Reflection of my 2020

The year of 2020 has been a very long one.  In many ways, I can’t believe it hasn’t been over for a long time, but at other times I can not believe that this year, the year of the pandemic, the rioting and protesting, and personal struggles is about over.  While I know that it can be very easy to push this year away as a total wash and hope that we never have a year like this one again, (I do definitely agree with that last part), there are also many positives that have come out of my personal year of 2020.  I actually feel as though this is one of my biggest years of growth, even amidst the struggle.  Maybe it was the struggle and adapting that helped me to grow as a person.   

This year I had my first real heartbreak, a couple actually.  I have talked many times throughout my blog posts about losing my grandpa.  Wow, did that shake my world and it still does in many ways today.  I would love nothing more this Christmas than to have my grandpa back. Only my mom, grandma, and I went to the Christmas Eve service.  I remember just a year or so ago, there was my grandma, grandpa, mom, and a couple sets of aunts and uncles that all went to the Christmas Eve service.  It was hard sitting there without Papa being there listening to the songs along with me. There would have been so many things that I would say to my grandpa if he could also come to our family Christmas.  I would tell him how school is going, that even though it has been exhausting amidst mask mandates, teaching online and in person, there are still so many great stories about my students and what they are learning.  I would tell him how running my Middle School study hall is going, that there have been ups and downs, but overall I believe we have gotten into a great rhythm.  I would tell him all about learning how to keep score-book for Basketball in order that I can go to at least some basketball games in person.  I bet he would think that was cool because he was interested in sports.   That is just a small list of the things that I all really want to tell him.  

I also struggled through the death of my dog, Kaiser. I really loved that dog, and when my mom called and told me he was run over, it brought me to my knees in tears.  I have never felt pain like that where it literally weighed me down to the floor.  Granted it was probably everything from the pandemic, my grandpa, and finally the death of Kaiser that was enough to bring me to my knees and make me wonder if I will ever be able to escape the pain of my current circumstances.  This blog post is not supposed to be about my pain as I have already written a lot about that, but those items were very much present in my 2020 and I can not easily forget it.  I will say that those hardships have helped me grow even more throughout this year.  I have decided that I am very grateful for the people, dogs, and things that are in my life and now I know better than to take them for granted. 

I grew a lot professionally throughout the year of 2020.  This year was the first year where I taught in the same school from the beginning of the year to the end.  I started in January still in my first year of teaching, and now I am in my second year of teaching.  I have learned so much over this past year, including how to teach online.  I still have a lot to learn, but I can see where my handouts, presentations, practice exercises, and units are overall so much better from this full year of teaching.  I also was blessed this summer with the chance to be the one in charge of the summer program at the Bridge of Storm Lake.   I absolutely love the Bridge, and I have loved all the summers that I have gotten the chance to work there, so I was very happy to help the team out for another year.   This summer definitely was different as the pandemic was going on, but we as a team found a way to spread love and joy to the kids and community amongst those struggles.  I was by no means the only one involved in these decisions but as the person in charge of the summer program and team, I had to continue thinking of creative ideas to stay involved in the community.  This was a great way to grow in my leadership skills that will no doubt help me become a better teacher and just general worker in the future.  

I have also continued in my passion of fighting against human trafficking.  I am still involved in IJM through helping college students.  I got to be a part of starting the race to rescue event which was a great amount of fun.  Then I also completed Dressember like I do every year that raises funds to anti-human trafficking organizations.  Because of my family and friends support, I finally got over $1000 which is the first time I have achieved that in the four years that I have been a part of Dressember.  There is still the month of January to fundraise, so I will continue to try raising more money for this wonderful cause.  If you would still like to give money to end Human trafficking/Modern Day slavery around the world, here is the link to my personal page or, of course, I would recommend giving to the Dressember team as well. https://dressember2020.funraise.org/fundraiser/courtney-post

I have also grown a lot through the goals that I have set from this year.  The first big thing is my exercise goals.  I have always loved to exercise but the year of 2020 I set a couple of exercise goals that I was for the most part able to achieve.  My first exercise goal for the year was to be able to run 750 miles, and I did it! I worked very hard on this goal.  I have never kept track of my miles for the year, and I am really glad that I did.  I now have a better understanding of just how many miles I can run within a year’s time.  Plus, this just reminded me how much I love running.  I wasn’t able to run much the year before because of knee surgery, so this year was definitely making up for lost time.  I loved getting the chance to run around Buffalo Center and Storm Lake.  Another goal I had was to be able to squat 160 to 170 pounds.  I also achieved this, and I found out that I really feel very strong when it comes to going to the weight room. The other goal was to bench press 110-120, now I will be honest I made it more to 95 pounds.  I never really had anyone spot me in order to see if I could do the higher weight amount.  I will keep working on my bench press, but I have definitely gotten stronger in general in regard to my upper body strength.  

Another goal of mine was to be able to read 25 to 30 books.  I achieved this goal and I definitely read some great books this year.  I tried to read books this year that fell under different genres including reading all the autobiography books of Maya Angelou.  Maya is known for many things, but one of those is her book, “I know why the Caged Bird Sings.”  However, it may not be commonly known that she continues her story through 6 other books.  Her life story has many highs and lows, but she writes with such grace and style throughout it all.  This book series was a good reminder to read from a different perspective and lifestyle as a way to grow in empathy and sympathy.  I have never experienced sexual assault, and I certainly never did underage.  I also have never had racial stereotypes or prejudices impact my daily life personally as a white woman growing up in the Midwest of the United States.   I was able to learn more about what that feels like through reading her story, even if her story takes place 70 years ago.  I highly recommend reading that book series if you ever get to it.  

Another goal that I had for this year was starting a blog.  I had wanted to start a blog for a long time, and this year I finally did it.  I have found that writing this blog has provided me with a great deal of joy.  I love getting the chance to take the thoughts I have about a verse, a concept, or a quote in writing that anyone can read.  I love that there are some people who take the time to read what I have to say (Including you if you are reading this right now).  This also has given me a way to express myself when I was dealing with a great deal of pain in my life as well as help me to remember certain experiences and things that I am learning.   I plan to keep this blog up in the years to come and hopefully that will only help me continue to grow as both a person and as a writer.