The Light shown in 2020

When the ball dropped on 2019, we all expected a new fabulous year. The year 2020 has been anything but for many, but it would be a lie for me to say that there have been no up-sides to this year. I quit working at a toxic workplace, I got a new job that eventually had to furlough me after two weeks, and I was unemployed at 24 years old. During lock down I was initially quite bored and bordering on depressed, my daily trips to the grocery store were the highlight of my day. Here is the kicker, I learned that I love to cook. To cook from scratch and to take basic ingredients that are worse separated than they are together. I watched YouTube videos and found recopies on line and my fiancée was loving all the food. I learned that I love to create things with my hands as a means of expression and fun! All these years of not knowing what is really fun and lock down brought me that. I had time to learn a few things in the kitchen that when I decide to go off book and have creative freedom in a dish, it turns out fantastic. Don't get me wrong, not everything turns out well and pizza is a very likely need if it tanks that badly.

I dove into my inner gamer and played some, in my opinion, badass video games! I was a badass in them. I haven't played games like that since I was a kid, and it was enormously fun! Escaping reality and diving into a virtual world where going on quests and taking down other players feels like a means of release and reaching high levels of play. It gives a feel of advancement in a world that has seemed to stop, if just for a moment. It helps that my fiancée is not as good at it haha. They say video games rot your brain, but in my honest opinion they can help boost the imagination. Imagine a world that you could dive into to escape the worries of the world, Going to the beach after a long day at work, or even just sipping a martini at a bar in New York and you live in Texas. The technology doesn't exist yet but maybe someone is brilliant enough to figure it out.

Who would have thought that sewing would make a comeback in 2020? I swear I went to 10 stores before I bought one online because I wanted to dive into another project. Being creative is really where I shine if I am being honest. It stayed with me and having a full time job had stifled me, but that's not all. Being told to grow up and be a doctor or a lawyer, or anything that makes a lot of money is stifling a child! You can make money at nearly anything if you're good enough, you just need to practice and put yourself out there. I am no whiz with a sewing machine, but YouTube is a wonderful thing. I took a minute but I worked on a project that didn't work out very well at all. It sits in a corner and waits for me to try again because I had to take a new job. The truth is, I was learning to have fun again.

To have fun as a now 25 year old woman, is amazing. Time away from the work force showed me there is more to be done out in the world that I was willing to admit. I neglected doing things because there was no time and my precious days off were needed to rest. If you find that you have nothing to do and are being told to stay inside, explore! Explore things you loved as a child, explore things you see online. If you love to paint, do makeup, cook! Do it! It may be the best thing in your life today and to not take a shot at it could be the biggest regret in life.