
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Wheaton’s Way, I never made reductions, but by chance I lost 10 lbs. How? When COVID 19 started, my supermarket had ZERO OJ, BREAD, EGGS, BEANS, or paper goods, so used up canned foods we keep at home, so for lack of calories, that’s how I lost weigh. Even COSTCO, 1 day I went, there were 3 police in the store to keep the peeace, all paper and cleaning stuff gone, lots of food was out too, I should have taken photos, as I NEVER SAW IT SO EMPTY. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!