Post 0/19. The 19 day New Year 2021 challenge. What I learned being 19 during Covid-19.
You’re right, I could have made a New Year’s resolution, but what’s the New Year got to do with *ME*? It’s not my New Year, it’s the New Year. My new year begins on my birth anniversary, and boy, am I unhappy to be leaving the number 19 behind on the 19th of February 2021. From the ages of 16 to 19, my age was a more prominent part of my physical personality than even my height — an above average 5'9".
“You’re 17?!?!?!?” everyone would ask in amazement, from seniors in the basketball team at Uni, to men trying to pick me up at the mall — an interesting story for later. Then it turned to an exclamation of, “Wow, you’re just 18?” to “You could easily pass for being in your twenties.”
Goddamn it, they’re here now. I can no longer hang out with people in their 20s and feel at ease as the only exceptional teenager allowed to be a part of their exclusive community of higher intellect individuals with adult topics to discuss. My age will no longer be a tool to amaze people even before we move on from exchanging pleasantries.
I suppose I am having a weird mid-life crisis… My own version of it, you know? Feeling a disconnect from my age and feeling left behind by time and suffocating in the little space between being young and making mature decisions and yabba dabba doo.
For the next 19 days, I will focus on making a routine of the best practices I undertook in 2020 as a 19 year old at home. I will stop being 19 on the 19th of February, 2021. In the midst of the Covid 19 pandemic. Funny, Covid 19. Haha. 19 19 19 19.
Write a blog, write some code on Github, be diligent in my yoga practice, bake, post more on Linkedin, create more content as a model, keep my social media notifications off, among others.
I don’t intend to set out a plan, just go with the flow and be my most exceptional 19 year old self. It’s less of a challenge and more of a lifestyle change. A lifestyle development, rather. To improve and shape my regular routine to be the best of all that I inculcated the past year.
I guess a lot of people tried a lot of things during the Pandemic, and got out of those little bursts of motivation as soon as they fell into them. But we all know consistency is key — going days and nights and continuing for more.
That’s what I am going to do. Share more, be more and feel more. That’s not really a challenge, it’s a gift to myself.
Happy 2021, and welcome to my journey.
PS. This is just some cake I baked in the prime of the Covid-19 pandemic stay at home period. You can be certain there will be a post on cake.
With love, Mahieka.