Author’s Note: This is the first of a two part look back of the year 2020. This post will cover the period from January-June, I will post part two (July-December) later today.

From my perspective, 2020 began with a lot of promise, turned into a nightmare, and somehow ended with me getting things back on track both physically and mentally. I was not in the best place going into 2020, namely because of the mental toll involved with taking care of a nearly 80 year old grandmother. I began the year with a renewed focus on getting my mental health in order, and by getting in shape. I also had plenty to be worried about to, as COVID-19 was just beginning to reach our shores. I was also working a lot of hours between both of my jobs, at a major retailer and as an usher at one of the arenas here in Columbus. In the early part of this year, I had managed to lose nearly 20 lbs. In short, I was feeling pretty good about my self, but then COVID morphed into a pandemic.

In the blink of an eye, my world turned upside down as a result of the COVID pandemic. I quickly found my arena job the least of my problems, as the NHL had suspended play shortly after a number of college basketball tournaments were cancelled and the NBA suspended play. I was also working Q4-like hours at my retail job. I also had to be very careful since the early days of the pandemic. My grandmother had not fully recovered from her stint in the hospital back in November 2019. My sister has a lengthy list of problems, including auto immune, and arthritis. I have health problems my self, namely Autism and Back Pain.

The wheels began falling off in April, I had turned to social media to be a distraction from some of the personal problems that I was having. I was spending way too much time on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. That, combined with some of the problems at home lead to some problems at the job I was still working (For the record I will not go into details over what happened.) At the same time, I had a couple of other injuries that I had to deal with (including a pulled calf in early May)

There were other events elsewhere that contributed to my decline in my mental health, including seeing images from the aftermath of the social justice protests here in Columbus (and other places, namely Minneapolis.) It was at that time that I began to notice a change in my behavior, and it reflected in what I was watching (at the time I was watching very profane comedy.) During that time I began searching for other outlets to get my mind off of my problems, and ultimately led me to rebooting this blog into what it is today, and my first social media hiatus in early June. I also had started to relaunch my creative project from a photography focus to include other creative projects.

There were a few positives from the early part of the year. I got a number of home improvement projects done at home. The list of projects included new windows, a new front door, the loss of some trees and a new fence. I had also started drinking some fruit smoothies (store bought as well as making some at home thanks to the blenders that I have acquired this year.) I had also made a concerted effort to reduce the amount of food that I was buying at lunchtime.

By the end of June, I had gained back most of the weight I had lost earlier in the year, had more problems between work and at home, and my social media addiction had reared its ugly head again. I finally decided to start regaining control of my life. That process began when I deleted all of my social media apps from my phone. While that was a good first step to take at the time, I also realized that I needed to take additional steps to get back in control of my life.