What's the Best Thing that Happened to You This Year?

[Gustav 6,407]

Title explains it all. I don't think there's a single one of us here who's going to look back on 2020 and think "good times" overall. Life sucked for all of us, and that's something I can relate to--I was in my worst-ever mental state early on this year and had my entire social life destroyed right when I was just starting to build one in college. Summer plans were destroyed and I went through a fall semester in which I had next to nothing to do with anyone in real life and felt worthless and unloved more often than I'd like to admit. I'm sure just about everyone here can relate to this on some level, some to an even greater extent than I can.

 

But what's good? I find that it's nice whenever I'm feeling that life is slapping me in the face to think about what's good in my life and what I've been blessed with. Of course, I could go with the usual general things, I'm actually doing pretty well for myself in terms of school and personal development (even though I don't feel like it), I've got a roof over my head, clothes to wear, food to eat, I have a job that I've kept through this whole situation. That by itself is more than a lot of people can say and I'm lucky to be able to say it. 

 

I wrote this up looking forward to hearing from the rest of you and reading your responses--and I am looking forward to it! But when I posed this question to myself halfway through writing this, I realized...I've got no clear answer myself. So I guess here's a short list of things I've done or been gifted with this year that I'm happy about.

 

• Bought a Netflix subscription and have kept myself busy enough catching up on everything I've been missing for years
• Got very into golf, somehow even managed to convince a friend with no interest in sports that it was fun too
• Improved my guitar playing and wrote the best piece of music I've ever written
• Got a hell of a lot better with photo editing (thanks, sim leagues?)
• Finally found out that I do enjoy what I'm studying because I finally took enough classes to be able to judge it fairly--learned a lot as well!
• After the aforementioned poor mental state in the spring/early summer, I'm in a much better place now and genuinely consider myself happy with who I am

 

I guess that's about it because everything else was either too general or too cheesy or too weird or too whatever. But what's good that's happened in your lives in 2020? I feel like we could all use a dose of positivity. 

[Spartan 4,402]

@fishy and sim leagues, frankly that's it 

[Blazzer 759]

Best thing so far was securing a spot in med school, that's all

 

And the vhl haha

Edited December 27, 2020 by Blazzer
Forgot the VHL

[Banackock 8,049]

• Done well at work. Won’t go in depth but our territory has one of the best records. Our area has been injury free for 3 entire years as well (all injuries). I put too much on my shoulders and it eats me away.. something I’ll need to work on but at least the results have mostly all been strong. 
• Girlfriend discovered a tumour in May, was diagnosed with Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma in August, and was cleared of cancer in December after 4 chemotherapy cycles. She is the strongest warrior. What an experience... all I can say. Fingers crossed it doesn’t comeback..
• Quit smoking cigarettes.. it’s been 47 days.. or 4,100,369 seconds (thanks, app).. $$ and health! 
• Slowly working on bettering myself mentally and physically.. from the things above like removing cigarettes, no devils lettuce, and removing as much sodium, sugar and caffeine as I can. Lots to go.. Mental health is very, very.. very important. 

 

Time flies.. feels like the pandemic just started.. now it’s Dec 27, 2020..

 

 

Edited December 27, 2020 by Banackock

[dlamb 1,326]

• Joined VHL, involved myself in the community and met some really cool people
• Got through a fall semester of college online
• Good old mental health. Wasn't in a good place earlier in the year, felt like I couldn't even leave my home without having major anxiety. Happy to say, a lot better now. 
• Got closer with some old friends, playing games, discord voice chatting, just like early high school days.

Looking forward to 2021! Happy holidays all.

[Berocka 2,263]

- Quit my old job and started a new one.

- made a new friend at my new job

- engagement party and planning my wedding

- created a cricket simulator that has become more successful than I planned

- created a semi successful podcast

- Got my best ever cricket figures

[mediocrepony 1,216]

Let's see here...

first of all, the VHL. This place has been AWESOME!

I went on an awesome trip to the adirondacks with my family and some family friends

I GOT A PLAYSTATION FINALLY (this was last christmas but I feel like it counts as this year)

And, I got a new baby cousin! Her name is Tatum and she is doing well!

And I got a political board game I really wanted for Christmas

Edited December 27, 2020 by GrittyIsGroovy09

[Crstats23 340]

• joined the VHL and met some amazing people 

• graduated college (if there’s a ceremony won’t be till 2021) but I say it counts

•and my family and friends are all healthy 

[bigAL 2,176]

Thanks Gus for being the philosophical and moral leader around here that you are!

 

2020 was a trip, with a messy first half that turned itself around on the back 9 (ha a golfing reference for you!)

 

Early 2020, pretty done with Western hustle and bustle life, planned a move to South East Asia to teach. We had interviews all over that corner of the world and settled on a school in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. My partner was starting her ESL teacher's certificate and we were going to go live the ex-pat dream. We had contracts signed, a place to stay lined up, and were a week or two away from buying plane tickets. So that didn't happen, but it did open the door for everything else that did happen:

• got my mental shit together, got a therapist, and worked on myself as my pandemic problem
• moved back to my hometown and bought a dream house (that whole plan came together in an extremely serendipitous way)
• walked right into a full time job doing exactly what I want to do, with live saving benefits too
• my partner got a literal once in a lifetime opportunity to be a full time teacher without any qualifications, so now she's found her passion after lots of stressful aimless contracts
• and the best (most recent) one of all - we didn't have to travel anywhere this Christmas. We usually get pulled in a million directions and spend literally probably 30 hours in the car over that two week break and it's sooooooo nice to be locked down (and have a new house so everyone comes to visit us for a change)
• and obligatory sim league shout out: recovered from a heartbreaking divorce from my old volunteer/social group by filling the hole with the VHL. I'm so happy here to have a purpose and a fun

Cheers everyone, there's no way 2021 can be worse than 2020.

[Lefty_S 91]

Finished first semester of college (fuck calculus)

 

Got a internship at my college

 

Was able to find new friends at my college

 

Have managed to stay healthy so far *knock on wood*

 

 

 

Edited December 27, 2020 by Lefty_S

[frescoelmo 1,276]

Best sales year since I've been with my new-ish company (5th year) so good job pandemic

Lowered my mortgage

RV trip across country (will never do again but life-changing experience)

[solas 1,951]

• Got a part-time job, which doesn't pay much and is basically only here to hold me over until the pandemic is over.  It's been useful though, since it's putting money in my pocket and providing a bit more structure and stability in my life since college ended.  I won't pretend my mental state is perfect but it's helped and kind of forced me to start maturing a bit more.
• While I haven't been able to see my friends at all pretty much, I did find some ways to connect with them better, in particular by playing Star Wars: The Old Republic with one of my friends.  We haven't done that in a while but we still chat which has kinda kept me sane lol.
• I also got a Netflix subscription for the first time, which was nice since there were a bunch of things I wanted to watch that I'd never gotten to.
• I'll be getting a new computer later this week, this current one is 5-6 years old and has slowed down significantly
• I came back to sim leagues, specifically the VHL, after getting a bit burnt out and taking a break.  My previous return with Nielsen last year was short-lived but now I'm really enjoying being here and getting to know a lot of the new members, it's been great to see how much the league has grown.  
• My friends, my family, and I have all managed to stay healthy.

[jhatty8 667]

It's been a whole lot of nothing for me this year in reflection. My main focus hasn't deviated from running, online school, or being lazy on break. It's a bit worrying for me that I haven't really done much of anything and nothing good has really come my way, but I can think of a few things I can take pride in.

 

- Varsity as a sophomore on my cross-country team (personal best is a 18:24 5k)

- Every class but one has a grade of 89% or higher

- I've improved a ton with graphic design through sim leagues and am now pursuing a career in that field

 

I appreciate y'all posting in here and it's fun reading through your amazing accomplishments

[Doomsday 4,130]

I wouldn't want this pandemic to happen, but the silver lining of it all was that it meant I was able to be home and spend more time with my wife and son. It meant being able to be present for an important developmental year for him, and I got to see things like his first steps and hear his first words, instead of hearing about them later on. That's special, and something you just can't put a price on, and without quarantine, I would have missed that stuff. 

 

Being here was also fantastic for my mental health as well. It gave me something productive to do with my suddenly massive amounts of free time, and I never felt alone with such a large and fun community at my fingertips whenever I needed them. You guys rule!

[Peace 1,532]

It's been a whole lot of negatives this year for me, especially after COVID arrived in North America, and I feel like I've been on the chopping block the entire year after people discover I have severe asthma (generally go through two inhalers a month despite being on steroids). It's not something I can hide, so I'm open about it, and a lot of opportunities have slipped away from be because of 'health concerns' to sum it up.

From potential work to my personal life with family and friends. 

But there have been a lot of positives too, they just seem distant. 

- I learned to fish, and got really good at it very fast (I nearly out fished my father... who's a former pro-guide for Southern Alberta Fly Fishing). 
- I dropped from 350 Lbs to 330 Lbs!

- Started to learn some new skills; playing the guitar, cooking more in depth meals, improved keyboarding, grew my understanding about studio audio and the like. 
- Reconnected with a lot of old friends online that I hadn't spoke to in years.
- Spent more time with my family than I ever have, I'd reckon. 
- Finished the first fifteen chapters (and then rewrote them half a dozen times) of my fiction novel and I'm in contact with an agent, but haven't found the courage to submit the first three chapters yet. 
- I get to say 'Git Gud' at some video games.

Sometimes it's the small things that make you smile, so those are some I remember from this year. 

[diamond_ace 3,112]

This is the type of thing I almost feel bad answering, because while 2020 is objectively a terrible year in terms of its effects nationally and globally, on a personal level I honestly don't think I can say it sucked. I'd almost go so far as to say I might be the "single one of us" you didn't think existed with your first statement - would not quite go that far, as I care what happens to other people, so despite a good year for myself I do feel some level of misery at what has happened to my friends and future-possible-friends around the world - but strictly on things that have occurred to me on an individual level, 2020 is arguably the second best year I've ever experienced (behind only 2018, wherein I got engaged).

 

- Financially, this has been the year I've been able to stop going paycheck to paycheck permanently. I've generally been stable-ish, with a nice bumper period after the tax season, but close enough to the line that if I took a vacation, I'd need to be careful for a few weeks after I got back. With the fact that my job has not had any adverse effects from the virus (if anything we've been more relied upon than usual) paired with the first stimulus and a few months worth of student loan payments they sent back to me because payment was temporarily halted for the virus, I have a little bit saved up now that I haven't had to touch and it's only getting bigger. The effects of having to work a regular amount, but not having anywhere to spend it. Paying for the wedding between now and next November will have some effect, but I doubt I'll ever be back to pre-March finances until retirement, 30 plus years from now.

 

- Speaking of my last line there (paying for the wedding) - 2020 has been good for the beginnings of the planning phase. 10 months and 8 days from now I officially get to spend the rest of my life with the smartest and toughest woman I've ever met (she looks pretty damn good as well but that's the least important thing by a mile). We found a venue that is very "us" and a caterer that has a nice variety including some of her favorites (taco stuff) as well as some of mine (pasta).

 

- Job-wise: now working from home, and it was not as a direct result of the virus, rather it's a thing my job offers at a certain stage regardless (although they did rush people home for the virus who had not yet met the requirements, but I am not among that category, I had officially transitioned 9 days before the panic sending and am home for good even when people return). I got a direct call from the boss 2 levels up, and a written comment from the boss 3 levels up, about how much they've been able to rely on me in particular and a handful of department members even as things are increasingly chaotic. I only moved into this position last July and have now basically passed up all but a handful of even the old guard, enough that I suspect many of the people forget I'm not an old guard myself. (Little offhand comment as well from one of the bosses just above me - she is in a slight panic as both I and one other employee are off for PTO hours for a portion of this upcoming week, despite the fact that the evening shift in particular still has 7-8 other people on it, solely because we're 2 of maybe 3 on the whole shift that are sometimes doing multiple jobs at once. It will be fine barring an unexpected rush, but it's medical-ish, so there very well could be.)

 

- Socially: I've always been a bit of a hermit, but on occasion get dragged out to do things, whether through trying to maintain friendships, feeling obligated to occasionally see the larger branch of my cousins every once in a while (with whom I have very little in common, although they're perfectly reasonable people, just enjoy different things than me), or just because my fiancee wants to go do a thing or try out a new restaurant or something. This year I've had a valid and inarguable excuse to not have to do barely anything at all. The entire social side of my life in terms of real people I know in the flesh (as in, not VHLers and online people who I also consider friends but do not physically see) has been a few hotel trips with just my fiancee and even then, not really doing anything but staying in. I have not had to do really anything. I've also discovered a few things that will lessen my trips even beyond the end of the virus (grocery delivery, for example, is fairly well set up here although I know it's not necessarily as well set up in other places).

 

- Mental state wise: I've generally been pretty solid on this end of things in my adult life (not necessarily so much when I was a kid - I shared something with I believe it was @Sonnet once that I'd not particularly like to get into here, but I wasn't always the most stable kid - adult-wise have had no issues though and generally even strong enough to support some people who do have more concerns in that sense). This year, which has had such a negative effect on so many mentally, has brought about a few minor existential things (a lot of repetitiveness of the work-sleep-work-sleep life that can't really be everything that's out there, but so often feels like it is) but largely has not damaged me in particular, nor brought about much in terms of regression to my mental states in earlier life. To note: nothing has outwardly improved mentally, partially because there isn't really anywhere for it to go, but given the way this year has been to so many, I consider relative stability and a lack of change a positive thing in this sense.

 

EDIT: Oh, and one more thing - and I know @Da Trifecta knows all about this - as a result of working from home and having regular grocery deliveries, I've begun to cook more. It's weird - you always hear this advice about "learn to cook because it'll be an attractive life skill when potential partners are looking for you" yet I'm with a chef, absolutely don't need cooking, and cook anyway. Easy and cheap work lunches though, plus I'm pretty good at it and it's usually better both in taste and in health than just getting something fast food or so.

Edited December 29, 2020 by diamond_ace