last laugh

� Last Laugh�

The Grass Isn’t L Always Greener ike most people, when the pandemic really began (for us, at least) was commanding my own ship any longer. Sure, I was on this path of living that felt like it had a specific purBy Brandon Goldstein in March, I viewed it as a weird yet nice little spring pose, but it was devoid of the true values and virtues I break. We will stay home together, relax, enjoy the felt a life well-lived needed. A friend of mine compared company of our families and, once the weather breaks, it to being a hamster on a wheel – never stopping, but the virus will be long gone and it’ll be a very short, yet never really getting anywhere either. memorable, story in our lives – one we could tell our These many months of low-key life have allowed for grandkids and laugh about. deeper inflection about what life is supposed to be.

Unfortunately, like most of 2020 and the first weeks As much as I cannot wait for COVID to no longer be of 2021, that didn’t exactly go according to plan. a word used in our daily dealings, there are certainly While it’ll certainly be a story all of us will tell our many aspects of my pre-pandemic life that will be very grandchildren, it has left a lasting mark on our lives different than my days stuck on that hamster wheel. that make silver linings quite hard to find. Well, I’m For that, I’m forever thankful. here to find some. For many of us, the past year was a great opportu-

Many of the people I talk to, via Zoom, of course, nity to actually fulfill the resolutions we so boldly claim have lamented about how our lives have changed. We on Jan. 1 and quickly forget by the 2nd. This year talk about the things we can do, and the things we though, that chance to lose weight, be a better person can’t. We talk about what we miss and who has been or cook more and order out less was certainly there for out and about doing what, etc. While I’m not here for the taking. Even if you wanted to remain on that hamthe gossip, I’ve noticed one aspect of our conversa- ster wheel, the world made it impossible not to stop. tions certainly has changed. Did you take the opportunity to change yourself?

For months, we talked about the “pre-COVID” days, It’s easy to say the world turned ugly this past year. and how when life got back to normal, our routines It has. It’s filled with more hate, more division and would mimic those we had before we ever heard the more disagreement than ever. We are at a fork in the term “coronavirus” or “stay-at-home orders.” road. You can remain part of the problem or open

But after physically not being able to do those things your eyes and realize that being a part of the solution for so long, many of us have had plenty of time to re- will make you just as happy at the expense of no-one flect on the lives we used to lead, and have noted the else. We may never return to the “old normal” and the excesses and indulgences in life that became a part of “new normal” is cliche and non-sustaining. Carve your who we were – whether we really wanted them to own path. Restart your life. Simplify it and cut out the or not. bullshit. 2020 was the year for self-reflection. Now’s the

Looking back, I was on autopilot. I didn’t feel like I time for self-improvement. ■

WINTER 2021

BC THE MAG