Anxiously Awaiting 2021
Have any of you stopped to think, “what if 2021 isn’t any better?” I’ve heard others ask if it can really get any worse. As a person who has suffered from clinically-diagnosed anxiety nearly all of my life, my answer is a definitive, “YES.”
There’s plenty of new things that can go wrong, but let’s recap some of the asinine things that have happened so far in 2020, then we can speculate wildly about the impending doom of 2021.
There was a hurricane...IN IOWA! Technically it was something called a derecho, a storm that has the sustained strength of a hurricane and can be just as damaging. Apparently the safety of being land-locked in the Midwest is no longer applicable.
My husband got bit by a tick and now he can’t eat red meat. (Seriously. Google “Lone Star Tick.”) Do you want to know when a really lousy time is for new dietary restrictions? When you have to cook every single freaking meal at home. I try to be accommodating and still make our son meals with red meat, but SJ swears that a hamburger grilled next to a turkey burger tastes different. (Insert eye roll)
Like, a huge portion of the world was on fire. Something like a billion animals died in Australia. At one point the sky changed colors in California. And then there was a dust storm in the Sahara that was so bad at one point I could see it from my deck...in Kansas City.
When people 50 years ago imagined what the year 2020 would look like, I assume they pictured flying cars, casual trips to the moon, and a society evolved enough to treat people equally. In reality, 2020 was the year we had to teach people how to wash their hands, basic scientific reasoning, and be reminded that we still don’t have a clue how to treat our fellow humans.
Megxit. Seeing the British Royal Family hurting is more painful than any trouble I’ve ever experienced in my own household. I love them ALL and just want them to play charades on Christmas Eve at Sandringham and wear pretty clothes. And be each other’s friends. And be my friends.
True to my anxiety, I have imagined oodles of new scenarios for 2021.
The Murder Hornets mate with the Covid Bat. What would their babies be like? Dragons? Probably.
TV stops being good. I count my lucky stars for all the premium programming provided to me via the many, MANY streaming services I subscribe to. But what if there is no season 3 of “Virgin River” on Netflix? Will Jack and Mel finally get together for real? Or will Charmaine keep being a nasty skank and making trouble. Could HBO stop carrying “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air?” I don’t know what my life would be about if these things went away. Probably just more naps.
Virtual school. Again. I can’t. I don’t have it in me. If you have it in you, congratulations! You are superior to me. But I will sit in my car in the Target parking lot and scream as loud as I can every day if I have to do that again.
More people get sick from the pandemic. Guys, there isn’t anyone among us who has not been touched by tragedy from this. And we all know more will suffer before this is over. The constant dread, the math equation of potential exposure you have to do when we try to see someone outside of your home, hearing about people you love hurting…. It can’t all go away soon enough.
Will and Kate hit the skids. I couldn’t handle this. They look so strong right now, but after watching The Crown, I’m just so edgy about any sign of unrest. Pandemic has just so been hard on relationships.
In all seriousness, when we flip the calendar to January 2021, the world won’t actually change. I don’t know if I’m prepared for that. But that will be the reality, anyway.
Though I’m not much of a New Year’s Resolution maker, I will use this fresh calendar year to remind myself of one of my favorite quotes: “Once, in the midst of a seemingly endless winter, I discovered within myself an invincible spring.” Good times are ahead even if we can’t see them. They are the root system of the tree, digging in deeper while appearing dormant, strengthening themselves and preparing for a spectacular spring. My “spring” will look like cocktails on my deck with friends, campfires at my in-laws, going ANYWHERE I am invited, over-paying for restaurant ambience, and celebrating every occasion with triple the force (making up for 2020, again for the present, and once more because I now understand how little is certain in the world). That’s assuming we aren’t eviscerated by the Murder Hornet/Covid Bat Dragons before then.
