Amy Lu's View

“What did you learn in 2021?”

I’ve seen that question posted in a wide range of places, so it seems like a good question to tackle. And it does require tackling–as I’ve been pondering it, I realize learning isn’t so straightforward. Often learning starts, and stops, and then builds–so if I’m getting better at something this year that I started in 2020 or 1978, does that still count for 2021? Or what if I’m relearning something I forgot? (Author James Clear includes “relearning” in his year-end reflection). 

I have to put a shout-out to my Mom here: I learned the saying “I’ve forgotten more than they’ll ever know” from her (she was referring to education experts). I now realize that she probably didn’t originate that (and I’ve learned there is a “I’ve Forgot More Than You’ll Ever Know” song) but I’ll always think of it as “her” saying.

And what type of learning am I talking about? At first, I went to the “life-lesson” category of instruction, such as the epiphanies the boys would have by the end of a South Park episode (As introduced by Kyle saying “You know, I think I learned something here today.”) These are pearls of wisdom and insight such as “My sense of control is mostly an illusion but I can still be happy” and “I need more patience with other people” and “I want to be more present” (all things I actually did start to learn and get better at and then forget and re-learn in 2021, 2020, and 1978, etc.) 

Along with these broader life lessons, I also learned some more distinct pieces of knowledge and skills. All these learnings are interconnected–learning how to play a song, for example, definitely teaches me some life lessons about perseverance and bravery–but I do want to focus on some individual facts, skills and realizations specific to 2021:

• Pacific Madrone Trees are gorgeous and inspiring. We discovered these trees on our vacation to the Pacific NW. I’ve never seen anything like them and couldn’t get over their color and feel and couldn’t stop taking photos of them. (We also learned about, and then promptly forgot, about so many other things on this vacation including whales, salmon, mushrooms, banana slugs and birds).
• I learned my lines for 4 different plays, including the “What a Piece of Work is Man” monologue from “Hamlet”
• I learned, thanks to my incredibly talented and educated theater friend Dani who was my “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)” castmate, that there is no subtext in Shakespeare! (This may explain why I’m not a big fan of Shakespeare. I find it rather tedious when characters just say what they mean…and they say it again and again and again). 
• I learned how to play keyboards and sing at least 20 different songs for our church’s online coffee house.
• Nightclub Pringles exist/have existed! No, I have not tasted them and they may only be available in South Korea. I learned about these while listening to “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me” and I would totally try them although I have no idea what “nightclub” could or should taste like. 
• The artist Margaret Keane created “big eye” artwork and her husband took the credit for many years, and StanLee and I could more or less successfully recreate a piece of her art for a church fundraiser.
• How to use Cub’s pickup service after they dumped Instacart.
• Fernet exists, and I like it with Diet Coke, and small amounts of it straight
• How to do a Covid saliva test–okay, more accurate I learned how NOT to do a Covid saliva test.
• Learned, forgot and then relearned how to stream movies on our TV
• How to use Overtone hair color (it doesn’t cover my grey hair very successfully but is easy to use, doesn’t require mixing, and smells great).
• There is a Harriet Alexander Nature Center in Roseville and it is very cool–hope to return in 2022. 
• Fundamental attribution error–mostly, I learned this is a tendency, but don’t grasp yet what it is. I think the heart of it is making mistaken assumptions about people’s motives. 
• Pickleball is a thing, a very popular thing. I have not played it, and only know what I do about it because a court opened up next to our beloved Brother Justus Distillery. 
• We are NOT supposed to put recycling in bags in the city of Minneapolis collection bins–we’re just supposed to dump it in free form. Wow, this makes it possible to fit so much more into the bins. Life-changing, and troubling– have I corrupted my last 5 or whatever years of recycling attempts? 

As I’ve been writing this post, I’ve heard Chad practicing the song “Least Complicated” by the Indigo Girls. Whoa, how meta–this song features the lyric “What makes me think I could start clean slated? The hardest to learn was the least complicated.”

I’m definitely not hoping for a clean slate in 2022, especially when it comes to learning. Even when I’m relearning or learning things that I’ve forgotten or even forgotten that I ever knew, I hope that the knowledge and experience is buried in me somewhere and creating a foundation for growth. 

But I definitely agree that the most “simple” things–drink less, be more present, don’t leave socks out anywhere within StanLee’s reach, be kinder, and this is how to stream movies–can be the most difficult to really grasp and put into practice.