To an enlightening 2020 and beyond.

As 2020 is coming to an end, I’d love to hear the good things that happened to you. What are some positive discoveries, hobbies, discarded hobbies, life lessons, accomplishments that shook out this year? Here’s mine:

1. I need people both more and less than I expected. The months I spent working from home were a dream come true. While the interactions I have with coworkers can be lovely and valuable (I genuinely like literally everyone I work with), they do little for my overall happiness and fulfillment. However, there is a group of maybe 50 people in my social orbit (which includes many of my coworkers) whose company and conversation ground me on planet earth. They remind me that my pain isn’t particularly unique and that I’m not designed to endure it alone. Nothing comes even close to defining me as much as my personal relationships do. I’m not above it all. I desperately need the mutual approval of the people who I love. If you are in my life, thanks for being here. If you aren't, there's a decent chance I wish you were. The struggle of putting as many of you as I can into my life is a beautiful one and I wish I were much better at it.
2. Cycling. I discovered that cycling is one of my absolute favorite things to do. I don’t even do it to attempt to get in shape. I just find it deeply satisfying to cover long distances while taking in beautiful scenery. Runner’s knee destroyed my trail running routine and it turns out that I love cycling even more (though hiking is much less complicated and dangerous).
3. House plants! This has mostly been my wife's territory but I am fully converted to the cult of house plants. They each feel like unique works of participation art. Just looking at them feels like a therapy session. I’m trying to fight the urge to turn my entire apartment into a greenhouse.
4. Let people love their stupid shit. We all love dumb, trivial stuff. Is Star Wars stupid? Well yeah, just not more stupid than Christmas or sports ball or whatever. If you like something, embrace it! If someone else likes something trivial, encourage it! Liking shit is the spice of life and hating it does literally nothing other than making you less likeable and adding more conflict to your life. I’m not going to stop criticizing Disney for contributing to the ruin of movies but I’m not going to let it get in the way of me enjoying a fun flick. I’m not going to fake like things but I’ve made a conscious effort to embrace this and it has benefited my psyche. There are already too many problems that matter for us to waste our time channelling negative energy towards the things that don’t. Also, The Mandalorian sucks so bad that I genuinely can’t understand why it makes anyone excited but like whatever (and yes, I’ve tried watching it drunk and it doesn’t help so stop asking. AT SOME POINT THE SHOW NEEDS TO STOP BEING ABOUT RANDOM SIDE QUESTS THAT DO PRACTICALLY NOTHING TO MOVE THE PLOT FORWARD!!!!)