2020… wow – where do you start a 2020 Review? You have definitely been interesting. Without going over old ground, 2020 has changed almost everybody’s lifestyle and we couldn’t have seen it coming. Well, the medical field have been warning of a pandemic that would cause international consequences for some time, but who knew it would be now and how big it would be.
The rulebook got thrown out of the window, as did many people’s resolutions. Goals, dreams, results all thrown mercilessly onto the rocks to smash and disintegrate. Yet, at these times, I think it’s even more important to have a direction and therefore I decided to look back at the goals I set at the start of the year. I wanted to set new ones too for 2021, which I detail here in another post. And this time, no one will forgive you if you don’t beat yourself up about your failures. In fact, now is the time to congratulate ourselves on our successes, be positive and ultimately move forward.
Furthermore, for all the bad things that 2020 has brought, I’m also grateful for so many things. I also details some of the things that have been positive about 2020 in a post here. For me, I would never have started paddleboarding had it not been for the pandemic. It doesn’t feature on my 2020 goals and it’s been one of the best things to have happened. I’ve now had some great adventures on the River Thames, Lake District, Scotland and York, and hope to continue these in the next few years.
If you want to look at my 2020 resolutions post, you can find it here. But without further ado, this is how 2020 panned out.
2020 Review - January
When I look back at 2020, I see it as two “halves” – pre March and the rest. The first two and a half months of the year felt like one of my best years to date. I started New Year 3500 metres above sea level in the Andies, climbing the highest point of South America and the Southern Hemisphere. There was laughter, cheap Malbec wine and great company. In 2019 I realised I hadn’t challenged myself too much and this was to be the start. It was tough but I summitted Aconcagua at 6962 metres. Some of the group didn’t make it, one getting temporary blinded, and conditions were tough. Winds raged on our last day to the top. Despite the negatives, I was stoked.
Coming down I decided to join some of the team on an expedition to Denali in May – the highest point in North America. I also pencilled in the highest point in Europe for September and in Australasia in November. These expeditions never happened – by April Denali had shut its national park to visitors. By November foreigners weren’t allowed into Indonesia and so Papua New Guinea was off the list too.
I finished my Argentinian adventure with steak and Malbec, then jumped across the border to travel a little in Chile. At the end of January I flew back to UK and took some time with friends.
Half way up Mount Aconcagua in January
2020 Review - February / March
In this time I flew out to Italy not once, not twice but thrice, clocking up an impressive 6 flights on top of the 2 I had already taken to get back from Chile. I worked as a ski guide for an upmarket ski company, had a holiday with my friend in the Dolomites, and then went back to another resort with friends for my second ski holiday of the year.
In fact over the 7th – 9th March, I found myself flying back from one holiday, staying one night at an airport hotel and flying straight back out. On the 8th March we arrived in the resort of La Thuile to be told the ski lifts in all the valley were closing. We had one day of merry Italian socialising, eating and drinking before making a fairly prompt “escape” through France to catch flights back from Geneva.
As a precaution, I started isolating for 14 days when I returned. I was due to be tested – three times actually! – but the NHS quietly stopped all its community testing on the 12 March. In hindsight, that was a ridiculous decision. As I was just about to come out of my self-instigated quarantine on 22nd March, the UK went into lockdown the very next day.
Ski holiday in Feb/March 2020
2020 Review - April to September
This was to be the year of climbing 3 of the highest points in the 7 continents. The year to maximise my travel blogging income. The year I was due to a have a bumper set of festival contracts for work in Summer. This all started to unravel bit by bit as firstly the Denali trip was cancelled. Glastonbury Festival went next, and then bit by bit each festival organiser postponed till 2021.
The three industries that I love the most – Ski, Travel and Festivals – collapsed. Trips and work and joy were shattered.
However, that gave me the most time I’d ever spent in England. To this point, 9 months on, I haven’t left the country and that’s unheard of. I yearn to be on the road again. Conversely, the quietness of life leant itself to a simplicity and stillness. I started making monthly goals and posting them on Facebook to keep myself accountable.
I developed good routines. Waking up to yoga 6 days a week. Walking up to 350km a month. I re-discovered the paths and countryside around home. I dieted, losing 3 stone (though December and Xmas in one fell swoop has put back on half of that). I did a 3000 push-up a month challenge. I also ran, walked and limped a marathon.
I bought a paddleboard, took to the River Thames, and started to paddle further. I made it to Scotland to paddle on lochs. A group of us headed to the Lake District for a fantastic trip to paddle all the “lakes” there in one week. The feeling of walking on water and being in bodies or water has been calming.
Discovering the local woods on Corona induced daily exercise
2020 Review - October to December
During October to December I lost some of this steady momentum. While others struggled with the new way of life at the start of the pandemic, I seemed to do well for six months and then it hit me. I bounced back from a Summertime fail to walk the whole of the Pennine Way, quitting with injuries on Day 3. Paddleboarding set me on the narrow again. A much postponed trip to the hip surgeon in November informed me that hip arthoscopy surgery due on me would not help. I was too unwell for a “scope” operation, too well still for a Hip Replacement. I would have to wait until I had pain even at rest. Ironically, my coping techniques of yoga, walking and paddleboarding (in part created to ease my pain) were almost working too well. They were taking my body away from huge pain, but also distancing me from the one operation that could now restore some sense of normality.
The end of the year wasn’t all that gloomy. I’m in a new relationship that is going very well. I need to learn how not to eat so much when you share the joy of eating with someone, and it just feels comfortable. I spent Christmas with family. It wasn’t a December to write home about, but I was happy that my Dad was still alive to see it after issues with his health last year.
2020 Travel Resolutions
Success Rate: 17% (1 of 6)
Succeeded:- Climb Aconcagua
Failed:- Climb Denali, Climb Mont Blanc, Climb Elbrus, Climb Puncak Jaya, Visit 15 New Countries
These were my 2020 Resolutions in the field of Travel. On a purely mathematical level, only 1 of 6 became a reality, or about 17%. I’m not beating myself up about this statistic. This would have been impossible and breaking the law in places.
I’m happy that I climbed Aconcagua, still managed to ski for a month, take 8 flights and visit 6 countries this year (Argentina, Chile, UK, Italy and very briefly France and Switzerland). Only the first two were new to me.
More locally I’ve also managed to step foot on the Pennine Way, been SUPing the lochs of Scotland, paddled the Lake District Lakes, and had a city trip to Edinburgh when the restrictions were first lifted. I’ve walked miles and miles of the local area through lockdown too.
Mount Denali, Alaska
2020 Health Resolutions
Success Rate: 50% (4 of 8)
Succeeded:- Run 10km, 100 Tokens of Meat, Less Alcohol, Brush Teeth and floss each Day
Failed:- Get Rid of my Pericarditis/Palpitations/Back Pain/Hip Pain, Lose weight to 11 Stone and then put on a stone in muscle, 1 Coffee or Tea Maximum per day, Eat Fruit Every Day
Overall, I’m happy with my health results in 2020, especially until the end of the year. I’ve lost 3 stone but unfortunately can’t list that as a success as a combination of little exercise and incredibly unhealthy eating has halved that number. It’s going to be one of my main targets again for 2021.
Ultimately I’m not sure why I put on a goal to get rid of my problems with my palpitations and hips. It’s not something I could change. I’ve worked on ways to help but the reality is that my hip issues will be with me now in some shape for life and nobody currently knows why I’ve had 13 months and counting of chest pains and intermittent breathlessness after a viral infection in November 2019. I’ve eaten better and exercised as this has helped at least. However I soon stopped going for just 1 coffee a day after I realised it’s not affecting my palpitations. I’ve switched mainly to decaf instead, and will continue this. Furthermore, in 2020 with less trigger points, I’ve drank a lot less and I’ve stopped drinking alone. Again, the end of the year saw this resolution dip.
What I’m very happy about is my resilience to sticking to 100 days of meat. As a massive meat eater, I probably consumed around 330 days of meat a year. Almost everyday. As we draw out 2020, the figure will be 87 days of meat (and until December that was in the sixties). I do miss meat but I think this flexitarian approach is best for me. I don’t want to cut it out, and I also don’t want to cut out cheese and dairy milk which I love. However, I understand the impact and I think that everyone should really think about eating meat on only 2 occasions or 2 days a week.
Preparing for my first ever Marathon
2020 Blog Resolutions
Success Rate: 25% (2 of 8)
Succeeded:- Make Video Content, Complete a Video and Photography Course
Failed:- Increase Domain Authority (DA) to 20, Make 3 figures per month ($), Have 100 Posts by the end of the year, Write a Mountain Series of Books, Less reliance on social media but automate Instagram and explore TikTok, 5000 Unique Visitors per month
My website continues to be a source of frustration for me. I love it but it’s been inextricably tied in my mind with my father’s illness – the day I launched my site, Dad went into hospital for a month and almost lost his life. Additionally, I’ve an ongoing war in my mind in terms of wanting to do everything, so I do nothing. Going forward, I know I need to unpackage and resolve this mental and emotional baggage, and couple this with cold, hard habits. Strategy can come later.
Mid year, I decided to work on another website. It was to be called theundertourist.com with three key goals built around people finding their place, sustainability and overcoming overtourism. Of course, Covid has promptly solved that last problem – at least in the short term.
I really liked the website, but ultimately couldn’t focus on one website, so how was I going to manage two?! After a soft launch, I shut it down and then redesigned my current website to look a bit like the “new” one. It was a time consuming two months, but it did help build more knowledge of design. I’m still not happy with how davechant.com looks and works but it’s better than it was.
I’ve concentrated on collaborative posts on other blogger’s websites this year. To date, I’ve done around forty. However, the content on my own remains at only 21 posts, not the 100 I promised myself. My Domain Authority increased from 1 to 17 this year, and I’m very grateful for that, though not the 20 I had asked for. I also wanted to explore Tiktok and Pinterest this year, and have a regular presence on Instagram. Yet, the joy I used to have posting has dissipated. All things to work on next year!
Positively, I was very happy to start working with video content for the first time. I also took both a videography course and a photography course and these were another two things (along with the website redesign) that took up considerable time during lockdown. I have decided that maybe SLR/Mirrorless photography is not for me. At least, not at the moment. This does mean I won’t have glorious photos but I’m happy working with smaller electronics to get the most bang for my buck. It’s a lot easier for travelling. To this end I sold my Mirrorless camera which does make a lot of the teachings of a photography course defunct. My arsenal currently consists of my phone, an action camera, two action cameras (one with gimbal) and a compact camera.
Finally, I did want to bring 5000 visitors to the site and start making some money – even if it was just $100 a month, I would have been ecstatic. Currently I just have 631 visitors to the site, a mere 10% of what I want. However, I’m determined to increase this over 2021 with more content and looking for monetisation.
Last Day Working in the Dolomites in February 2020
2020 Lifestyle Resolutions
Success Rate: 14% (1 of 7)
Succeeded:- Listen to Podcasts
Failed:- Read 50 books, Write a Bucket List, Be Minimalist and Buy less, Less Phone Use, Just Let People Be Them, More Random Acts of Kindness
I feel like my lifestyle goals look worse on paper. My only measured success was that I started to listen to podcasts. I have to say I’ve decided I’m not really a podcast fan. I find it hard to stay attentive and I often play them at 1.5 or even 2 speed to get them over with. However, I’m glad I started and I hope I will find a podcast that I really enjoy at some point.
I didn’t read 50 books this year, but I did read 25 and I’ve very happy with my newly developed reading habits. I continue to strip away the excess of material possessions I’ve got. However, with Covid I’ve also given and sold less due to circumstances and also picked up more things, especially with a new hobby in Paddleboarding.
My yearly attempt to write a definitive bucket list failed. It just seems to grow and morph as I get older. I also think I’ve been more tolerant and understanding of people this year, and tried to be kind. However, I don’t feel like I’ve conquered those goals enough to put a juicy tick next to them. In September I rescued a £1200 drone from an island in the middle of a Lake District lake, tracked down its owner through the help of the manufacturer and returned it to them. This was probably my highlight, but the odd act of kindness does not in itself make a worthy habit. Work to be continued in 2021….
Loading my first Campervan for Paddling, hking, biking and skiing.
2020 Review - Overall
Success Rate: 28% (8 of 29)
The year, and my 2020 Review, hasn’t been as bad as it looks on paper. More resolutions were incomplete or failed than succeeded.
However, other monthly resolutions started to play a bigger part in life after lockdown. Weight was lost, yoga became a key physical and mental discipline. I took a lot of joy from paddleboarding and also walked considerably. The blog progressed, the downtime allowed me to develop new skills like basic video editing. I’ve read more this year than any other year in the past decade.
As I finish off this mixed bag of a year, I almost forgot. I also fulfilled an ambition I’ve had for the past 6 years. I bought a campervan!
The Pennine Way was failed, and that hit me hard. Subsequent news of not being able to have a Hip Arthroscopy operation hit further. Travel is on standstill, ski season this year is on shaky ground, and festivals are TBC for 2021. And for all the time off I feel I should have done much more.
I intend to be grateful for the good things though. I’m focusing on the positives. I’ve learnt a lot and I think I’m ready to put it into place to make 2021 succeed. Moreover, you can only do what you physically can do. Shoot for the skies – but understand the limitations the world has been put under.
Onwards to 2021… if you’re struggling to set your own goals, this may help! Additionally, If you’d like to see the goals for 2021, you’ll find them here.