Wednesdays at Forty-Something: A Year of the World Being Drastically Different

I feel comfortable saying that a year ago at this time, nobody was expecting the world to be so different just two weeks later. I arrived in Indinapolis, on January 31, 2020, with great anticipation of things to come: hobbies that I would take up, classes that I would enroll in (dance, tai chi, knitting, whatever), and avenues I would take to make friends. In February 2020, I got the car registered and received new Indiana Veteran plates for it. I transferred my Costco membership--everyone should be able to buy TP by the dozens, and applied for a new job at the local White House Black Market. I started there in the very beginning of March 2020. The first Sunday in March, I also drove up to Elwood to visit my Indiana cousins on what I had hoped would be the first of many Sunday gatherings.

Just a few days later, the world shut down. COVID-19 had come to America and caused our country and state leadership to put everything on hold. Businesses closed, services were no longer available, and there was a ton of uncertainty. I was in the middle of selling my house in Delaware and had to find ways to get paperwork signed and notarized so that the process wasn't held up. Thankfully, I discovered thumbtack.com and found a mobile notary. (I have since used Thumbtack to find a plumber and a lawn guy.)

All those plans I had were done. There would be no classes. There would be no new hobbies. I did take up an old one: watching Netflix. I renewed my subscription from 14 years prior so that I would have something to watch. $8.99/mo is a whole lot cheaper than getting cable or satellite. I watched some things for distraction and some things for education. If you've never seen 13th by Ava DuVernay, I highly recommend it. After living in Iowa and being many miles from anything, I didn't think my life could get any more sedentary.

I was wrong.

My apartment, here in Indy, was approximately 650 sq ft. I would sit at my desk and watch movies or I'd sit in my bedroom and read books. I didn't live in a neighborhood that would have been great for going for walks. I sat...for three months. The only other time I've sat for so long was during my 2.5 month road trip across the country back in 2016. By the time May 2020 rolled around, I was itching to get out of the apartment and find a house. It took less than a month to do so and, by mid-July, I was moving in. Thankfully, I had someone to help: my new boyfriend. We broke up a month ago, back in March, but it was nice to have someone to help me move in and get settled in the house.

At the end of September 2020, I got a new job. A full-time, 40+ hrs a week, job for the first time since I left the military in 2016. That was a big adjustment. I mean, in college, yeah, I occasionally had to get up early for an 8am class but those were never more than 3x week. This was getting up around 6am 5x week. Which soon became 4x a week when my ever-present migraines made it impossible for me to work every day. At that same time, I got a new membership to a local YMCA and started working with a personal trainer. It's been too long that I've been sedentary. It was time to be more physically active. Between the gym and walks at the local state park, I'm doing just that.

So now it's April 2021 and I'm excited to see how the rest of year pans out.