2020- the year of Corona-virus pandemic. Shutdowns and shut in by fear of contagion, hundreds of thousands of deaths, health care systems pushed to the brink. The world has not seen anything like this since the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1919. Yet, there is hope. Millions survive and a new vaccine has been rolled out. Yet, the work of genealogists continues as we test the limits of available resources. We postpone visits to libraries and county offices. In this post, I briefly tell of my own challenges and review my 2020 goals that seemed so achievable when I wrote them.
January 2020. As a retiree, my daily schedule is fairly regular- genealogy work, housework, needlework and reading historical novels. Then, news of Corona virus took over the air waves and our lives. My mother-in-law’s chronic health issues became acute. Her doctor would have put her in hospital if not for CoVid. My sister-in-law and I split her 24/7 home care. Mother-in-law moved in with husband and me for several weeks until she was stable. This started the next chain of events.
We offered an open invitation for mother-in-law to sell her home and move in with us. She made that decision in June. We prepared her room with new flooring and paint. Her house sold quickly. After she moved, we held a living estate sale of items not taken by friends and family. Time for my genealogy pursuits shrank significantly during this period.
At the first of the year, we had reconfigured our home office and my computer workspace. Within just a few weeks, my shoulders began to hurt. My keyboard sat on the desk. Instead of an ergonomically safe posture, I bent my arms and shoulders up. Typing became almost unbearable. Long hours at the computer decreased to no more than 30-60 minutes at a time. An old typing table now provides a lower platform for keyboard. My 50+ year old solid oak desk resists attempts to drill holes for a undermount keyboard. Shoulder pain still exists and improving slightly.
Protect your ergonomic health: http://ergonomictrends.com/bad-computer-posture-mistakes/
These personal events impacted my pursuit of genealogy. As I review, I believe that I may have been over-optimistic when I set my 2020 goals. I also admit to a slight depressive effect of all the negative news on my mood. I lost motivation to complete tasks. However, I did achieve some goals. Most notably, the family cookbook project is complete!
For your information, here are my 2020 goals and my record of achievement of those goals.
Next post: 2021 goals.
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