Jayme Gordon's 2020 in Review

2020 has been quite the year! It was filled with numerous ups and down, the downs sometimes felt like we’d never make it to another up. However, it’s been a year of experience, growth, connection, and resilience. Being a type “A” personality, it’s very hard to ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ and feel like you have no control over what is happening. I went from working full time in the clinic, along with weekends at the rugby field and playing hockey multiple times a week, to nothing. Needless to say, the beginning of the pandemic hit me hard. I found myself struggling to find purpose or motivation in a daily routine. No work, no sports... nothing! At one point I was actually jealous that my partner, who is an RCMP member, continued to be able to go to work. Not once in my life did I ever think I would be complaining about an extra-long vacation! It took a while to adapt, but I slowly started to get used to my new routine. I started getting back to things that I love to do but never had the time, or didn’t make the time. I took our dog for a long daily walk (grateful for the amazing weather we had), I got creative with doing different home workouts, I read more books in 2 months than I have in the past 2 years, and I got really into baking!

Baking has always been something I’ve enjoy and another one of those things that I often don’t make time for. So with all this new time, I thought I would do as everyone else was doing, and venture into the world of sourdough. I was determined to make my own sourdough starter. I read numerous blogs, thought it sounded easy enough, and started out to make one. It turns out that to make a sourdough starter you need to feed it daily, which required water and flour. This process can take days to weeks, in which time I learned I didn’t have enough flour to make it through the process. Flour was hard to come across at the time and I was having no luck after about 10 day with my starter, so I finally gave up and took some starter from a friend of mine. Then came the process of making the bread. I didn’t have a kitchen scale and against every blogger's warning that one should most definitely use a scale, I decided I would try the one recipe for which I could find the ingredients listed in cups instead of grams. My first attempt was a disaster, the dough didn’t rise and I essentially cooked a solid brick of dough. I finally decided to go out and buy a kitchen scale and with that I got my first successful loaf of sourdough. I was so excited I started making multiple loafs per week, which I would drop off at the clinic for Karen and Adele. After I got confident with sourdough I decided to try making other breads. I ventured into focaccia, buttermilk bread, and numerous sweet loafs. Turns out all of these preceding loafs are much easier and less labour intensive than sourdough, so they were likely better starting places!

Another great thing that came out of this pandemic was the extra time that allowed me to get more connected with friends and family that my busy life often didn’t allow me to do regularly. In the early stages I did a lot of Zoom parties with friends and family. We got very creative with how to make these interactions exciting. We did a pasta making class over Zoom, a beer tasting, and played virtual games. As the restrictions lifted and we were able to travel I spent most of the summer back and forth between the Sunshine Coast visiting my partner’s mom and Vancouver Island visiting my family. Normally summers are quite hectic with weddings and sports so I don’t often have a lot of time to relax and enjoy time with family. I am so appreciative and grateful that throughout all of this I was able to capitalize on more family time. While on the Sunshine Coast we picked a ton of blackberries which I used to make blackberry liqueur for Christmas gifts this year. Another new skill to come out of the quarantine!

Getting back into the clinic was a huge adaptation for us all but was also exciting for myself and all the other physiotherapists at Royal City Physio. Although we were able to provide online physiotherapy services during the lockdown, we love being in the clinic working with our patients one on one to reach their goals. I am incredibly luck to work with such and amazing group of people. Karen has been amazing at continuously making adaptations to ensure everyone is safe and that the clinic can run smoothly. To all our patients, thank you so much for your patience and support during this challenging time. We would be no where without you and I cannot wait for another year of working together to help you all Keep Moving!

2020 did have some big disappointments. My vacation to Europe was cancelled and numerous weddings that I was so excited for had to be postponed. Although it wasn’t the year I had hoped for, I am grateful for all of the extra little things that I have gained during this time. It truly is amazing to see how adaptable we all are. I am amazed and inspired by how creative everyone has become at socializing, exercising, working, and doing our best to keep a ‘normal’ routine in an anything but normal time. I am optimistically looking forward to 2021. I look forward to hopefully getting to celebrate weddings and birthdays with loved ones, and I will try my best not to take any experience for granted!

Jayme Gordon graduated from the University of British Columbia with a Master's degree in Physical Therapy. Prior to this she completed a Bachelor's of Science Kinesiology degree at the University of Victoria. She is a member of the Canadian Physiotherapy Association as well as the Physiotherapy Association of BC. Jayme has a passion for working with a diverse patient population ranging from athletes to community dwelling seniors. Book with Jayme today.