2020 nearly broke me. I’m grateful I’ve been able to bounce back from most of my disappointments of 2020. I have more to be thankful for than resentment this year.
Here’s a recap of 2020 by the season.
Winter
The year started with a resolution to be kind, offer help often and spending more time with important women in my life. Those resolutions helped me survive this crazy year.
In January I finally made it to Quebec City. My relationship with Chris ended shortly after. It took a few weeks to accept but we kept our friendship and living arrangement working until….
Suddenly I’m living on my own to figure out my future housing situation and a new career in a pandemic.
I did have some creative ways to deal with the extra time. I combined the two activities I missed; teaching fitness and swimming, and created instructional videos. If you want to help my career and become a Patron to access these videos. 🙂
Spring
After 5 weeks of underemployment I found out that long term care needed redeployed staff. I offered to help and was sent to Castleview Wychwood Towers. I started in Food Services. It was one of the toughest jobs I ever had. I worked as hard as I could in a hostile kitchen environment. 5 weeks of repetitive movements combined with stressful work environment, I re-injured my shoulder. I took two weeks off and when I was (sort of) healed I returned and was moved into Resident care. I discovered my skills are in dealing directly with residents and their families. I was happy working full time, being part of a team and working so close to home.
Summer
Mid-July my redeployment assignment ended. At the same time Toronto outdoor pools opened. I had extra time. 2-3 times a week, I’d spend 2 hours waiting outside the pool to get my spot for a 30 minute swim. Swimming with a time limit took some getting use to but I took what I could get and appreciated my swims more than I did pre-pandemic.
I tried to maximize the warmer weather with outdoor visits knowing that the winter months would be lonely. I took courses, sent my resume out, and went for long walks and bike rides to visit family and friends.
Fall
When the outdoor pools closed at the end of summer, I started to swim indoors. Often I’d get more than 30 minutes to swim and it was the best part of my day.
I got more even serious about job searching and sought professional help with my resume. 3.5 months of unemployment got a bit much and I was anxious to have purpose again. With the second COVID-19 wave, came another redeployment opportunity in long term care. This time at Fudger House, a bit more of a hike than Castleview Wychwood Towers, which was an 18 minute walk from home!
Long term care during the second wave was more devastating. Witnessing residents for the past 10 weeks confined to their rooms/beds has been a taxing experience. It didn’t take me long to get to know the residents’ needs and find a way to brighten their days. It has been tough, watching the virus spread, the numbers going higher, residents dying. As the holidays approached, the positive cases started to go down to zero by December 29th. Fudger was declared out of outbreak but Castleview was now on outbreak. I end the year at Castleview. A bit crazy but I’m happy to help our vulnerable population during this tough time. I expect 2021 to have its challenges but with less of a shock than 2020. I’ve become more resilient, mentally strong and know more about where I belong in this world.
What were your highlights of 2020?
