It’s officially fall, and while most people are overdosing on pumpkin spice and dragging their sweaters out of storage, I’m over here phoning in the fall season. While I love the leaves and their cheery colors, bowls of soup with bread, and the smoky scent of firewood, I’m already looking ahead.
It’s already been the worst fall of all time. I’m dreaming of a next fall when hayrides, tailgates and potlucks are the norm again. Sure, I can live in the moment—what choice do I have?—but I don’t think it’s too soon to start making some resolutions for a post-Covid world.
I’ve decided that I’m skipping New Year’s resolutions. I’m going straight for what we’re all waiting and pining for that isn’t tethered to a date on the calendar. As soon as someone gives the all-clear that we can stop tiptoeing through our lives like nervous cats, I hope I remember these resolutions and live them well.
My Top 20 Post-Covid Resolutions
- Dress up and wear something that makes me feel awesome at least twice a week.
- Entertain more at home and crash your party. Who cares if our homes are clean? Clean is overrated.
- Hug everyone, give out kisses, invade personal space. I’ll bring the breath mints.
- Travel abroad and take the trips I was saving for someday.
- Bring back the mosh pit.
- Decrease my screen time. Screens aren’t our friends. Humans are.
- Forgive and move on. Life is short. An angry life is bitter and lonely.
- Shake hands with anyone and everyone. Hold hands with the people I love.
- Write the book.
- Ditch Amazon and go shopping. Browse the aisles. Touch things, smell things and try before you buy. Champion the resurgence of retail!
- Take a swing dancing class.
- Buy the tickets. Go to a nerd-fest fan convention or a writer’s conference.
- Visit Disney World or Universal Studios and never complain about long lines again.
- Stay for the reception. Dance.
- Go to all the parades.
- Make time for the family visits and do the traditions. Make them count.
- Double dip.
- Turn off the news and do something newsworthy (something legal and positive, of course).
- Schedule and keep the coffee date, the lunch, or the movie night with a favorite friend. Catch up with the people who always say, “we need to catch up.”
- Build a massive bonfire and invite everyone over to Burn. Our. Masks!
I made my resolutions as realistic as I possibly could. They’re within reason, right? When reason is something we get the luxury to enjoy again, I will be ready.
What are your post-Covid resolutions? If you’re like most humans on earth at this moment, there’s a fairly good chance you already have a list all your own. Like mine, your list may seem silly in relation to a deadly pandemic, but mental health is important too.
Writing down our goals by reflecting on what we’ve learned isn’t naive if it also makes us feel good. Feeling good is a worthy investment of our time right now. It’s also a boost for the immune system!
Visualizing what we’ll do with our unhampered hours once we get them back is the first step to redeeming some of what we’ve lost this year.
Commit to something different and a new appreciation of what’s important to you in the post-Covid years of your lives.
If anyone has an update on when that begins, just let me know.
Until then, make the resolutions. Start working on them now. Trash the ones you’re making for 2021. Lord knows we wish we could take back our 2020 resolutions. After all, hindsight is … well, you know the rest.
Cartwheel Life 