2020 was a difficult year for many people. Many lost loved ones or income because of the pandemic. Our family had its own share of loss: three family members passed away during the year, although not because of the virus. Earlier that same week, a former colleague I had worked with for about five years also died suddenly. He was far too young, and I was still very sad about it when I wrote this.
Despite all the bad news, here we were on the final day of the year. In Hungary, we had only a few hours left before 2021, and I wanted to take a little time to look back.
Even though we lost people we loved, there were also things we gained. Because of the pandemic, I was fortunate enough to be able to work from home. That gave me back several hours each day that would otherwise have been spent commuting, and I could use that time for things that mattered to me.
As a family, we also spent much more time together. We live in a relatively small space, so being around one another constantly took some adjustment, but eventually we learned to enjoy it.
Towards the end of the year, we had settled into a routine of waking up around 6:00 to 6:30 every morning and having breakfast and lunch together. Breakfast was usually the main meal of the day, lunch was lighter, and we often skipped dinner unless someone was hungry.
We started a family savings fund sometime in May and were surprised by how much we managed to save once we became more deliberate about it.
My daughter and I also became more disciplined with music. She played the piano, while I played guitar — although not together, at least not yet. She became quite consistent with her practice, and I started learning fingerstyle guitar as well as some music theory.
I also got my driving licence in 2020. I had not started driving yet, so one of the things I was thinking about for 2021 was finally getting a car and putting the licence to use.
I exceeded my reading goal for the year. I had planned to read 48 books and finished 57, across different lengths and genres. It was probably the first time since my school years that I had read that many books in a single year. For 2021, I set the goal at 52 books.
My Hungarian studies also went well. I could understand more and speak more than before. I bought the books in the MagyarOK series, completed one level and was nearly halfway through A2.
I had deliberately gone back to the basics and started building up again more slowly. I also tried to use what I learned by writing to native speakers on sites such as Lang-8 and HiNative, rather than relying only on textbooks.
There were many smaller goals I managed to achieve that year, but these were some of the main ones. 2020 was undeniably difficult, but when I looked back at the year, I could still see areas of progress in everyday life.
My next task was to finish writing my goals for 2021.
Here’s hoping for a better 2021 for everyone.