2021 Resolutions
Charlie's getting intentional. Look out, 2021
Charlie Bonner, the human balloon drop, is still stuck inside, craving random encounters with strangers. An old man going on and on about his wild theories of the universe in a dive bar? Sign him up. But as 2020 runs aground on the badly marked coastline of life, he sees some good that came from his forced isolation that he wants to carry with him into 2021.
by Charlie Bonner
I’ve never been one for New Year’s resolutions. My shoddy attention span doesn’t allow for commitments longer than a month (sorry boys) and having a birthday at the beginning of the year makes even a dry January seem like a lot to ask.
That said, I think this year of social distancing has revealed the importance of setting our intentions going into the new year. 2020 was an era devoid of happenstance, a year utterly lacking in random encounters. No running into an old friend at a trendy new restaurant or meeting strangers that become lifelong friends at a party who’s host you’ve never met. A year without unpromoted philosophical chats with old men at dive bars. What a waste. There was no spontaneity. Instead, there were reservations and remembering your masks and doubling up on hand sanitizer ‘just in case’ and temperature checks and anxiety and holding your breath while passing someone at the H-E-B like that would help. There was a lot.
What we were left with was ourselves. We were left with our routine and the friends and family already closest to us. We had to find discovery in getting to know ourselves, in learning how we do under pressure, how we cope surrounded by intense and seemingly endless suffering, and how we live with our friends and loved ones when there is absolutely no where the fuck to go. If we wanted fun, or laughter, or JOY - we had to intentionally make it for ourselves. We had to find the spark of happenstance in discovering a new show to stream (seriously you have to watch Ted Lasso) or in a song that provided reason enough to move the coffee table and dance in the living room. We laughed at Tik Toks, we cried when they were out of yeast at the grocery store, and we found a whole new range of emotions to feel about the apartments we were stuck in. We lived full and meaningful lives this year from the comfort and safety of our home. There is no doubt it was a struggle, but we did it. We made it work. We found a whole life in the little things.
That feeling, that spark from something simple, is just about the only feeling I want to take with me into 2021. To love even when it can seem grim or drowned in Twitter-induced existential dread. I want to rely less on other people for my happiness, rely less on Trader Joe’s wine for its comforting glow, and rely less on Twitter for attention - but first please retweet this. This is going to be a year of reconnecting, of concerts and parties, of traveling and of kissing lots of boys (or kissing lots of girls, if that’s something you’re into.) As we enter into these roaring 2020’s – I want to hold on to the ability to find creativity, comfort, and joy in anything.
Charlie Bonner’s previous contribution to The Experiment was “Requiem For Strangers,” an ode to his loneliness. We have common enthusiasms for Orville Peck, the Highwomen, and ambitious writing projects in service of a funny title. He is the communications director for MOVE Texas, a group that registers younger voters. Follow him on Twitter at @CharlieKBonner.
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