Restoration

The forsaken year of 2020.

I remember the days leading up to the shutdown. My co-workers and I would stand around each other's monitors starring at the climbing numbers in the world of confirmed cases and deaths across the globe. This overwhelming feeling of anxiety and uncertainty poured over each of us. I had a trip planned with a bunch of old college friends to go celebrate Saint Patrick's day in Chicago for a long weekend. I flew out of the city on Thursday, March 12th at about 9:30 pm so I had gone straight from work that evening. I remember my boss pulling me aside before we left and told me to take my work laptop home with me for the weekend just-in-case things got bad... that very weekend the lockdown was announced and we were not allowed to go into work for the next two weeks... five months later and I found myself still home in Minnesota wondering where the time went.

Looking back on that last weekend, everything felt very distant and detached from us in the middle of the United States. The anxiety was real looking at the news and hearing the cases grow closer and closer to us by the hour but we all were able to separate ourselves from the matter. On Sunday, I cancelled my flight back to NYC and caught a ride back to MN to work from home for the next two weeks. I felt so fortunate that I was in close proximity to my home and was able to get there before things really took a turn.

It was mid-April and I remember hitting a point of anger and frustration. The world was spinning out of control and everyone's lives were being uprooted, mashed around and changed forever. So many people were dying. The human race was divided and more afraid and untrusting than ever. I was mad -- everything just felt off-centered. However, I could start to see this new lens we all were looking through to a modified world. Perhaps, this new lens would have remained buried if it weren't for the pandemic, climate fight or human rights movements e.g. black lives matter, forcing us to slow down, pause, reflect, learn and change. I took some time off from my blog to do just that.

I moved back in August of 2020 to come work in-office again; I knew things were going to be different and that there would be a large adjustment period for me though, looking back now, I can't help but feel this overwhelming feeling of connection. New York City was one of the Covid-19 hot spots. The people here were hit with some of the highest numbers in the world yet... the resilience of New Yorkers is awe-inspiring. Every evening at 7pm through the hardest times of the pandemic, New Yorkers all across Manhattan would bang pots and pans from their windows and fire escapes to show their gratitude to all front line workers -- if that doesn't give you chills I don't know what will! Now, I know this is beginning to sound like a love letter to New York but I can't help but brag about NYC!

There is so much to be said about this past year and I could go on and on but I will leave it at this; allow change to happen, learn what you can, always have an open mind, hug your loved ones, have faith, and live your life purposefully with every new day.

I am delighted to start posting on here again and look forward to the future.

Love to everyone,

SRS