Remembering 2021

It feels like just a minute ago, the world and I were so excited about looking at 2020 in the rearview mirror. The year was crap and 2021 flew into our lives laden with hopes and dreams. I remember repeatedly singing this song, so enthusiastic that we were finally capable of putting the misery behind us.

But alas, 2021 came and went. Over in the blink of an eye. And in many ways, there’s even less to show than in 2020. At least in the previous year, we fought and struggled to make things work. We learned how to exercise from with a gym or equipment. We discovered the joy of working from home. And we were reintroduced to our families, who we now needed to learn to spend more time with than we ever imagined.

But we stopped trying to make things work. We fell into the biggest trap of this new generation: Complacency.

We hid behind our masks, stopped doing the things we loved to do, and just sat staring at the TV. And our personal growth was replaced by learning about new variants and trying to keep up with which countries are getting pummeled by illness. We made it a virtual hobby to try and follow the never-ending slew of laws and law changes happening every day.

Goodbye to 2021

I’m glad to say goodbye to 2021. Overjoyed, in fact. In many ways, we’ve now lost more than 2% of our lives to this stupid disease. And I think every last one of us deserves to be able to move on with our days, full force, without anything holding us back. We should be blessed with an insanely fun and productive 2022!

But even though it feels like time has slowed, that doesn’t mean life has stopped. 2021 had its significant moments along the way. Here are five that stand out to me, five game-changing moments that would be important no matter what year they happened in:

1) A New Nose for 2021

I had surgery done on my nose to fix a problem that had been plaguing me for as long as I can remember. I’m now learning how to breathe in many ways for the first time in my entire life. It’s a giant adventure.

For so many years I’ve grown accustomed to an uncomfortable inability to breathe out of both nostrils. Now I’m learning, like a small child, how to breathe correctly. And it literally affects everything I do. From the gym to going to sleep at night, I can honestly say that in some ways everything in my life has been impacted by this long-awaited surgery.

2) Work Calmed at the end of 2021

There’s a famous parable about a person who comes to his rabbi seeking desperate advice because he’s overwhelmed with all the craziness in his household. The rabbi keeps advising him to incorporate different animals into his home, and sure enough, the problem just gets worse and worse.

Ultimately the rabbi tells him to get rid of all the animals, and all of a sudden his house feels calm and spacious, like never before.

Well, something similar happened with me at my job. For the past three years, various problems kept arising and not going away. It got to the point in which every workday was so overwhelming and stressful, I felt like I was going to explode.

Then one problem was solved… then another… and finally the last major one. And suddenly, everything felt calm and pleasant again. Was it better than before all the problems started piling on? Not necessarily. But it certainly feels like it!

3) What I Lost in 2021

About a year ago, my amazing wife bought a cool exercise device for our home. And I looked at that thing embarrassed. Why? I thought I would never be able to touch it.

It had a weight limit of 175 pounds, and I was well, well past that. Above 190, in fact. And I just assumed it was never going to be a part of my life.

It’s unclear where the biggest changes came from. Perhaps my slow chewing. Maybe some dietary changes due to my Diabetes diagnosis. It could even be because I’ve been drinking a crap ton of water. But whatever the case, at the time of writing I’m clocking in at a solid 161 pounds.

That’s right. I’ve kicked 30 pounds to the curb, and I have no interest in ever picking them up again. And now that unattainable 175-pound limit seems laughable. And I couldn’t be happier about it!

4) A Special 2021 Visitor

Several years ago I was afraid of all online shopping. The concept was so foreign to me. I figured: You go to a store, you find something you like, and boom, you get it. But once I embraced the magic of Amazon, my life was improved tenfold. I became masterful at searching until I found the best bang for my buck, and in a matter of days, something fantastic was at my doorstep.

But Israel’s a different beast. Sometimes Amazon allows free shipping to Israel, but it comes with a learning curve. Not everything is available here. And it’s a bit of an artform to purchase things that are expensive enough that free shipping is allowed, but cheap enough that you don’t have to pay ridiculous customs fees. But once the smoke cleared and I figured it all out, my addiction settled in again.

And yeah, it takes a while to ship here. But I’ve come to look at that as half the fun. By the time your package arrives, you forgot you ordered something or what it was. So when it gets here, it’s like receiving a very special gift from the Amazon gods.

And life in Israel becomes just that much better and more bearable for me.

5) Living Post-Corona

I remember the beginning of this disaster. I had a mild panic attack in the grocery store, wondering why buying cucumbers was worth possibly getting a deadly illness. I, like so many others, began to live my life in fear and dread.

Then one day, right at the beginning of the year, I just decided to stop, and I’ve lived that way ever since.

This was before the vaccine, and with still limited information. It didn’t matter. As far as I was concerned, things could go one of several ways. I could live my life cowering in terror from an illness or I could go about my life. If I chose the former, I may or may not get sick. But I would most certainly be frustrated and miserable. As it stands, this bastard has robbed many of us of so much of our lives already.

But if I chose the latter, I still might not get sick. And if I got sick, it could very well be no big deal at all. And I was more than happy to take that chance. I’m young, strong, and healthy. Is it really reasonable for me to change my life because of a minute chance that something terrible could happen? Wouldn’t that outlook then interfere with just about everything I do then? How could I justify getting into a car knowing full well that a chance exists I might end up maimed or dead?

So, this thing is certainly not over yet. And governments around the world are certainly doing their best to let it continue to control our lives. But in my head, I’ve moved on. I’m living life post-Corona. And I’m so much better off for it.

May 2022 bring us all endless fortune and opportunities!