1 telework. It’s nice to have my husband in the house four days a week, even when we’re both working online and not even interacting directly.
2 masks. I know I said I didn’t like them, but I also do like them – no one got sick during the winter. Sinus infections, strep, and bronchitis are typical winter illnesses for us, and we had zero this year! Masks work! Masks every winter forever!
3 family game time. We play games a lot more than we did before. We still want to get our kids into Dominion, but Pit and Ticket to Ride are frequent options.
4 the quiet holiday season. I love Christmas parties and I don’t mind being a room mom at the elementary school to plan and run Christmas parties. But the pressure of December was substantially decreased in 2020.
5 limited attendance at church services. This seems counter-intuitive, but limited church attendance dramatically changed my one-to-one ministering, for the better. I can’t talk to people in the church foyer on Sundays and call it good – I have to actually call them on the phone, or go to their house (masked, and based on their comfort level, of course.) Yes, it takes a lot more time and pushes me out of my comfort zone, but it’s so much more effective in actually – you know – helping people feel loved. Which is the whole point.
6 the stimulus money. I will openly acknowledge that we took those checks and dumped them straight into the student loans, and paid them off. After 15 years of slogging away at them. I know you’re “not supposed” to pay off debt with the stimmy money, we’re “supposed to” just go buy lots of junk to “stimulate the economy.” But the mental freedom of no more student debt is AMAZING.