For me, 2020 represented a year of significant changes.
I got a new job. Grace and I got so spend half of our first year of marriage in various lockdowns. And I got a chance to reflect on what things were really important.
My work journey has been one of ups and downs. When I finished graduate school, I had the expectation of immediately finding a job in "my field" and being compensated well for it. Unfortunately, that didn't happen and for the first year after school, I worked a part time job as a tutor and eventually found another position working for Sherwin-Williams.
Working at a paint store was not my idea of forward progress in my career. But like everything, if I was going to do something, I wanted to do it well and not need to rely on others to do so. I learned a lot and over time became a resource for many that worked in paint professionally. I also learned that I got a lot of satisfaction from helping others achieve their goals. Whether it was helping a contractor find ways to optimize their projects by getting into the right product, or helping a homeowner choose a new color for their bathroom, I really liked seeing them feel like they could take on their project with confidence. Even better, I had an awesome team. It showed me how important it was to have a good team dynamic as much as getting satisfaction from the work you were doing. We had a blast hanging out during and after work, and we developed great friendships along the way. Our poker nights were some of the best fun we had together. I will cherish those memories.
2020 was a chance to change roles and keep helping people but in a different way.
In September, I got a new position at an Israeli company that was expanding its Denver office. In this new role, I help people with their websites as they try to establish an online presence. People can be very creative and I have gotten to see a lot of different sites using the tools in really cool ways. I think that this will be a great spot for me into the near future.
Going from working at a store everyday to suddenly working from home was a significant shift. I went from walking over 10,000 steps every day to suddenly only walking maybe 1000. It certainly impacted my weight and introduced the dreaded challenge of needing to make time to be physically active. I haven't done that.
But the other shift was suddenly being with Grace nearly 24/7. I was afraid that after a while we would start to get on each other's nerves and introduce a stressor into our daily lives. Instead, we have really come to like being near each other throughout the day, even if we aren't necessarily interacting the whole time. I really like being able to go and give her a hug or pet the cats throughout the day; something I will definitely not be able to do once in the office. I also really like having lunch with her using my work meal stipend. We get to try new foods and order from some of our favorite restaurants on a regular basis. It's awesome.
We've also taken to saving the credit so we can use for nice dinners on Friday nights. That has been really nice.
Overall, I think we have done well. And I look forward to being partners in life well into the future.
Being away from people was hard. Since graduate school, our close group of friends - our Ohana - would have a regular movie night every Tuesday. With lockdowns, those moved online and going to shul on Shabbat did too. At first it was novel; watching movies using Netflix Party and seeing the rabbi in his home giving the message. Being away from everyone gave me a chance to reevaluate the things that were most important to me. Ohana seemed all the more important when we had to be apart.
One highlight during lockdown was getting to still have a Seder together. Even though it was over Zoom, we still got to enjoy going through the dinner and remembering to be thankful for what we have.
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2020 was a year.
A lot changed for me. Between the change in society and the change in my personal life, I don't think that I am exactly the same person that went into it. I had no expectations of what was to come that year but I feel like things are going to be alright.
- Isaac Montenegro
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