Year of the Fym

Back in 2016, I consciously aspired to make my 33rd year the best year of my life. That turned out pretty well.

This year, I didn't set out to do the same, but a lot of things fell into place. Here's everything that's happened in just January and February: 

The Chiefs won the Super Bowl

I won a Gold Addy for the first time

Our whole family changed our eating habits and everyone lost a bunch of weight.

Just 47 days into the year, Mark had already crowned 2020: 

Perhaps that was a bit premature. 

Just a few weeks later, a global pandemic arrived in the United States. Many people lost their jobs. My industry was hit hard and salary affected. 

March Madness (including Illinois in the tournament) was cancelled. Our family vacations to San Diego and Peoria were cancelled. I gained back 21 of the 19 pounds I had lost. (Yep, at my highest weight during the pandemic I was two pounds heavier than when I started the year.)

It didn't seem safe to send the kids to school, so they started virtual school. Our dog is on his last legs. Working from home with all of the commotion going on is quite stressful. 

And all of that is with avoiding any personal connections to people getting sick or lives being upended in the California wildfires. 

- - -

For many people, I think it's safe to say 2020 has either been the most challenging or worst year of their lives. 

It's definitely not the celebratory year I was thinking it would be in February, having just gone to a Super Bowl parade. 

But... in the middle of such a terrible year, some other good things happened. I started writing on Medium, and even wrote a post that reached #1 on the site, far exceeding my expectations. 

I got my own basketball hoop in the backyard and play all the time. 

I've now officially lost the Corona 21 and am back at the weight I was when the pandemic started. 

And my job moved from Kansas City to Overland Park, cutting my commute time in half. It's a cool new office, so whenever I'm back in there full-time, it will be really nice. 

So is this the Year of the Fym?

Well, let's see what happens on November 3 first.

November 7 Edit: Okay, getting a normal president again is actually really incredible. 

So yeah, Year of the Fym.