Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission (at no cost to you). I only recommend books and products that I genuinely use, read, and love! Thanks for helping to keep The French Lemon running!

It has been a while since I have been on here for some obvious reasons, most importantly being that I’m surviving a pandemic. For the majority of us, life has been weird for almost a year now. I’m lucky and I have no problem recognizing that. My husband and I have not lost our jobs. Our lives are stable. We have not lost anyone close to us to Covid-19. There are people who have lost so much through this pandemic. Even though things are good for us, we are still surviving a pandemic which is mentally exhausting sometimes. I constantly have thoughts about how badly I just want life to go back to normal.

Like most people, 2020 did not look like a normal year for me. In March of 2020, our state shut all schools down for the rest of the school year and I spent the remainder of the year teaching virtually (which is hard, by the way). Summer was summer but without trips to the snow cone stands and pools. We did our best to act responsibly and stay home as much as possible. I will admit that it was wonderful to have so much extra time at home with my husband and kids. Daniel was also working remotely and still is. We got lots of play time outside in, worked on our flowerbeds, and did lots of cooking and baking.

Schools opened back up in August and I have been teaching remote students and in-person students since then. It’s challenging and I find myself pretty mentally and physically exhausted most of the time. I think most teachers tackling this task can relate. It’s February and I finally am starting to feel like I got this down and can breathe a little bit.

Travel Life in 2020

Travel didn’t happen in 2020 which was super hard on me. I really just feel like I need to get on a plane to anywhere most days. We were supposed to travel to New Jersey for my brother’s wedding in October last year and they were forced to push that back to October 2021. Daniel and I had a trip planned to Italy this coming March and we have had to move that out to July. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that we will be able to get to Italy safely by July.

Book Life in 2020

Reading was also a struggle for me in 2020. I usually read at least 50 books a year but I only managed to get 26 in last year. I recently read an article about why people are struggling to engage in activities that they usually enjoy and the gist was that we are surviving a pandemic. Even if our lives have not drastically changed and we haven’t lost our jobs, we are still dealing with stress of living during a pandemic which affects our attention spans and how we are able to engage in activities. I found this to be totally true for me last year. I’m hoping 2021 will look a bit different for me in this area of my life because I miss a good story. So far, it’s not going so well….I’ve only finished two books…

Here is what I actually did manage to read in 2020:

• The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
• From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout
• The Spirit in the Crypt by Alexander Lound
• The Guest List by Lucy Foley
• Circe by Madeline Miller
• The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
• Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman
• Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore
• The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia
• The Ballads of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
• White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
• Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes
• The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James
• A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
• The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George
• The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu
• The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
• The Giver of the Stars by Jojo Moyes
• A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende
• All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace
• Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
• The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw
• The Scent Keeper by Erica Bauermeister
• Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
• American Dirt by Jeanine Cummings
• I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara

So What’s Next in 2021?

At the beginning of a new year, I usually have at least a mental list of things that I want to accomplish in the next year. 2020 really threw me for a loop and proved to me that my plans are often a waste of time. 2020 forced me to go with the flow and let go of my strict plans and lists. It was hard for me in a lot of ways but 2020 also forced me to take a step back and take a good long look at my life and consider if this is the life I really want. Researching lifestyle design is something I spend a lot of time on at the end of 2020 so, for 2021, I think the overall goal is to continue considering what I really want my daily life to look like and to continue moving towards that little by little. I’m going to let go of the goals and plans this year and focus on the things I really want and really enjoy. If it isn’t one of those two things, I don’t need it in 2021.