Farewell 2021 and happy new year 2022

2022 could actually only get better than 2021. Hopefully similarly superb as the first half of 2020 or at least halfway fancy as 2019. But this year, bruh, this year cost a lot of nerves. To everyone, not just me. Months of being stranded in Germany in gray-cold weather due to my Mom’s death, weeks of quarantine upon returning home in May, and months of hard lockdown, including a curfew and military presence on the streets until November. 2021 was a year of gridlock. And it still is, thanks to a recent Covid-19 infection-related quarantine until the 5th of January 2022.

This year taught patience. Patience to wait for special permits from the Vietnamese Foreign Office to re-enter Việt Nam during an active pandemic. Việt Nam had been completely sealed off from the outside world from March 2020 until the end of December 2021 – for almost 1.75 years. Patience when my boyfriend had a serious accident and laid in hospital while I was stuck 10,000 kilometers away from home, lost in winter depression, and unable to stay by his side. Patience during the mentioned quarantine and lockdown periods. Patience when once returned home, my boyfriend was stuck in his hometown for months because of the Covid-19 outbreak in the country, which lead to closed roads and transportations. Patience to get a turn at the crazy vaccination campaign that slowly started from August this year. Patience, as I haven’t been to my company’s office for more than a year and a quarter and therefore haven’t seen my work colleagues and friends in real life since then. Home office is the new normal. Patience, patience, patience – 2021 was a year of waiting and idling.

And it was a year that taught prudence in the face of covidiots and conspiracy ideologies that were highly overrepresented in the media, especially in western countries. Prudence to not jump on every passive-aggressive political Twitter threat or Facebook posting. Prudence to actively ignore “breaking Corona news” and similar feckless news postings on social media. Prudence for focussing on myself and the essential things in life – working (gamescom now FTW!), eating, loving, fucking, sleeping, surviving. And prudence to not fall into madness, both in the face of global societal divisions and weeks of quarantine and lockdown. I actually learned to stay on my own for months on a few square meters isolated from the outside world while keeping a cheerful mind this year, and I still don’t know how I got through it. 4 walls, the internet, and me. That’s all it seems to need. Prudence, prudence, prudence – 2021 was a year of reason and self-control.

And that’s it: 2021. The year of patience and prudence. No more, no less.

Let’s see what 2022 brings – I’ll consider it a year of hope. A year of progress and prosperity to the entire world. A year to finally say goodbye to Covid-19 (or upgrading it to Covid-22). A year of renewal and, well, reflection. The beginning of the golden 20s Definitive Edition, without the pandemic DLC. Just with little side-quests like the climate catastrophe that threatens the very existence of our entire species.

Happy New Year – and read you then! 👋🏽🥰

Hero image: Pháo hoa by daihocsi.