Life Lessons of 2020

[Card Slinger J]

I know it's probably a few months early to be posting this since we're not close to New Years Eve yet but I kinda wanted to talk about what we've learned about 2020 since the COVID-19 pandemic first started in March. Will we come out of this public health crisis better than we were before? What kind of choices in our lives are we making that we feel are being forced into nowadays? Are the new choices in our lives in the midst of this crisis more rewarding and fulfilling than what we were doing before? I want to make a disclaimer on this thread to avoid any political or religious subject matters as it's already been stressed enough on these forums. To start off I'll tell my side of the story.

This pandemic and perhaps 2020 as a whole has really made me reflect on my own personal life and what I want to do in the near future. I'm truly thankful and blessed that I still have my part-time job of 18 years since graduating from high school in 2003. I've noticed from the experience I've had within my gaming hobby that I've learned more about the inner workings of how the system works and how it's built to create a form of escapism that's probably less fulfilling than video games per say. Nothing against social experiences in general when it seems as though newer generations are less interested due to new market trends and If you don't follow then you're going to get left behind.

We often tend to forget that life here on Earth is short as we don't think much about our internal future rather than our external future in which we've been focusing too much of our lives around. We can't take our personal belongings with us when we die but we can cherish the memories behind them. Instead of conforming to the ways of the world, conform to the renewing of our minds. To gain the most value out of our lives is to do more for others rather than ourselves and how that will impact their generation as they pass those teachings onto others and so on. Maybe instead of allowing ourselves to be distracted we need to do more not just for the Earth but for humanity as well.

[robertleva]

I guess I have learned to value the things about day to day life and American culture that I took for granted. I will miss just relaxing after work at a bar or catching a movie with some friends. I used to love catching a football game, or an NBA game but those are out now too, for multiple reasons. I live in FL where they just opened up everything back to 100%, but it's still nowhere near the same as it was.

Pretty much everyone who was "on the fence" about being social at public places before covid hit is now a basement dweller, ordering contact free food from chain restaurants most of the week. The crowds just aren't there in your regular mom and pop businesses. I have been trying to support the local stuff as much as possible.

One small example: Our favorite little Italian restaurant, in business 33 years, gone in June. We used to watch them make the pizzas, throwing the huge discs of dough in the air while we ate. The owner was from NY, and he was teaching his teenage son everything about the business. We watched the teen learn to make the pizzas, wait tables and work the register. The mom worked there too of course. It was a beautiful little vision of the American dream. All shattered thanks to restrictions that somehow don't affect the bottom line of huge businesses like Walmart, Apple, Amazon, etc.

I know it's not politically correct to about the lives and dreams of decent folks that have been destroyed, but it really makes me feel sad. I will no longer take the folks that remain for granted.

[motleyslayer]

This may or may not have much of a relation to the covid pandemic, as correlation doesn't always mean causation. But my mental health has improved a lot this year. Part of it could be because about a year ago sometime next week, I quit the call centre job I was just miserable at. While my current job isn't something I wanna do for much longer, I'm at least a bit happier there. I also told myself I'd work on other things I can fix. One thing I've been getting better at is trying to deal with the negative thought processes I've struggled with in the past. I'm still not completely out of it but I'm much better than I was at tilting myself into being miserable (for the lack of a better way to describe it). I'm hoping it will be the start of getting into a place where I can make myself happier

Pandemic has kinda slowed down me finding employment I can see myself doing for my life but I'm sure I'll be fine. Covid really has me grateful for a lot of the stuff I enjoyed pre-pandemic such as large Magic events, sporting events and other large gatherings

[The Fluff]

this year has teach me how important these things are.. good health and money.

March-April I was literally sleeping like a kid, early to bed at 10. For fear of death.
Plenty of fruits, I turned life into mtg... each feeling of sore throat, I respond by tap and consume an orange or whatever fruits are available. lol

our family business suffered heavily, with losses in 6 digits cash, due to more than two months closed. I guess we are still lucky.. the more than 20 year old photography and snackbar besides us lost business, as well as the 3 year old appliance center nearby. My own bank account got thinned as well.. wtf... so these days, my buying of luxury items from japan like idol cd's and figures (inside spoiler tags on link) have to be almost stopped, buy only things that I really like. Mtg spendings have become very limited as well, like for example.. I think twice even buying a playset of Valakut Exploration - which are only 2 dollars each..

this year made me treasure being still alive, no one in our house died. My aunt got infected. The friend of my mom is not so lucky, his brother died a few days ago. My friend from Peru is also having trouble breathing, he said the doctor forbidden him from going out of the house, and he's drinking fluids like crazy - said buses are called moving coffins in his country.

[Ginuqu]

Lessons I've taken from it centre on putting more energy into my friends and hardening against propaganda which tries to blame the world's latest disaster on the poor. I just feel so useless and middle-class in a position like this, filled with anxiety and voicelessness but at the same time, not truly at risk of starving or eviction like so many are, somehow still affording to be able to obsess over bits of cardboard and whatnot. It's gross, really, and I've been giving money to protestors and funds and have dropped off goods at shelters to shift the guilt. Meanwhile the commenter class is out there putting out weekly columns of confusion and trying to turn us against one another. The best you can do is focus on the close community you have, reject news opinion and dip out of the discourse because it's designed for cloutchasers and damages people in real life.

[robertleva]

Lessons I've taken from it centre on putting more energy into my friends and hardening against propaganda which tries to blame the world's latest disaster on the poor. I just feel so useless and middle-class in a position like this, filled with anxiety and voicelessness but at the same time, not truly at risk of starving or eviction like so many are, somehow still affording to be able to obsess over bits of cardboard and whatnot. It's gross, really, and I've been giving money to protestors and funds and have dropped off goods at shelters to shift the guilt. Meanwhile the commenter class is out there putting out weekly columns of confusion and trying to turn us against one another. The best you can do is focus on the close community you have, reject news opinion and dip out of the discourse because it's designed for cloutchasers and damages people in real life.

Hang in there, you are not alone. Good is stronger in defeat than evil is in victory. Remember that and we will get through this together.

[duducrash]

Good question. I've learned not to trust bosses. over here when you are laid off you receive a sum of money and payment is at the end of the worked month, you also receive money for transportation (home to work and then work to home) and some money for worked day. I was laid off in may. Didn't receive the days I worked in march nor may, I had over 60 extra hours that also didn't receive. I was going to work out of pocket. My boss sent this email on how the pandemic had made it impossible for him to honor his commitments.

I follow him on insta. He has got a VERY expensive car since, gave a car to his 18 old son and since everything here and is living his best life in the beach apparently. me and many others will have to go to justice to ever see any cent of the work we did. I just hate bosses so much right now.

I also learned that people are more stubborn than I could ever think of. 142k people have died over here and I swear to god people are going to parties like nothing happened.

Also learned that I need to learn more dishes, eating my own food for months has been.......... challenging when I only know a couple of dishes

[motleyslayer]

I feel that how stubborn people can be is actually quite alarming tbh. The amount of people that will still refuse to wear masks in public or refuse to stay more than 6 feet away is still pretty high. I mean I don't really like wearing a mask either bit I also understand that it probably does some good, otherwise it wouldn't be required of us. There have also been some super large parties close to where I live. In the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) there were several fines handed out at various points in the lockdown/pandemic. Also once schools started back up, there were multiple university parties that resulted in fines. Some even resulting in more covid cases.

I have a good buddy that was laid off pretty much as soon as the lockdown happened and eventually let go by his employer (still hasn't found a new job, despite restrictions laying off a while ago). He also got the run around from the government when trying to get CERB, he never got the paperwork when he needed it and basically the government had to back him about $8000 for the delays. the nightmares I've heard about this stuff makes me glad I've been fortunate enough to remain working this whole time

[Card Slinger J]

I can't help but feel sorry for young children in public education these days where they're being forced to actively miss out on the privileges and luxuries that my generation had growing up in which would've helped enhance their learning experiences. It really makes you very appreciative of the blessings you had before and how we tend to forget that life can change in an instant when we least expect it and I think we rely too much on future generations carrying the torch for us when they shouldn't have to feel obligated to do such a thing.

That's the overall problem I see with gaming hobbies involving Tabletop games and Role-Playing that's solely driven on community alone. Why should our children have to bear the burden for our own sins and guilty pleasures If it's only going to make them as miserable as we are? Every generation blames the one before after all. It's kind of like with the National Debt, why did our ancestors design a monetary system that would screw over their descendants? We only sacrifice the future because it's the bitterness that lasts.