Something I’ve heard many times in the past few weeks is “2020 was the worst year ever.” While it’s safe to say that 2020 is a year we’ll never forget, I don’t think it’s fair to say that it’s the worst. Calvin from the famous comic strip Calvin and Hobbes makes a statement that has stuck with me for a long time, “That’s one of the remarkable things about life. It’s never so bad that it can’t get worse.” Certainly, this year was rough, and there was plenty to be upset about. However, it also had some good things come out of it, and if we focus on the good while working out the bad, I feel like that positivity is what we need going into the future.
January 2020
I didn’t start this year in the country. I was blessed to spend a week on a cruise ship, taking me from December 27th, 2019, to January 3rd, 2020. When I got home, I didn’t know what I was going to do. It was the last semester of my high school career, and I was going to major in physics at a state college several hours away from my home. The writing was a hobby for me, but I would never be able to make a career out of it, so it would just linger in the background as I do what I plan to do. Nearing the end of January, I got accepted into a small private college. In the acceptance letter, I was invited to interview for two honors programs the college had. Little did I know I held the future in my hands.
February
In February, I interviewed for that small college’s honors program, meeting some very intelligent people I knew would be great in the program when I went off to my other college and forgot about it. But the campus struck me. Even in the aftermath of a winter storm, it was beautiful, and the people I met were so friendly and personal. In just two days, I felt comfortable on campus, and without my knowledge, I spent my first night in my future college dorm building.
March
March rocked my world. I was accepted into the honors program and made the official decision to go to that college. With a suddenly large amount of free time, I got into a group chat with some of my fellow Honors students and began to get to know them better. I also started a small website called William Fall Writings, permanently adopting the pen name that I was toying around with and making my first post, “The Power of a Story,” on March 23rd. I also ran a YouTube channel for a bit, but that has since died.
April-May
I really dug into posting stories and working on my website as I got used to going to school in front of a camera in my home. I began growing out a beard in a combined act of laziness and me wanting to change my appearance.
June
I turned 18 and graduated high school. Apparently, I was supposed to shave for my Graduation ceremony, but I didn’t. They’d just have to deal with facial hair on a man in a few of their photos. I hoped they would survive. My graduation party/birthday party was a drive-through with family members staying to enjoy a meal and celebrate with me. It was nice to have a semi-normal experience in the crazy world my life had become.
August
I began my first semester at my new college. Thankfully I had the friends that I had made in the group chat to meet up with and hang out with over Zoom while in quarantine.
September
I met my fellow honors students in person for the first time, which quickly became a daily occurrence as we got closer and closer as friends. I began to work at the campus dining hall to start earning some extra money. I also began attending a nearby church with a few friends.
October
Adventures continue with my honors friends. Trips to stores and around campus become common. Going to supermarkets in the dead of night and taking a fall photoshoot around campus with a friend! At the end of the month, we had a Halloween party and began a terrifying few weeks of a game of assassins, in which I died very quickly. I also switched my major from Physics to Undecided, realizing that I liked the idea of Physics, not studying it as a major.
November
In November, we ended our in-person semester, once again going back to cameras at home. The in-person semester was fantastic, though it had its bad moments; I loved working and learning on campus with my amazing friends. As November progressed, we still had constant meetings online, and the group chat was more active than ever.
December
Our semester ended, and we went back to the normal, boring life that we had been living all year. A Minecraft server was started for my friends and me, and I continued writing and updating my website. Constant calls and texting are still happening, and we are looking forward to our next semester in 2021, no matter what it looks like.
So was 2020 the worst year ever? Not by a long shot. At the beginning of the year, I was a high school student with no idea what he wanted to do with his life, no clue where he wanted to go to college and was afraid to show people his passion. Now, on January 1st, 2021, I’ll be looking into the new year at a great college surrounded by awesome friends and this website where I can show the world what I love to do. That’s my story. I think that the world is in a really sad place right now. Maybe what we need isn’t to look back at all that we lost but all that we gained. If we do that, maybe things will start looking a little nicer.
Have a safe and happy new year!
-Will Fall
Will Fall Writings 