2021 in Review

Happy New Year’s Eve everyone! At this time last year, I wasn’t very optimistic about what life would look like in 2021. This year ended up being better than expected but to be honest most of it sucked super hard. It’s only the last four months that have been good to me. 2021 was less stressful than 2020 as far as the pandemic goes but it was mid-year before Karl and I felt comfortable traveling and gathering with others outside our inner circle. Overall it seems like COVID numbers are down and the most recent variants seem less fatal so I am hopeful for the future.

A Year of Challenges

I experienced a lot of challenges this year. I was still recovering from COVID at the beginning of the year and it was February before I felt like I was physically recovered. Almost as soon as I recovered from COVID I started having severe back pain and spent over a month lying down with a heating pad every day because it hurt to sit and stand. After a lot of doctor visits, I was eventually diagnosed with mild degenerative disk disease and given some medication and therapy that helped. Yay!

We had some health scares with my parents and a few friends which included several ugly cases of COVID. I thought for sure it would kill my dad who has COPD and other underlying conditions after how hard it hit me. He got really sick but he survived it. Thank goodness! We also have a friend who spent 60 days in the hospital and almost died. He was on a ventilator and his heart stopped a few times. It was a really scary few months but he pulled through and is doing well.

The worst part of 2021 for me was battling severe depression. I’m not sure when it started but I was severely depressed for most of 2021 and that made this year really hard. I tried getting help and several medications but nothing worked. Thankfully it just eventually started to lift and I began feeling like myself again around September/October. Being severely depressed made it extra difficult to complete my thesis work for grad school which was my major goal for this year. This was a huge source of stress and anxiety. I couldn’t focus and I had a major mental block but I eventually powered through thanks to my depression lifting, and to help from Karl and my awesome thesis committee member Dr. Ridlen. I struggled with plans for my thesis exhibition, but it was completing my research paper that was the real challenge. Both Karl and Dr. Ridlen read through my paper several times and made editing suggestions that helped me wrap it up. Finishing the paper lifted a huge burden from my shoulders and I feel so much better mentally because of it.

The Good

Now for the good. First and foremost, I completed my MFA and graduated! I’ve been working toward my MFA for a long time so this major accomplishment is what I’m most proud of this year, especially given everything I’ve gone through over the past year. It was a struggle to wrap everything up, but I am very happy with how my game, research paper, and exhibition turned out. I’ve received a lot of great responses to my game, including a lot of encouragement to look into getting it published which I plan to look into in 2022.

Being able to travel and gather with others has also brought a lot of joy back into life. It’s been such a comfort to be able to spend time with friends and family face to face again. We had several game nights and quite a few gatherings with friends. We attended some art shows, an Alanis Morissette/Garbage concert, and DragonCon all for the first time since the pandemic began. We were also able to take several trips. In January we ran away to Gatlinburg, TN for a few days to getaway. During the summer we visited Charleston, SC, and enjoyed a few days at the beach. We’ve been to Atlanta, GA several times this year, most recently with Karl’s family for a family vacation. It was the first time since 2013 that all of Karl’s immediate family has been together! Last, but not least, Karl and I are currently in California celebrating my graduation and the holidays. This is my first time in CA so I’m super pumped to be here. We spent the first part of our trip in Los Angeles seeing all the sights. Yesterday, we visited Joshua Tree National Park. It was beautiful! Now we are spending a few days in San Diego before wrapping our trip up with a visit to Disneyland in Anaheim. We only have a few days left but it has been a great trip and is definitely the highlight of the year following graduation.

Other than refinancing our house there’s really not much else to say about 2021. Karl’s doing well at work, and I’m still freelancing from home. Our cats, Olivia and Chloe, are still skittish but a lot less so than this time last year. We saw a few movies and watched quite a few shows but the only ones that really stand out to me are Spider-Man: No Way Home and Star Trek: Discovery. Karl watched a lot of TV and put together quite a few puzzles and lego sets when not working on little projects around the house. I didn’t have much patience for TV this year but I did spend quite a bit of time watching educational videos on LinkedIn Learning. Most of my leisure time has been spent working on various creative projects and playing League of Legends while hanging out in Discord with friends.

I am really thankful for Discord. Discord is a voice and text messaging application that allows multiple users to hang out in voice calls together. I’ve been using it for years, but it has been especially great during the pandemic. Thanks to Discord I’ve been able to feel connected and have a social life from the comfort and safety of home. A lot of people complain about social media but I am very thankful for it. I use Facebook a lot less than I used to but I still rely on it to stay connected with friends and family and to share photos. I haven’t used Instagram as much but I still enjoy scrolling through it regularly. Normally I spend a lot of time doing photography, which is what I enjoy sharing on social media, but being depressed depleted my motivation so I didn’t take very many photographs this year–at least for me.

Hopes for the Coming Year

Unlike last year I’m feeling pretty optimistic about this coming year. I hope that we continue to get a better grip on COVID and the pandemic. Hopefully, it will end but I’m not counting on it. Now that I’m out of school it’s time to focus on my career and my health. Aside from that, I’m hoping to get back into photography, finish setting up my darkroom, read for pleasure, and work on a few house projects like removing the wallpaper throughout the house. I also hope we’re able to gather with friends and travel more. We have a few little trips planned, but New York is the next place I’d really like to knock off my travel bucket list. I don’t know if we’ll be able to make it happen this year but I’m going to start planning.

Highlights of 2021

• Completing my thesis project and graduating from grad school with an MFA.
• Visiting California + Other Travels
• Recovering from COVID & Depression
• Visiting with friends and family again. Game nights!
• DragonCon
• Karl received a promotion at Honda!

Carol’s 2021 Favorites

• TV Shows
  • Star Trek Discovery
  • Cobra Kai
  • Loki
  • WandaVision
  • The Queen’s Gambit
  • LinkedIn Learning
• Movies
  • Spider-Man: No Way Home
  • Free Guy
• Games
  • League of Legends
  • Diablo II Resurrected
• Misc
  • Discord
  • Banana Milk
  • Anything Taro flavored
  • Sleeping

Karl’s 2021 Favorites

• TV Shows
  • Star Wars Clone Wars
  • Star Wars Bad Batch
  • Star Wars Rebels
  • Rick and Morty
• Movies
  • Spider-Man: No Way Home
  • Dune
  • Free Guy
• Music
  • Wintergarden
  • They Might Be Giants
• Misc
  • Baconator Fries

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