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U.S. NEWS Wednesday 30 december 2020
Wiser resolutions? Lessons from COVID’s unfulfilled ones

By MELISSA RAYWORTH mendous psychological Yoga teacher Pamela Egg-
Associated Press labor. That work is invis- leston shifted her teaching
She’d wanted to frame ible, but it takes its toll, says online, filming a self-care
and hang them — just Catherine Sanderson, chair course for Yoga Journal
three printed pictures that of the psychology depart- to help people thrive dur-
had been sitting in Lucy ment at Amherst College. ing this challenging year.
O’Donoghue’s suburban For much of the nation, the Teaching exclusively on-
Atlanta house since the sense in the early days of line “was a challenge for
year began. That’s all. Yet quarantine that the disrup- me. But I did it,” she says.
with a full-time job and two tion would be brief soon Though she’s based in the
small kids, she hadn’t found melted into an amorphous Washington, D.C., area,
the time. uncertainty. she soon had students tun-
But when COVID-19 The normal guardrails that ing in from as far away as
slowed life to a quaran- govern the days — get- Scotland. And something
tine-induced crawl, she ting dressed and out the else: She returned to social
began working remotely. door on time, driving kids justice activism this year.
It seemed like the perfect to sports practices and “I’ve done more of that
time to get this — and a dance classes on a tight than I had done in a This image provided by Lucy O’Donoghue shows a children
slew of other small projects schedule in the evenings while,” Eggleston says. “It playing by a lake.
— done. — disappeared for many. feels good to me to return Associated Press
Eight months later, So while having extra time to these issues. They never might have seen quaran- mental health, was simplici-
O’Donoghue finally walked might have seemed like a leave me, as a Black wom- tine as a time to be highly ty. So I’m carrying that over
the two short blocks to a bright spot, it was also dis- an.” productive — and would into 2021 with intentional
store near her house and orienting. WHAT REALLY MATTERS have beaten herself up if simplifying,” she says.
bought a trio of ready- With too much unstruc- Tough times can be clarify- she wasn’t. “I’m normally So with those early-quar-
made frames. tured time, “I feel this aim- ing. They aren’t always so, someone that thrives on al- antine resolutions in mind,
“I put the pieces of art up in lessness,” says Steph Auteri, but they can be. ways being busy, jumping how do we approach this
my house, and that made a writer who lives in Vero- People may not have tack- from one thing to another,” weekend, the moment of
me so happy,” she says. na, New Jersey. “The busier led the home improvement she says. shaking off 2020 and invok-
“How is it that something I am, the better I operate. projects they planned or Instead, she prioritized ing fresh New Year’s resolu-
that only took me 45 min- The more time I have, I start written novels. But many keeping a healthy balance tions for 2021?
utes has taken me over a to get down in the dumps.” focused on their own well- between managing her Serani expects many peo-
year to get around to do- That’s a common experi- being, and their kids’, and business and connecting ple’s resolutions will be
ing?” The answer, as it has ence, says Serani: In the asked themselves what re- with her family. focused less on material
been with so much, is this: United States, “it’s a re- ally matters. “My big thing this year, just goals and more on what
Because 2020. ally high-octane life. And In the past, business coach out of purely trying to focus they’ve decided is most
Ten months ago, Ameri- it was slammed. We hit the Rachel Brenke says, she on my kids, myself and my important. q
cans waded into unfamiliar brakes and everybody had
waters. For many who were to stop, and it was hard for
not plunged immediately many people.”
into economic or medi- This year has required us to
cal emergency, it was as create new structures. That
though some strange, pro- takes time and energy.
tracted, fragmented snow Pre-pandemic, “on a Sat-
day had begun. Plans and urday, you wouldn’t wake
promises bloomed on so- up in your office. There’s
cial media like spring flow- a distinction. And now,
ers. Bread was baked. Proj- you have to actually think
ects were launched. about, ‘What am I do-
“With the greatest of inten- ing?,’” Sanderson says. “It
tions, in the first few weeks requires a level of planning
people had rearranged that you’re not used to and
their shoe closets and that we don’t have prac-
made their spice racks al- tice with.”
phabetical,” says psychol- Yet amid all this uncertainty
ogist Deborah Serani, an and psychological labor,
adjunct professor at Adel- people are looking back
phi University in New York. and realizing they did dis-
PSYCHOLOGICAL LABOR cover a quiet productivity.
The pandemic requires In her Queens, New York,
new levels of vigilance home, months of quar-
and decision-making, and antine led Neesa Sunar
it has disrupted millions to return to playing viola
of families. The presiden- after many years away.
tial election required deft Auteri made progress too,
calibration to get along reorganizing her schedule
peaceably with relatives or around helping her 6-year-
friends with differing views. old daughter with remote
This year saw an escalation learning, and eventually
in crises social, racial and launching an educational
environmental. website in time for the start
All of this has required tre- of school in September.