The Reflection of 2020

2020 has been a year unlike any other–but I don’t need to tell you that. So much has happened that has made us stop and change our routines, our jobs, our lives and our way of thinking. Here are just some of the big things:

• Globally we went through a pandemic affecting almost every single person and economy on the planet in a way we have not been affected in the 21st century
• Nationally we started a dialogue about racism, held elections with historic voter turnout AND voted in our first BIPOC female Vice President(!)
• Multiple states legalized medical marijuana (yay!)
• Dogs, cats and other animals were adopted (aw)
• Families had dinner and game nights, and made tik toks together (thumbs up!)
• People learned new hobbies, about their feelings, about other people
• Neighbors started waving hi on walks

Personally, and for everyone I know, it has been a doozy. A learning curve that threw the whole year in a new direction. While the list above is rather positive, it has not been a positive year. Every tragedy, loss and bad day hitting harder than ever as we paced around our respective homes wondering if the world would end before that important deadline next week. Some of us doing that with a choir of children in the background. None of it has been easy, or seamless. Frankly, everything is still a mess–

but today, on this first day of December, and last month of 2020, I’d like to encourage you to sit and reflect and look at the silver lining, no matter what that may be for you. While it was a dumpster fire of a year, with shit headlines and shit piling up, 2020 gave us things no other year could give us. We have been connected with the world, even while travel is restricted. We have started dialogue for change. We have adapted to new roles and new routines–no matter what your new routine may look like. We have learned. We have taught. We have read and played and laughed with our family and friends, whether over zoom or 6ft of distance. We have cherished people more deeply in the moment, and squeezed our loved ones a little tighter when given the opportunity.

2020 taught us so much, good and bad. Today, let’s focus on the good as much as we can. It’s okay to slow down, it’s okay to not have all the answers. 2020 brought the humanity back into our 9a-5p days and for some of us, it knocked us completely off the 9a-5p track. 2020 looked at our hardened hearts and into the deepest depths of our brain where we keep our nightmares and worst fears. It’s no wonder we’ve had such a year, all that moving forward from the hidden parts of ourselves is hard work.

If 2020 has left you feeling discouraged or lonely, I urge you to take this last month to add positive reflection on all that you have made it through. The disease and the loss and the good/scary/anxious/depressed/existential crisis times. Kudos to you! Give yourself a pat on the back. A gold star. Some chocolate. Everything you’ve done to get you here–seriously, fantastic job, you’re doing amazing sweetie! Let yourself feel and lean in to the change. Start a journal (buy one from a small or local business!), call a friend or family member, make something, get something off your chest, write a letter you never send–or burn. This is not easy work and it will never be perfect work, but the more you reflect and let go, the lighter you will feel.

Let the work start now and carry onto 2021. Where 2020 was the year that stood still, let 2021 be the year that change and positivity moves us forward.